Indigenous plant
protection
The Hague (The Netherlands), 2-7 July 1995
The XIII International Plant Protection Congress is divided
into a series of individual symposia, each
addressing a specific aspect of plant protection. The symposium
'Indigenous knowledge systems' deals with indigenous
knowledge on plant protection. Special
emphasis will be put on the way in which indigenous knowledge
and scientific knowledge will complement
each other and jointly contribute to sustainable development.
Therefore the symposium will promote the
dialogue between indigenous and scientific plant protection in
an attempt to bridge the gap between
traditional knowledge and modern technology.
Specialists from various parts of the world have been invited
to bring their experience and ideas into the
discussions. Others are encouraged to present their views on
posters. An additional workshop will enable all
interested parties to participate in the exchange of ideas and
views.
Speakers and a selected number of poster presenters and
participants will be invited to write a paper that
will be published in a book, which include the proceedings and
recommendations of the workshop as well.
Invitees will be requested to put their views on paper as to
the situation in their country provided it has not
been dealt with in their papers. Convener and co-convener of
the symposium are: Prof. Hans de Kruijf
(University of Utrecht, The Netherlands) and Drs Guus von
Liebenstein, Nuffic-CIRAN.
Correspondence with respect to the contents of the topic
should be send to the conveners at CIRAN: P.O.
Box 29777, 2502 LT The Hague, The Netherlands. Tel:
+31-70-4260321. Fax: +31-70-4260329, E-mail:
Lieb@nuffic.nl
Correspondence with respect to the organization should be
addressed to the Congress bureau:
XIII IPPC, c/o Holland Organizing Centre, Parkstraat 29, 2514
JD The Hague, The Netherlands. Tel: +31-
70-3657850. Fax: +31-70-3645748.
Indigenous knowledge systems in forestry
Los Banos (The Philippines), 6-7 June 1995.
The Forestry Development Center of the University of the
Philippines, Los Banos, and the Philippine
Resource Center for Sustainable Development and Indigenous
Knowledge (PHIRCSDIK), will jointly
sponsor a seminar-workshop entitled 'Indigenous knowledge
systems in forestry'. The objectives are:
International congress on 'Traditional
medicine'
La Paz (Bolivia), 21 - 27 May 1995
The Pharmacological Biochemical Research Institute of the
Universidad Mayor de San Andres, the Bolivian
Society of Traditional Medicine, and PROSADES, an NGO, are
organizing this conference for the purpose
of exchanging ideas and sharing experiences in the use of
natural products in academic medicine. Several
scientists will participate from different parts of the
world.
A reason for the conference, besides its scientific interest,
is to show the Kallawayas to the world. The
Kallawayas are descendents of the famous indigenous healers
called Kollasuyo, who inhabitated the Inca
region. These peoples have been practising natural medicine
for ages. Now they are willing to show this
medicine to the entire world, since alternative medicine is
changing the world, and the interest from
scientists is increasing every day.
For more information, please contact:
Crillon Tours S.A., Casilla Postal 4785, Avenida Camacho 1223,
La Paz, Bolivia. Tel: +591-2-374566/7.
Fax: 591-2-391039.
past
Local heritage in the changing tropics: innovative
strategies for natural resource management and
control
New Haven (Connecticut, USA), 10-12 February 1995.
This fourth annual conference of the Yale Student Chapter of
the International Society for Tropical
Foresters took place at Yale University.
The keynote address was given by Dr Janis Alcorn, the senior
programme officer of the Biodiversity
Support Program of the World Wildlife Fund. Dr Alcorn's
address presented the conflict between
industrialized and traditional cultures through the lens of
international conservation. She focused on the
conflict between large-scale international conservation
efforts and traditional peoples and their conservation
of local resources.
The first discussion section, 'Legal structures and local
recognition', was started by Dr George Appell,
president of the Borneo Research Council. He presented a paper
dealing with the problems of
misinterpretation of traditional land rights systems by
management regimes grounded in western thought.
