HONORING LOCAL/INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
Primary Authors: Rick Burnett Robert Brown Mavany Verdugo
Contributing Authors: Jessica Barnes-Najor Patricia Farrell Ann Belleau Millie Horodynski Miles McNall Anne Suggitt
Activity Question
Have you ever considered the idea of how local or indigenous knowledge relates to or is important for your work? Yes No Not sure
TOPIC GOAL
Community Partner Goals
Faculty Partner Goals
Communities are confronted by profound and complex challenges
Education
Environment
Health
Racial and Gender Inequities
Economic
Community Safety
Community/University Engagement
To address these profound and complex challenges we need to use both our understandings of science and our understandings of local/indigenous knowledge
To do this we need to understand:
Both local/indigenous knowledge and science
Why local/indigenous knowledge is important
Whose voice is being heard when working with local/indigenous knowledge
What is Local/Indigenous Knowledge?
Part 1
So, what is it?
Local/indigenous knowledge is facts, concepts, beliefs and perceptions that people hold about the world around them.
Local/indigenous knowledge affects how people see
and measure their surroundings, how they solve problems and how they validate new information.
All communities produced and preserved
local/indigenous knowledge, use it, and pass it to others.
Source: Warburton, H. & Martin, A.M. 1999. Local people's knowledge. best practice guideline. Socio-Economic Methodologies Programme, DFID, United Kingdom
It has many names:
traditional ecological knowledge
ethnobiology / ethnobotany / ethnozoology
rural peoples'/ farmers' knowledge
indigenous knowledge
ethnoscience
folk science
indigenous science
Source: United Nations Educational. Scientific, and Cultural Organization, http://portal.unesco.org/science/en/ev.php-
It’s everywhere
Every community, regardless of its location, size, or make-up, possesses
local knowledge Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Training Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge
It comes from everyday life experiences Developed and tested over time
Shaped by local culture and environments so it changes over time
Held by individuals and across entire communities
In our community practices, institutions, relationships and rituals
It is a primary resource used to address hardships
Sources:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Training Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowledge.html
Definition of Local/Indigenous Knowledge
“information that people in a given community, based on experience and adaptation to a local culture and environment, have developed over time, and continue to develop. This knowledge is used to sustain the community and its culture and to maintain the genetic resources necessary for the continued survival of the community.” [2003:3] - American Association for the Advancement of Science
Source: Hansen, Stephen A., and Justin W. VanFleet (2003) Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science.
An Urban Environment Example
The EPA conducted a study of toxic exposures in the Greenpoint/Williamsburg(G/W) neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY
Scientific knowledge missed many potential exposures that local knowledge was intimately familiar with Dietary pollutants varied by ethnic group Local river fishing
Source: Corburn, J. (2003). Bringing Local Knowledge into Environmental Decision Making: Improving Urban Planning for Communities at Risk. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 22(4), 420–433. doi:10.1177/0739456X03022004008
Alaska Native Local Knowledge Example
Indigenous knowledge regarding weather patterns Ability to decipher and adapt to changing patterns of weather
and seasonal cycles Predict weather conditions based on observations of subtle signs
that presage subsequent conditions
National Science Foundation has begun to fund projects incorporating Indigenous knowledge in the study of climate change
Source: BARNHARDT, R., & KAWAGLEY, A. O. (2005). Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Alaska Native Ways of Knowing. Anthropology Education Quarterly, 36(1), 8–23. doi:10.1525/aeq.2005.36.1.008
International Example
San peoples of southern Africa have traditionally used the Hoodia gordonii plant as an appetite suppressant
The Biomedical industry is recognizing the plant’s potential benefits in the weight-loss industry
A benefit sharing agreement as been established between the San and the pharmaceutical industry
Sources: Chennells, R. (2009). Vulnerability and Indigenous Communities: Are the San of South Africa a Vulnerable People? Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Thics, 18, 147–154. Hitchcock, R. K., Ikeya, K., Biesele, M., & Lee, R. B. (2009). Introduction: Updating the San, Image and Reality of an African People in the Twenty First Century. Updating the San: Image and Reality of an African People in the 21st Century, 1–42.
Activity Question
What are some examples of local or indigenous knowledge in your own tribe or community?
What is Scientific Knowledge?
Scientific knowledge is characterized by: Information organize into a code or system
by: making empirical observations, proposing hypotheses to explain those observations, and testing those hypotheses in consistent ways.
Withstanding a process of academic peer
Can be replicated by other scientists
Ericksen P,E Woodley , G Cundill, J Mogina, P Olsson, C Raudsepp-Hearne, W Reid, and L Vicente. 2005
Comparing Knowledge Styles Local/Indigenous knowledge is based upon experience, is holistic, and intuitive. Scientific knowledge is assumed to the at best an approximation and is founded in observable facts, often focused on subsets of the whole.
http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowledge.html
Comparing Knowledge in Use
Local/Indigenous Knowledge Scientific Knowledge lengthy acquisition rapid acquisition
long-term wisdom short-term prediction
powerful prediction in local areas powerful predictability in natural principles
weak in predictive principles in distant areas weak in local areas of knowledge
models based on cycles linear modeling as first approximation
explanations based on examples, anecdotes, parables
explanations bases on hypothesis, theories, laws
http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowledge.html
Local/indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge are not mutually exclusive
Local/indigenous knowledge may be a mix of scientific understanding and local belief
Source: Yli-Pelkonen & Kohl (2005) Local Ecological Knowledge in Planning
Working Together
Qualities of Knowledge Systems
Source: BARNHARDT, R., & KAWAGLEY, A. O. (2005). Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Alaska Native Ways of Knowing. Anthropology Education Quarterly, 36(1), 8–23. doi:10.1525/aeq.2005.36.1.008
Activity Question
Do you see a need for including local/indigenous knowledge into early childhood education and/or early childhood public policy? Yes No Not sure
Why is Local/Indigenous Knowledge Important?
