Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, 1993

INDIGENOUS LEARNING IN CRAFTS: A PILOT RESEARCH EFFORT - Adri Kater

In 1990/1991 the Centre for the Study of Education in Developing Countries (CESO) in The Hague, and the Mountain People's Culture and Development Education (MPCDE) Foundation in Chiengmai, Thailand, undertook a small research project in the field of indigenous learning among the mountain peoples of Northern Thailand.

Background

Interest in indigenous learning--indigenous ways of acquiring knowledge and skills--has grown over the last decade. Indigenous learning systems are seen as especially important in areas that cannot be adequately served by modern education systems, and as playing a role in socialization and in the preservation (or creation) of cultural identity. Less attention has been given to indigenous ways of acquiring skills for production. In cooperation with the Social Research Institute of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, CESO conducted a regional workshop in Cha'am, Thailand, on the topic 'Indigenous knowledge and skills and their acquisition'. It was clear at the workshop that although much research has been done on indigenous knowledge in certain fields--medicine, for example- -there have not been many systematic attempts to gain more insight into indigenous learning. There is a tendency to view indigenous knowledge in relation to specific 'modern' disciplines, such as pharmacology and resource management, and to separate it from its cultural context. It is assumed that this 'indigenous knowledge' can then be applied in completely different contexts, an assumption that has proven to be false on various occasions.

Research project

In order to obtain greater understanding of indigenous processes of skill acquisition and their significance for production processes in a modernizing economy, the project 'Research into educational aspects of crafts and arts' (RECA) was undertaken.

For operational reasons, indigenous learning was defined in the project as 'the acquisition of knowledge and skills as an integral part of a specific culture'. This knowledge can come from outside and be new to the culture concerned; it can be new but originate from within the culture; or it can be traditional, with a long history of being passed on within the culture.

Research was conducted as a joint effort by the Centre for the Study of Education in Developing Countries (CESO), situated in The Hague, the Netherlands, and by the Mountain Peoples' Culture and Development Education Foundation (MPCDE), an NGO operating among the mountain peoples of northern Thailand which focuses on improving living conditions while preserving cultural identity. The action-oriented Human Resource Research Institute (HRI) has been established as part of MPCDE.

The aim of the project was two-fold: * to test a research approach; * to obtain insight into the processes by which skills are acquired for crafts that play a significant role in the economy of the people concerned.

Research approach

The research approach was basically anthropological: phenomena were studied in the total socio-cultural context of the society concerned. Instead of the traditional anthropological approach, in which the researcher lives for an extended period in the culture he is studying, a less time-consuming approach was tried. Information was gathered by what could be called 'institutionalized informants'--assistants who had received higher education but were also members of the group being studied. Field research was coordinated by two junior-level, local researchers, both of whom had studied social science and belonged to one of the hill tribes. They were assisted by members of other tribes who had worked in projects involving education and training. The researchers and assistants were trained by two senior researchers, one from MPCED and one from CESO.

Fieldwork was supervised by the senior researchers of MPCDE and by a CESO staff member. It consisted of observation, interviews of craftsmen and managers/traders, and consultations with key informants.

Crafts

Research focused on crafts that are traditional to these cultures but have been developed and adapted for the tourist and export markets: weaving, embroidery, silverwork and metalwork. Research was carried out in six villages belonging to six different tribes: Phra Bata Huai Thom, Karien; Phang Mai Deang, Lisu; Pa Klaang (Khang Haw), Hmong; Pa Kluai (Doi Tung), Akha; Ban Mai Pattana, Mien (Yao); and Kha Yaeng, Lahu.

For each craft the study was to include four phases: 1. a description of the production process, with special emphasis on the required knowledge and skills; 2. an inventory of the different ways in which the craftsmen and craftswomen acquired their knowledge and skills; 3. a comparison with the performance of people with different learning backgrounds; 4. an analysis to determine the relative importance of the learning process for performance in the trade concerned.