This was followed by a discussion led by Dr Steve Schwartzman
of the Environmental Defense Fund, who
described efforts to reoccupy traditional Paraná
territory in Brazil, and Dr Ted Macdonald, an
anthropologist with Cultural Survival, who warned of an
asynchrony of indigenous and national political
leadership. The session was rounded out by Ing.
Sebastián Poot of Yum Balam, a community-based
integrated conservation effort in Mexico. Poot emphasized that
despite strong identification with Mayan
culture in Yum Balam, the people appreciate free
inter-cultural interaction.
The second discussion group was entitled 'Constructive market
participation,' and had been initiated by
University of Chicago anthropologist Dr Terrence Turner, who
described how the production of oils as an
ingredient in Body Shop shampoos by the Kayapo of Brazil has
resulted in a classic labour-capital
relationship. Sharon Flynn of Conservation International's
SEED enterprises countered this example with
examples of market development based strictly on the social
benefit of the products' development. Flynn
gave an extensive description of the practical components of
bringing non-timber forest products to
market.
Chico Ginu, president of the Alto Juruá Extractive
Reserve (AJER) in Brazil, contributed his
experience as a rubber tapper and community organizer
struggling to participate effectively in international
markets. Ginu pointed out that local community participation
and capacity is equally important when
considering the market potential of a product. This session
was concluded by John Friede, founder and
Director of Worldview Ltd., who brought in the big picture
with a critique of international capitalism and
the effect of GATT on local and indigenous sovereignty.
The third area of discussion, entitled 'Information
technologies', was begun by Dr Peter Poole, director of
Low Earth Observation (LEO) and a specialist in photogrammetry
and remote sensing. Poole described a
specialized aircraft developed by LEO to conduct aerial photo
surveys that can be geographically positioned
with satellite images generated by Landsat and Spot Image.
Beto Borges of the Rainforest Action Network
warned that effective networking among local peoples is
generally characterized by long-term personal
relationships. Thus the delicate transition to the information
age must be through committed individuals who
serve as a personal gateway. Richard Labelle, developer of the
SIDSNet (Small Island Developing States
Information Network) for the UNDP, addressed the age-old issue
of empowerment through information, this
time through access to the Internet. This section was
concluded by Dr Mac Chapin, director of the Center
for the Support of Native Lands, who offered a high quality
mapping technique using local talent for
surveying and requiring no remote sensing data.
The conference was concluded by an open discussion that
produced some interesting syntheses of the issues
addressed. Among these was the general agreement that the
advocacy role embraced by the participants of
the conference 'spoke to the mitigation of an otherwise
inevitably harsh confrontation between cultures.'
(Greg Dicum)
Proceedings are available from: Publications, Yale School of
Forestry and Environmental Studies, 205
Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Fax +1-203-432 5942.
Indigenous knowledge and contemporary social
issues
Tampa (Florida, USA), 3-5 March 1994.
The University of South Florida, in conjunction with the
Florida Humanities Council, the Museum of
African American Art, and the City of Tampa Housing Authority,
hosted the national symposium entitled
'Indigenous knowledge and contemporary issues'. Keynote
speakers included Bernice Johnson Reagon
(curator of the Division of Community Life of the
Smithsonian's Program in African American Culture) and
David Maybury-Lewis (professor of anthropology at Harvard
University). Unfortunately Alfonso Ortiz,
(professor of anthropology at the University of New Mexico and
past president of the Association on
American Indian Affairs) could not speak.
Over 90 people presented work on such topics as cultural
conceptions of development, comparative
conceptions of property rights, the ethics of consumption,
social disintegration and values, and
indigenous/folk healing. The specific objectives of the
conference were to present and promote research on
indigenous and folk knowledge and their application to the
solution of contemporary social and ecological
problems, to contribute to the development of a social science
perspective on comparative epistemology, and
to promote a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to
the study and application of indigenous
knowledge.
