Indigenous knowledge and gender
The Center for Indigenous Knowledge for Agriculture and
Rural Development (CIKARD) has compiled evidence that there
are considerable differences in indigenous knowledge due to
gender. Information on how gender differences are reflected in
indigenous knowledge systems, indigenous decision-making,
indigenous organizations, and indigenous development
approaches are very much welcome. Please send references and
copies of published and unpublished papers to:
Dr. D. Michael Warren CIKARD, 318 Curtiss Hall, Iowa State
University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA.
Annotated bibliography on Ethno-Landscape
Architecture
Landscape architecture focuses on the development of
landscape resource management plans, policies, and methods. It
is concerned with the aesthetic, economic and practical
development of the land, attempting ideally to balance the
needs of humans and their natural environments.
Landscape architects utilize plants, water, earth forms,
roads, walls, cultural sites, and other elements to create or
maintain attractive and functional living environments. They
are guardians of nature in a world remade by humans.
Through time, indigenous knowledge has incorporated land
design systems, defining certain arrangements of human-made
features and natural features as being culturally or
aesthetically desirable for, or detrimental to, the well-being
of the human community. The Chinese system of geomancy or feng
shui is one example. These systems are part of the foundation
of a culture or community identity.
It is proposed that the incorporation of landscape
considerations preserves these foundations of identity,
providing cultural and psychological stability. Such stability
may benefit physical as well as psychological health,
especially in instances of cultural stress, such as that
experienced in periods of accelerated culture change, war, or
resettlement. Answers to questions of human identity are
integral to the success of ensuring human biological
continuity.
Rather than imposing western aesthetic models of landscape on
indigenous cultures, it is desirable to describe, define and
develop the indigenous community's own models of culturally-
desirable land design, while possibly incorporating certain
western technical elements of landscape architecture if
identified as necessary by the indigenous community.
The first step is to gather descriptions of indigenous systems
of culturally-desirable landscapes, created or natural, or of
ethno-landscape architecture. A request is made for references
on indigenous knowledge systems of the designed landscape
(ethno-landscape architecture) for an annotated bibliography
being prepared at CIKARD. All documents received will be added
to the CIKARD Documentation Unit.
Please send information to:
Lance Foster, CIKARD, 324 Curtiss Hall, Iowa State University,
Ames 1A 50011, USA.
for information or cooperation:
Diploma programme on IKS
The Department of Agriculture of University of Benin (Nigeria)
is in the process of establishing a diploma programme on
Indigenous Knowledge Systems. In order to help them write a
proposal for the programme, the department would like to
receive relevant materials on Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
Information on setting up such a
programme would also be greatly appreciated. Please send
information to:
Rev. Dr. J.B. Utomakili, Department of Agriculture, University
of Benin, PMB 1154, Benin City, Nigeria.
Sacred groves and religious forests
The people of the Coorg district in India are
preserving and managing forests called 'Devara Kadu' (gods'
forest or religious forest). In the Coorg district each
village has at least one Devara Kadu preserved by the people
for purely ecological and religious purposes. Due to economic
and social pressures, the forests are used more and more for
cultivating lands and keeping cows. This has severe
consequences for the conservation of the forests and causes
environmental degradation.
Dr. M.G. Chandrakanth would like to share information on
specific trees which are associated with specific deities and
which are appeased/used for several mundane and spiritual
purposes.
Contact:
Dr. M.G. Chandrakanth, University of Agricultural Sciences,
Department of Agricultural Economics, 221 V Block 68th Cross
Rajajinagar, Bangalore, India. Tel: +91-812-356328. Fax: +91-
812-320840.
Wildlife reserve
The conservation component of a project by the Asian Wetlands
Bureau, which is funded by ODA under a Sustainable Forestry
Project, involves managing a wildlife reserve called Suaka
Margasatwa Danau Sentarum, in a wetlands area of flooded
forest and seasonal lakes, near the Malaysian border, in West
Kalimantan. Since one of the goals of the project is to manage
the reserve cooperatively with local people (Melayu, Iban,
Kantu), the researchers anticipate making as much use of
indigenous knowledge as they can. Within the reserve most
people are fishers; around it most are shifting
cultivators.
