IK Monitor 3(1) SARCIK

SARCIK: A synthesis in theory and practice

Hans Normann

SARCIK was established by the Institute for Indigenous Theory and Practice as a logical and appropriate extension of its work. The Institute's research had focused on the activities of indigenous helpers and indigenous workers. The goals set down by the Management Committee of SARCIK were as follows: Recovery of lost knowledge, documentation and utilization of indigenous knowledge, increased understanding and awareness of indigenous knowledge, improved networking, coordination and participation, and research focusing on existing resources and interdisciplinary linkages.

History
SARCIK was established in May 1993 by the Institute for Indigenous Theory and Practice as a logical and appropriate extension of its work. The Institute itself was established in Cape Town in November 1988 by M.H. Cohen, formerly professor and head of the School of Social Work at the University of Cape Town. Prof Cohen's initial interest in establishing the Institute was to develop an indigenous approach to social work, in order to counteract the influence of foreign--mainly British and American--theoretical and applied practice methodologies on social work in South Africa. At the time, one was almost entirely dependent on models borrowed from overseas, which did not address the particular issues and cultural characteristics to be found amongst the majority of South Africans. As the work of the Institute progressed, the focus broadened to include human service delivery in all its applications. The Institute formalized this development in a statement of its mission: 'to engage in research and education to identify, stimulate and propagate a social and community practice appropriate to and more specifically related to the Southern African context' (Institute for Indigenous Theory and Practice, 1991).

To support its claim to an indigenous body of practice in social support activities, the Institute carried out a research project in an area which had not previously been studied in South Africa, but was more or less pioneered in America by S.L. Patterson (1977, 1988). The Institute's research was directed towards the study of indigenous helping activities or 'natural helping', as it is sometimes referred to, amongst indigenous helpers and indigenous workers**1. Indigenous helpers were defined as people with no formal training, institutional affiliation or remuneration. These indigenous helpers are engaged in helping others by drawing on their own indigenous and experiential knowledge. Their culture and the traditional customs and values of their community are other important components. Indigenous workers, by contrast, are defined as local people employed by institutions, who receive a remuneration and some training. They help other people, utilizing their experiential knowledge of the customs, values and traditions of their communities. They may act as mediators or advocates for their communities within the formal human service organization and its delivery of services within the community.

There were two basic premises to the study:

the existence of helping networks: People were effectively helping others long before the arrival of professional 'helpers and therapists'; and
indigenous workers and indigenous helpers possess knowledge which helping professionals do not have, and indigenous workers are able to deliver many services to their community more effectively than professionally trained workers.

This data were collected cooperatively with the assistance of various individuals and organizations. Alewijn Dippenaar from the Rural foundation**2, with the assistance of the Institute, trained interviewers, distributed the in-depth questionnaire to Rural Foundation development officials on farms throughout South Africa and collected the transcripts of the completed interviews. Dippenaar ultimately became one of the 13 directors of the Institute and SARCIK.

Alewijn was concerned with two issues facing development agencies in South Africa in general, and the Rural Foundation in particular:

the magnitude of the needs of the people were greater than the resources available to development organizations, and it was neither economically feasible or effective to train and employ professional development workers and
professional development workers were trained in methods and approaches from other countries, and while this gave them a framework to work in, it was of no help in gaining access to South African communities and their unique traditions and customs, and applying that knowledge appropriately and sustainably**3.

SARCIK
SARCIK developed logically from the network developed by the Institute's community-centred activities. This network was composed of contacts and interested persons and institutions which became affiliated through the work of the Institute, were involved in joint programmes with the Institute, or were simply interested in the work of the Institute. Data on these contacts was stored in a database at the Institute. The direct stimulation, however came from Prof. Walton Johnson, an anthropologist based at Rutgers University in America, who is engaged in research into customary practices in South Africa. Prof. Johnson, who is a friend and collaborator of Dr Mike Warren of CIKARD, became involved in the work of the Institute quite early on, and shared with Dr Warren information on the history and the activities of the Institute. Following a period of correspondence, Dr Warren invited the Institute to consider establishing an indigenous knowledge resource centre.