The conference was organized in such a manner as to bring
together scholars and community leaders of
various ethical backgrounds, but who share a common interest.
According to the organizers, formal and
informal evaluations of the conference indicate that the
presentations and discussion produced new insights
into the nature of the relationship between social scientists
and the people they study; the methodological
and ethical issues involved in studying the destruction or
preservation, and the application of indigenous/folk
knowledge; the relationship between scientific knowledge and
indigenous/folk knowledge; and the feasibility
of social scientists embracing a comparative epistemology.
Many of these insights will be elucidated in an
anthology to be published as a result of the conference. It is
tentatively entitled 'The indigenous perspective:
contrasting knowledge systems and the quest for
self-determination'. Currently, the organizers are
attempting to establish an interest group in the American
Anthropological Association focusing on the study
and application of subjugated knowledge. (Trevor
Purcell)
For further information relating to the conference, book
and/or AAA interest group, please contact:
Trevor Purcell, University of South Florida, Department of
Anthropology, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, SOC
107, Tampa, FL 33620-8100, USA. Tel: +1-813-974 4441. Fax:
+1-813-974 2668. E-Mail:
purcell@chuma.cas.usf.edu
Development of an interdisciplinary research approach
for understanding the co-evolution of
maize and human cultures
Ames (Iowa, USA), 29-31 August 1994.
Examination of the relationship between maize and human beings
in ancient, historic and contemporary
times in the Americas may provide insights that are critical
for understanding germplasm and resource
stewardship, and for charting future agricultural and societal
development. Such understanding requires
innovative research that synthesizes the knowledge and methods
of various disciplines and
perspectives.
A workshop, sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred International and
hosted by USDA-ARS North Central Regional
Plant Introduction Station and Iowa State University, brought
together scientists from several disciplines and
specialists in the conservation of cultural heritage and the
management of germplasm.
Participants, who came from the USA and Mexico, represented
academia, industry, government, tribal
offices and non-profit organizations. They identified areas of
mutual interest, established long-term
objectives, explored approaches and technologies for
addressing those objectives and proposed a research
programme.
The proposed research programme provides a step-by-step,
multidisciplinary approach to the study of the
co-evolution of maize and human cultures. It will address
issues relevant to several fields, including
agriculture, anthropology, archaeology, genetics and resource
management. It will examine modern,
historic, and ancient maize and human cultures, and how these
evolved and are related through time and
across geographic areas. Research will focus initially on the
southwestern USA and adjacent northwestern
Mexico. It will uncover patterns in both the genetic diversity
of maize races, and the connections between
maize and human cultures. It will integrate the knowledge
systems of Native Americans with those of the
scientific community, thus enhancing the general understanding
of human-maize relationships. In addition, it
will help conserve indigenous human cultures and biological
resources. The programme will provide
technical and interdisciplinary training for students of
anthropology, archaeology, agriculture, genetic
resource management, genetics and molecular biology.
The details regarding the organization and funding of such a
comprehensive research programme remain to
be worked out, but its scientific basis was outlined during
the workshop. The programme will represent a
partnership between academia, government (USA and Mexico),
industry, tribal offices and non-profit
organizations. Indigenous peoples will be consulted and
included as an integral part of the planning and
implementation. Important elements of the research plan were
identified and a timetable drafted. Workshop
proceedings will be published. (D. Muenchrath, P.
Bretting, J.S.C. Smith and K.R.
Adams)
For more information, please contact:
Dr Peter Bretting at USDA-ARS North Central Regional Plant
Introduction Station, Agronomy Hall
G214,Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-1010, USA.
Indaba on indigenous
knowledge and
practice
Cape Town (South Africa), 24 November 1995.
The Indaba was held at the South African Museum in Cape Town.
The theme of the Indaba was on
'Gathering and using indigenous knowledge'.