Contact: Dr. Richard G. Dudley or Carol J. Pierce
Colfer, P.O. Box 6284/PTK UT, Pontianak, Kalbar, Indonesia.
Tel/Fax: +63-561-33983.
Pest management
Dr. H. Bottenberg is a cowpea entomologist based in the Plant
Health Management Division of the International Institute of
Tropical Agriculture at Kano, Nigeria. His research programme
includes the ecological characterization of the insect pests
affecting cowpea production in Northern Nigeria. The aim is to
develop a sustainable pest-management programme.
Cowpea is cultivated by subsistence farmers, and they have
their own perceptions of cowpea pests as well as knowledge of
how to control them using both traditional and modern methods.
Research among these farmers could uncover control practices
currently unknown to science: botanical insecticides, for
example. Also, for a pest management programme to be accepted
and successful, it should be compatible with the farmers'
knowledge and perceptions of pests and pest control. The
survey aims to assess the depth and breadth of this indigenous
knowledge.
Dr. Bottenberg and his colleagues are interested in discussing
methodologies and applications with researchers working on
similar problems.
Contact: Dr. H. Bottenberg, International Institute
of Tropical Agriculture, Kano Sub-station, Sabo Bakin Zuwo
Road, PMK 3112, Kano, Nigeria
Indigenous learning of crafts
Josephine Moreno, Ph.D. student, and Mary Littrell, Professor
of Textiles and Clothing, are seeking information and research
findings on indigenous learning and craft production.
Specifically, they are seeking papers, articles, textual
references, case studies, or contact persons that deal with
the following topics: indigenous craft learning in both
informal and formal educational settings (1), factors
affecting indigenous craft knowledge (2), changing textile
processes (3), and the role of tradition in craft/textile
production (4).
Contact: Josephine Moreno, 1052 LeBaron Hall, Dept.
of T & C, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA
Tel: +1-515-294 9486 or +1-515-294 5284. Fax: +1-515-294 6364.
Natural resource use and management
Tim Sulser, a student of wildlife biology at Iowa State
University and an employee of CIKARD, is beginning work on a
bibliography on indigenous knowledge in natural resource use
and management. He is seeking papers, case studies and other
texts dealing with local knowledge of biodiversity, animals,
plants, water, minerals, soils, etc., and local practices and
systems for managing and conserving them. Copies of such
documents, or information on how to acquire them, will be
greatly appreciated. Please send to:
Tom Sulser, c/o CIKARD, 318 Curtiss Hall, Iowa State
University, Ames 1A 50011, USA.
Good nutrition and non-pesticide farming
Persons who are interested in the use of indigenous knowledge
to promote non-pesticide farming and/or good nutrition
(especially the micronutrients Vitamin A, iodine, zinc and
iron) are invited to contact:
Bruce Barrett, MD PhD, INCAP - Nutrición y Salud,
Apartado # 1188, Guatemala, Guatemala. Tel: +502-2-736762.
Fax: +502-2-736529.
Genetic resources
The International Board of Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR)
recently carried out a major review of its strategy and
programme as part of its transaction to an independent CGIAR
institute, the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute
(IPGRI). The strategy 'Diversity for Development' makes it
clear that IBPGR/IPGRI plans to carry out a programme that
takes into account the human, socio-economic and cultural
aspects (SECA) of conserving and using plant genetic
resources. The first step of this programme is to identify
sources of information dealing with socio-economic and
cultural aspects of plant genetic resources. These could be
journals, books, reports, occasional papers, features and
articles or any other type of information. Materials
(published and unpublished) can be sent to:
Ms. Monica Opole, Consultant SECA Programme, Genetic Diversity
Group, International Board for Plant Genetic Resources, c/o
FAO of the United Nations, Via delle Sette Chiese 142, 00145
Rome, Italy. Tel: +39-6-518921 Fax: +39-6-5750309.