The Institute launched a campaign to survey persons interested in or engaged in research into indigenous knowledge in South Africa. The postal survey was intended to inform people of the existence of an international network of indigenous knowledge centres, and to ascertain their level of commitment to, and interest in, the establishment of a resource centre in South Africa. The survey also served to provide information on their own research activities into indigenous knowledge. The Institute invited those who were interested in becoming actively involved in a resource centre to attend a workshop, held in October 1992, to discuss the establishment of such a centre and to develop a framework for its implementation. The resolutions passed during the workshop resulted in the formulation of certain broad principles pertaining to the resource centre, and the election of a Management Committee to oversee its activities. A memorandum of intent was then sent to CIKARD, CIRAN and LEAD.

The principles which emerged from the meeting and which were to serve as the aims of the resource centre were:

the recovery of lost indigenous knowledge;
the documentation and utilization of indigenous knowledge;
increased understanding and awareness of indigenous knowledge;
improved networking, coordination, participation and democracy;
research into existing resources; and
interdisciplinary linkages.

The resource centre was established as a semi-autonomous programme of the Institute in May 1993. The Institute was to act as the secretariat for the resource centre, and this precipitated a further broadening of the focus of the Institute itself, which now encompasses all aspects of indigenous knowledge.

Starting the activities
SARCIK launched a two-pronged programme, designed to serve as an initial catalyst, to develop the resource centre and to promote interest in indigenous knowledge.

First, a survey was initiated of existing material on indigenous knowledge research: theses, periodicals, books, etc. This was carried out by means of a computerized literature survey of the SABINET (South African Bibliographic Network) and the N.A.V.A., the Human Sciences Research Council's database. The references were collected and collated to form the basis of a database.

Second, information about indigenous knowledge and SARCIK was collected and disseminated. An Indaba (conference) on indigenous knowledge was sponsored, which all interested persons were invited to attend. The equal representation of community workers, traditional healers, academics and professionals in the composition of the audience was ensured, and specialists were invited to submit papers. The Indaba themes were 'Traditional medicine and its uses', 'Indigenous knowledge and environmental management' and 'Indigenous values in human services practice'. These presentations plus other invited papers are to be published in book form. A unique feature of the Indaba was that academics and traditional healers were placed on an equal footing, in terms of their status and presentations, and that the papers were all translated into an indigenous language for participants not easily conversant with English.

The members of the SARCIK Management Committee played a key roles in organizing the Indaba. For example, Dr Nigel Gericke, Information Director of the Traditional Plant Use Programme at the University of Cape Town was instrumental in arranging for the participation of traditional healers, and in voicing their needs. He also provided access to contacts and material for the database on medicinal plant use and traditional healing.

Consolidating the activities
A number of trends and issues became apparent during the launch of the initial campaign. The literature survey and the Indaba revealed that the major focus of interest in indigenous knowledge in South Africa was in the areas of traditional healing and medicinal plant use. The major needs were related to facilities and recognition for traditional healers, ways of protecting traditional healers' ownership of their knowledge against potential exploitation by commercial undertakings, such as pharmaceutical companies, providing information on non-destructive plant use, and implementing a forum for the descendants of the oldest indigenous inhabitants, the Khoi-san, to discuss the preservation of their indigenous culture and knowledge.

It was during this period that it became clear where SARCIK should be focusing its energy and resources, namely on maintaining and developing the following five services or functions:

Networking: maintaining a database on persons and institutions interested in indigenous knowledge or engaged in research into indigenous knowledge.
Referrals: using SARCIK's network database as a resource in referring requests for information on specialized areas of indigenous knowledge or the names of institutions engaged in particular areas of research. Most of the secretarial functions of SARCIK are devoted to this area.
Education and information: organizing and facilitating workshops, conferences, publications on indigenous knowledge and occasionally producing a Bulletin to inform interested persons of selected current work and research into indigenous knowledge.
Documentation: maintaining, developing and extending the original database established by means of the computerized literature survey, by collecting references and documenting research projects, books, articles, conferences, in-house publications, etc.
Partnerships: SARCIK is constantly striving to develop informal and formal partnerships with organizations and researchers, with a view to documenting or researching material, collecting and collating references, or working on joint proposals.