Part 2
I would like to have a video clip from a community partner here talking about how scientific knowledge hasn’t produced the results we want – calling for combining scientific knowledge with community knowledge is needed.
So Why is Local/Indigenous Knowledge Important?
People use it in their ongoing quest for survival:
to produce food
to provide for shelter
to achieve control of one’s life
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Training Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge
So Why is Local/Indigenous Knowledge Important?
In agriculture (crop selection, planting times) In animal husbandry and ethnic veterinary
medicine (breeding and livestock management) In the use and management of natural
resources (soil and wildlife)
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Training Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge
Because it’s relevant to many sectors and groups
So Why is Local/Indigenous Knowledge Important?
In health care (medicinal plants) In community development (generational
heritage) In poverty alleviation (survival strategies)
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Training Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge
Because it’s relevant to many sectors and groups
So Why is Local/Indigenous Knowledge Important?
In the emerging global knowledge economy, a country’s ability to build and mobilize knowledge capital is as essential to sustainable development as the availability of physical and financial capital.
The basic component of any country’s knowledge system is its local knowledge.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Training Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge
Because it contributes significantly to global knowledge
Policy and Planning Implications
Local/indigenous knowledge can improve policy and planning in at least four ways: Epistemology: by adding to the knowledge base Procedural democracy: by including new and previously
silenced voices Effectiveness: by providing low-cost policy solutions Distributive justice: by highlighting inequitable
distributions (for example, environmental burdens)
Source: Corburn, J. (2003). Bringing Local Knowledge into Environmental Decision Making: Improving Urban Planning for Communities at Risk. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 22(4), 420–433. doi:10.1177/0739456X03022004008
Working With Local
Knowledge
Part 3
Important Understandings Who’s Reality Counts?
Those with power often think they know what is right and real for those who do not have power and privilege.
Some Questions to Ask Ourselves
How much is our perception colored by our power and privilege?
What are the realities of the poor and disenfranchised and how can they be expressed?
Whose Voice Counts?
Whose knowledge? Whose values? Whose criteria and preferences? Whose appraisal, analysis, and planning? Whose action? Whose monitoring and evaluation? Whose learning? Whose empowerment? Whose reality?
Important Understandings People Own their Knowledge – It’s their Intellectual property
Shouldn’t be used without permission
Shouldn’t be misrepresented
Shouldn’t be taken out of context
Must be properly acknowledged Local people decide:
If they want to share their knowledge How it can be collected and used by others
Source: http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowledge.html
Important Understanding
Most local/indigenous knowledge is shared among
community members.
But some local/indigenous knowledge may be specific to an individual because of their unique life experience
People possess both collective and individual local/indigenous knowledge
Source: http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowledge.html
Important Understanding Local/Indigenous Knowledge must not be devalued because of the source
Local/Indigenous knowledge is relevant at three levels of the development process
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Training Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge
Level Relevance
Individual We need to recognize that men and women, old and young, produce and use local knowledge
Organizational We need to recognize that local knowledge can enhance community, economic, and human development efforts
Global We need to recognize that local knowledge forms part of global knowledge and that it can be preserved, transferred, or adopted and adapted elsewhere
Common knowledge is held by most people in a community; e.g. example
Shared knowledge is held by many, but not all, community members; e.g.
Specialized knowledge is held by a few people who might have had special training or an apprenticeship; e.g.
Sacred knowledge is private knowledge which may or may not be shared that can be held by many or a few
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Training Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge FAQ on Local Knowledge
http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5610e/y5610e00.htm
Important Understandings There are different types of local/indigenous knowledge
Important Understandings Consider the following when working with local/indigenous knowledge
Historical context is important Emotions, spirituality, aesthetics, morality, and values
influence how we see our world
Local/indigenous knowledge is not one thing; it consists of multiple perspectives
Local/indigenous knowledge holders are identified by the community
As local/indigenous knowledge evolves, some important aspects of local knowledge might be lost
“By building on local and scientific knowledge, we hope to develop healthy
ecosystems with multiple community benefits, where human communities act in concert with natural systems, rather than
simply to dominate these systems for short term gain”
Source: Ostrum, E. 1990. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. New York: Cambridge UniversityPress. Ostrum, E., R. Gardner, and J. Taylor. 1994. Rules, Games and Common-Pool Resources. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Moving Forward Local/indigenous knowledge contributions
Local knowledge provides insight that traditional ‘scientific’ discourse misses.
G/W Brooklyn example
Local knowledge is providing researchers and communities with tangible benefits
Alaskan native climate studies San/hoodia benefit sharing agreement
Activity Question
Do you use local/indigenous knowledge in your own work? Yes No Planning to in the future Not sure
Describe some ways you have used or hope to use
local/indigenous knowledge in your work?
CONTACT INFORMATION
University Outreach and Engagement Michigan State University Kellogg Center, Garden Level East Lansing, MI 48824-1022 Phone: (517) 353-8977 Fax: (517) 432-9541 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: outreach.msu.edu
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