Dr R.E. Mazur (Associate Director for Research, CIKARD) opened
the Indaba by providing an
international perspective on the indigenous knowledge
movement. The Indaba presentations were organized
under three sections of indigenous knowledge: Traditional
medicine and its uses, indigenous knowledge and
environmental management, and indigenous values in human
practice. Major presenters at the Indaba were
Phillip Kubukeli (President, Western Cape Traditional Healers
and Herbalists Association), Isaac Mayeng
(Research Officer, Dept of Chemistry, Univ. of Cape Town),
Prof Bruce McKenzie (Dept of Botany, Univ.
of the Western Cape), Tami Sokutu (ANC Environmental Desk),
James Barnes (Ngati Porou Maori
Council), Prof Kwaku Osei-Hwedie (Dept of Social Work, Univ.
of Botswana) and Dr Felix Dakora (Dept
of Botany, Univ of Cape Town).
Indigenous practitioners, community workers, academics and
other interested parties participated in the
Indaba. A large contingent of traditional healers attended the
Indaba in full ceremonial dress and their
participation included offerings of ritual music.
It became clear during the summary and report back session
that the main focus of interest at the Indaba
was on traditional healing and plant use. The Indaba provided
an unique opportunity for traditional healers
and academics to meet on a equal footing and present their own
points of view. Another reported concern
was of the lost of identity and recognition of the indigenous
knowledge of the Khoi-san people, the oldest
remaining original inhabitants of South Africa.
SARCIK is engaged in editing the proceedings of the Indaba
with the cooperation of the Human Sciences
Research Council and plans to produce a publication of the
presentations during the year. In addition to the
publication of the presentations at the Indaba, SARCIK
received a favourable response to a general
invitation for submission of papers for publication which
would not be for presentation at the Indaba. It
became clear by examining these submitted papers, which were
received from all over Southern Africa, that
the general thrust of these papers was their common interest
and research in the area of traditional medicine
and plant use, traditional healing, and traditional
agricultural practices, in that order of occurrence.
(Hans Normann)
Persons interested in receiving more information on the
Indaba and the planned publication should
contact Hans Normann at SARCIK, P.O. Box 2335, 8000 Cape Town,
South Africa. Tel:+27-21-242012.
Fax: +27-21-232168. E-mail: hansn@iaccess.za
IV International Congress of Ethnobiology
Lucknow (India), 17-21 November 1994.
The biannual congress organized under the International
Society of Ethnobiology (ISE) was hosted by the
Indian Society of Ethnobotany and attended by over 250
delegates. Over 150 papers were presented in 28
symposia covering a wide range of topics including
ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, ethnozoology, folk
classification, intellectual property rights and sustainable
utilization of biological resources. Several
distinguished lectures from prominent ethnobiologists were
given. Proceedings will be published in the
journal of the Indian Society of Ethnobotany.
The Lucknow congress was the fourth since the society met for
the first time in Belem (Brazil) in 1988.
Subsequent conferences were held in 1990 in Kunming (China)
and in 1992 in Mexico City (Mexico). The
next congress (the fifth) will be held in Nairobi (Kenya)
towards the end of 1996. Christine Kabuye, who
was elected president of the ISE for the next two years, will
be in charge of the preparation for the fifth ISE
congress.
Pre-congress training workshops took place in various parts of
India prior to the ISE congress. A
programme of training was offered from 7 to 12 November in
Karagpur, West Bengal. This included a
course on ethnobiology, a seminar on minor forest products, a
workshop on the medicinal plants of India
and a one-week course on assessment methods for joint forest
management (JFM) as regards non-timber
forest products (NTFP). Participants were able to see success
cases where indigenous communities and the
Forest Department have jointly and successfully managed sal
(Shorea robusta)
forests.
Citation from a warden: '......previously the forest had been
degraded to 'tea bushes'. Conflicts between
rangers and the communities were frequent and relations were
bad. Degradation affected forest resources
used by the community. In 1991, Village Forest Protection
Committees were set up following a government
order to involve communities in the management of the forest
and the sharing of benefits. My work in the
jungle has been made easy since then. The communities feel
they have a duty to protect the forest. They
carry out the surveillance, arrest people if necessary and
even punish...'