Preliminary results: crafts

Crafts are increasingly important among the tribal groups as a result of two factors: a growing market for the products in Thailand and abroad, and a decline in other possibilities for earning a living. The hill tribes used to be shifting cultivators; they would clear an area of forest, cultivate it for several years, and then move on to a new area, leaving the first to lie fallow and recover. This practice became difficult if not impossible for several reasons, which included population growth and reduced access to areas of forest as a result of conservation, reforestation and clearance for strategic reasons. Moreover, the production of opium, the most profitable crop in the hills, was suppressed for obvious reasons. People revived the traditional crafts as more and more tourists came to the region and bought souvenirs. This was sometimes at the group's own initiative, and sometimes assisted by government organizations, NGO's, and commercial traders. Export to other countries began later. Preliminary findings show that some of the crafts are still valued for their own sake even though products are made for the market. The products people make for use among themselves are often of a higher quality than those made for export.

Some skills are acquired through a conscious learning process; simple embroidery techniques, whether traditional or adapted and learned anew, are an example. Other crafts are less institutionalized; learning is less by conscious effort than by doing. Schooling and the learning of crafts seem, in some cases, to influence each other negatively. Children going to school are less willing to work in crafts; they have less time to practise and so to learn more complicated crafts. Students who go to the towns to study and live in boarding schools tend especially to develop a negative attitude towards village life and to the crafts that are part of it. The less traditional a craft is and the more profitable, the more interested young people are in working in it.

Preliminary results: methodology

The 'institutionalized informants' were much more than informants; they gathered data and ordered the data into comprehensive reports. They had been briefed by anthropologists with long research experience. This meant that they were told what to look for and they were warned about possible biases. They went to the villages several times, meeting at intervals to share experiences. In January 1991, the informants had finished their fieldwork and started writing up their findings. In July six reports in Thai were ready. As could be expected, not all were of the same quality. Differences resulted from differences in personality and in the informants' amount of experience. (Some had participated in research before, though they had never written reports.) Some expressed themselves more easily in writing than others. The topics they had to deal with were not equally conducive to interesting findings. There was much more to say about weaving among the Karen than about Lahu patchwork or Akha basketry.

The reports were organized roughly as follows. An introduction presented the history of the village and the present economic situation, and described the population and its sources of revenue and education. This was followed by a detailed description of the crafts, distinguishing the present situation from the past. The acquisition of knowledge and skills was described in a separate chapter. Each report ended with an overview of existing problems and sometimes a discussion of possible solutions. The results were especially good as far as descriptions of crafts are concerned. The sketch of the social and economic situation of each village was not always complete; this was possibly too difficult a task for such a short period. Still, some valuable information came out of the exercise.

Most difficult was the part on the acquisition of knowledge and skills. The learning processes are often so much a matter of course that the people concerned are not conscious of them. They never discuss these processes among themselves and find it difficult to verbalize them. Under these circumstances, the verbal style of investigation (interviews) does not yield satisfactory results and observation becomes more important. Observation, however, captures just one moment in time. Apprenticeship cannot be observed, but only a brief moment in the whole apprenticeship period. Of course apprenticeship can be discussed--with the apprentice, with the master, and with others. But in such discussion there is a danger that the interviewee does not understand the researcher's questions. This is a problem when things are verbalized that are not ordinarily verbalized, and when the interviewee must explain a situation that to him is a matter of course. Real insight can only be obtained by prolonged observation.

Follow-up

The experience gained in this pilot project can contribute to discussions of methodology, especially to what is sometimes called Rapid Rural Appraisal. More research is required before conclusions can be drawn regarding further application; the present study was only experimental. Further research can be expected to benefit the work of those who design and conduct programmes for helping the hill tribes to improve their standard of living. More knowledge about ways of learning will improve programmes, or at least prevent the waste of energy and money by doing wrong or unnecessary things, by choosing the wrong time, or by addressing the wrong audience. A follow- up project is now being prepared in which special attention will be given to the influence of schooling on the learning of crafts.

Publication of the research results for dissemination among a more general audience will also help to improve the image of the hill tribes by showing the positive values of their culture.

Dr. A. Kater recently retired from his position as senior researcher at CESO.

For further information on CESO's research on indigenous learning, contact: Centre for the Study of Education in Developing Countries (CESO/Nuffic) P.O. Box 29777 2502 LT The Hague The Netherlands Tel: +31-70-4260260

Back to: top of the page | Contents IK Monitor 1(1) | IK Homepage
Suggestions to: ikdm@nuffic.nl
(c) copyright Nuffic-CIRAN and contributors 1993.