SARCIK receives all its funding from the Institute, which is itself financed mainly by the Anglo-American and the De Beers Chairman's Fund. In addition, all administrative support, in the form of both staffing and activities, is provided by the Institute.

Constraints
The most significant constraints on the activities of SARCIK are the following. First, professionals acknowledge the importance of utilizing indigenous knowledge, but are fearful that it may undermine the professional status of their disciplines if practitioners of indigenous knowledge are recognized and permitted to practice within mainstream society. Second, practitioners of indigenous knowledge are largely unaware of the processes and techniques that they utilize in the application of their indigenous knowledge. A major aim of SARCIK has been to raise the consciousness of indigenous practitioners in this regard. Third, in many cases indigenous knowledge practitioners and the members of their communities regard indigenous knowledge as inferior to Western expertise. Here again, SARCIK has strived to instill a sense of pride in indigenous knowledge amongst the practitioners and the communities they serve.

A fourth significant constraint operating on the implementation of SARCIK's programme elements is the lack of financial resources. The Institute has just finished funding a consultative report by an independent professional fundraiser. The report examines the strategies the Institute and SARCIK could undertake in order to make them more attractive to potential donors. On the basis of this assessment, there are plans to hire a fundraiser on a part-time basis, in order to identify donors interested in SARCIK, determine what their criteria are, what sort of programmes they would be prepared to fund and at what level.

Conclusion
SARCIK has succeeded in establishing what its functions and activities are, and at present its resources are being directed towards upgrading its facilities to deal with the five main services it offers. This entails upgrading computer capacity to handle large databases effectively, and installing electronic mail facilities. Once these upgrades have been carried out, work on these services can proceed unhindered. In terms of the empowerment of indigenous workers and helpers, SARCIK must become more directly involved in supporting these people and involving them in its activities. SARCIK realizes that if it is to remain relevant, it must constantly re-examine and adjust its functions and activities in the light of rapidly changing circumstances within the South African and international communities. It must also secure the necessary financial resources.

Hans Normann
Research Director
SARCIK
Institute for Indigenous Theory and Practice
P.O. Box 2335
8000 Cape Town
South Africa
Tel: +27-21-242012
Fax: +27-21-232168
Email: hansn@iaccess.za

References
Cohen, M., H. Normann and I. Snyman (eds) (1993) Indigenous theory and practice: Perspectives for human resource planning Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council.

Institute for Indigenous theory and Practice (1991). Minutes of the Annual General Meeting. Cape Town.

Patterson, S.L. (1977) 'Toward a conceptualization of natural helping', Arete 4(3):161-171.

Patterson, S.L. et al (1988) 'Effectiveness of rural natural helpers', Social Casework 69(5):272-279.

Rural Foundation (1992) Annual Report. Stellenbosch: Paarl Printers.

Endnotes
**1 In this particular sense, the term 'indigenous' refers to people who have experiential knowledge of the local customs, practices, and values. It is an extension of the work of S.L. Patterson, who herself employs the term 'natural helpers'. In the research carried out by the Institute, which dates back to 1988, the term 'indigenous helpers' has traditionally been preferred, as her implied assumption of a natural social order is considered questionable. In some contexts the term 'local' is often used too loosely. If a person who is a local in a given community moves elsewhere, he may be termed a local of that community as well. In practice, however, he does not necessarily have any experiential knowledge of that community, its traditions, culture, values, etc.

**2 The Rural Foundation is a non-governmental organization which strives to provide guidance and leadership in the field of comprehensive community development, in order to create a better future for all people in the rural areas of South Africa. (Rural Foundation, 1992)

**3 The Institute published its findings in cooperation with the South African Human Sciences Research Council in M. Cohen, H. Normann and I. Snyman (1993), Indigenous theory and practice: Perspectives for human resource planning.

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