From the forest, local communities obtain sal leaves for
making plates and bowls, as well as mushrooms,
tubers, resins, neem, cocoons, medicine and other products.
The Rural Development Centre has built upon
this indigenous technology of making leaf plates, and together
with the communities has developed a
mechanical press for pressing the leaves into plates and
bowls. The pressed leaves are stronger and more
presentable.
The sal leaf business among the indigenous communities of
Panishula Susnigeria villages in Midnapore
District is a big one, rivalled only by the business of making
ropes and furniture from sabai
grass. In Baligaria Hat, the grass, which brings in more
income than rice, is now grown in rice
paddies and marketed by the tonnes in the form of bundles of
either grass or rope. The Rural Development
Centre is collaborating with the communities in order to
diversify the products made from this grass, which
has a high tensile strength. Furniture made from sabai
grass is a marvel of the arts.
A traditional beer is made from the nectar-filled flowers of
mahua (Madhuca
latifolia-sapotaceae), a large tree normally preserved in
rice fields. In terms of strength, this beer
can approach common spirits, or chang'aa of Kenya.
Together with witnessing silkworm
cultivation, and the harvesting and selling of edible ants,
this beer makes a person feel that he or she is at
the centre of ethnobiology.
Participants concluded that Midnapore District of West Bengal
is a paradise for ethnobiologists.
(Patrick Maundu)
For ISE membership, please contact C.H.S. Kabuye at KENRIK:
P.O. Box 40658, Nairobi, Kenya. Tel:
+254-2-742131. Fax: +254-2-741424.
For a copy of the proceedings, please contact Dr S.K. Jain
NBRI, Lucknow 22601, India. Fax: +91-522-
271031/35.
Local knowledge: The relevance of culture-specific
knowledge systems for the development
process
Bonn/Bad Godesberg (Germany), 7-9 October 1994.
This conference was co-organized by the Karl-Arnold-Stiftung
and the University of Hamburg, in
conjunction with the Working Group on Development Anthropology
(AGEE E.v.) and sponsored by the
BMZ. The AGEE is a non-profit-making association of
interdisciplinary-oriented anthropologists, social
scientists and development practitioners whose aim is to
promote an exchange of information among the
parties involved in development cooperation.
The main purpose of the meeting was to present and discuss the
relevance of local knowledge to
development policy measures. Divided over a number of working
groups, some 25 experts presented papers
recalling their encounters with local knowledge in their work
in projects involving the environment, health
and agriculture/nutrition. They told also of various methods
for passing on knowledge and described aspects
of the social organization surrounding knowledge.
The conference began with the presentation of two papers which
clearly illustrated the current differences in
perceptions of local knowledge. For development agencies,
'knowledge carriers' are understood to be
mainly local experts. In social anthropology, however, local
knowledge is looked upon as the culturally-
anchored wealth of experience accumulated by social groups in
their struggle with environment.
All the development professionals present agreed that local
knowledge offers great potential for
development. If local knowledge is included, a joint effort
can be made to avert development disasters. To
this end, a paradigm change in development-related science and
in development cooperation is needed. The
belief in technology transfer that still predominates must be
replaced by a model of intercultural dialogue
based on the equality of indigenous and western knowledge
systems and the mutual enrichment achieved
through their exchange.
When both the local situation and the needs of the people are
more specifically analyzed, bad investments
and development disasters can be avoided in the future. This
can occur with the help of participatory
methods such as have been propagated over the years under such
names as Participatory Rural Appraisal
(PRA), Participatory Technology Development (PTD) and
Participatory Learning Approaches.
Many participants saw great danger in the misuse of knowledge.
It was repeatedly emphasized that it is
almost impossible to draw exact demarcation lines between
local knowledge and scientific knowledge. This
emerged clearly during the final panel discussion during the
meeting at which representatives of BMZ, GTZ
and DED explored the topic 'Local knowledge in development
cooperation: antagonism-threat-
opportunity'.
The head of the BMZ division responsible, Gero Jentsch,
presented the federal government's ideas on the
incorporation of local knowledge into development cooperation.
An effort is being made to apply and
support local knowledge through the increased participation of
local experts. In order to improve the way
that local realities are recorded, orientation phases are
frequently being added to the start of projects. The
BMZ concepts of local knowledge and the sociocultural
dimension have not yet been adopted by the
implementing organizations to the extent desired.
Regarding the GTZ, it was observed that over the last few
years there has been a trend in favour of
promoting locally focused approaches to problem-solving. If
these are to be applied within projects more
systematically, new structural conditions must be created for
those projects. Local groups should preferably
make their own contributions so that local knowledge can be
more intensely utilized. In order to achieve
this, more local or international mediators must be engaged as
experts on the cultural area involved.
Furthermore, participatory procedures have to be applied
consistently.
An intense debate followed a suggestion made by a
representative of a consulting firm to the BMZ and other
implementing institutions. The consultant had recommended
extending the design phase of projects. The
issues at hand were time and cost. An agreement was finally
reached and a majority accepted the fact that
projects would indeed be more expensive if participatory
methods were used in an extended orientation
phase. At the same time, however, development disasters could
be averted. It is therefore absolutely
necessary to consult local experts, and to integrate local
groups into the initial design phase of a
project.
The results of the meeting are being documented by the AGEE
and will be published in the form of a
conference document (in German only) in the spring of 1995.
For further information, also concerning how
to obtain this special issue, please contact:
AGEE e.V. c/o Institut für Völkerkunde der
Universität zu Köln, Albertus
Magnus Platz, 50923 Köln, Germany. Tel: +49-221-558098.
Fax: +49-221-554440.
Indigenous knowledge in the
conservation of crop genetic resources
Cisarua (Indonesia), 30 January-3 February
1995.
Plants and animals are becoming extinct at an alarming rate.
Deforestation, pollution, overexploitation, the
conversion of land to agriculture and ranching, the spread of
high-yield crop varieties and animal breeds--all
of this is eating into the world's fragile genetic resource
base. Efforts to conserve biodiversity have so far
focused on conserving the genetic information--in the form of
seeds stored in germplasm banks and as living
communities of plants and animals in conservation areas. But
much less attention has been given to the
information that local people have about genetic resources and
conserving crops.
The workshop attempted to bridge this gap. It was organized by
the International Potato Center for the
ESCAP-Region and the Central Research Institute for Food
Crops, both located in Bogor (Indonesia). Some
65 researchers, extensionists and staff members of
non-governmental organizations from Indonesia,
Singapore and The Philippines attended three days of plenary
sessions and discussions in working groups
and took part in a one-day field visit. About 20 plenary
papers were presented. They dealt with case studies
describing genetic conservation, indigenous knowledge (IK) in
communities, and related topics such as
ethnobotany, methods and approaches for recording IK, ex situ
conservation and technical aspects of crops.
The working groups discussed the documentation of IK relating
to crop conservation, strategies for in situ
conservation, and IK in agricultural development.
The workshop demonstrated that there is a growing interest in
the role that indigenous knowledge can play
in the conservation of genetic resources. However, there is
still a long way to go before IK will be routinely
collected and stored together with germplasm, both in
communities (in situ) and in gene banks (ex situ). The
workshop also reflected a growing awareness of issues related
to intellectual property rights, and the need to
help local people to benefit from their own knowledge. (Dr
E. Mathias)
For further information, please contact:
International Potato Center Bogor, P.O. Box 929, Bogor 16309,
Indonesia. Tel: +62-251-317951. Fax:
+62-251-316264.
INDISCO Technical
Review
Meeting
Chiang Mai, Thailand, 13-16 December 1994
INDISCO
held a technical review meeting
in order to discuss the initial results of its eight pilot
projects, and the plans for the future. The participants
also discussed the training needs of the partner indigenous
and tribal communities, and the guidelines that
have been drafted for INDISCO extension workers on extension
techniques, tribal life and culture,
environment and natural resource management, and indigenous
knowledge systems and practices.
Technical input was also provided regarding new modalities for
indigenous and tribal peoples, participatory
planning, monitoring and evaluation, revolving loan fund
operations, and the use of indigenous knowledge
systems in natural resource management. The meeting provided
an opportunity for participants to discuss
with donor representatives the initial results of the pilot
projects, and to receive information about the
donors' priorities and policies regarding indigenous and
tribal peoples.
The following four technical papers were presented at the
meeting:
Working disparate knowledge systems
together
Geelong (Australia), 26-27 November 1994.
The Deakin Social Studies of Science Unit (Victoria,
Australia) has long had the practice of including
non-western knowledge traditions in the curricula it develops.
In keeping with this, a seminar was organized
under the title 'Working disparate knowledge systems
together'. The idea of the seminar was publicized as
widely as possible, and the workshop was then structured
around the responses received from Aborigines,
Maoris and people interested in the Chinese knowledge
tradition. As a result, twice as much time was given
to talking and workshops as was given to the formal
presentation of papers.
The formal sessions began with an overview of the work of
David Turnbull and Helen Verran. Their work
has recently been published (Turnbull, D. and H. Watson-Verran
(1995) Science and other indigenous
knowledge systems pp. 115-139 in S. Jasanoff, G. Markle, T.
Pinch and J. Petersen (eds) Handbook of
science and technology studies. Thousand Oaks: Sage
Publications.) The first afternoon was devoted to
Aboriginal knowledge traditions, with Paul Brown (UNSW) and
Cath Laudine (Macquarie) giving papers
and Peter Ferguson leading the workshops. The second day
started with papers on the Chinese tradition
presented by Henry Chan (Newcastle) and Rey Tiquia
(Melbourne). It finished with a session on the Maori
tradition, with papers presented by Pam Ringwood (Auckland)
and Mere Roberts (Auckland), and
workshops led by Kiri Jacobs, Marie-Ann Selkirk, Pat King and
Pauline Waiti from the Faculty of Maori
Education at the Institute of Technology, Auckland. Halfway
through the second day a large group of
Aborigines arrived in the company of their elder Dawn Wolf.
This was a very significant event for the
seminar participants. But the real action took place in the
discussions.
The central issue to emerge was the question of autonomy and
control over indigenous knowledge. Can and
should white Australians talk meaningfully of Aboriginal
traditions, for example? At one point it was
suggested that comparative scientific traditions and
indigenous knowledge systems are two different things
and should be kept separate in order to give indigenous
knowledge an autonomous status. The organizers
were highly resistant to this idea, believing that if you
accept it everything will remain the same. Western
science will continue to be dominant and indigenous knowledge
marginalized. Further, it was argued that we
all need cultural diversity for our survival and therefore we
have to work out ways in which different
knowledge traditions can speak to each other.
There was strong feeling amongst the Aborigines and Maoris
that the whites had failed to cede power and
control and, as usual, were setting the agenda. The organizers
attempted to resolve this by discussing how
the seminar results should be communicated: by way of a
report, a video and/or published papers. It was
agreed that the most important part of the seminar had been
the informal sessions, and that the focus should
be on a report to which all participants would contribute by
writing their own responses to the weekend's
events. The Sciences in Society Centre should then seek the
assistance of the Institute of Koori Education to
publish the report and edit a video film. This process is now
underway and will hopefully produce some
interesting examples of disparate knowledges working together.
(David Turnbull and Helen
Verran)
For more information, please contact:
David Turnbull, Social Studies of Science, School of Social
Inquiry, Faculty of Arts, Deakin University,
Geelong, 3217 Victoria, Australia. Tel: +61-52-271334. Fax:
+61-52-272018.