CIKO
Cameroon Indigenous Knowledge Organisation
Prof. C.N. Ngwasiri, Director (Corresponding editor)
P.O. Box 170, Buea, South West Province
Cameroon.
Tel.: +237-322 181.
Fax: +237-430 813.
E-mail: ngwasiri@ciko.sdncmr.undp.org

The founder and director of CIKO, Professor C.N. Ngwasiri, regrets that he has been unable to submit a report on his centre's activities since the December 1996 issue of the Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor. Communicating from Buea has been very difficult, which is why CIKO is now setting up office in Yaounde. Communication from there will be easier. Once everything is in place in the new office, regular reports from CIKO will resume.

ARCIK
African Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge
Prof. Adedotun Phillips, Director (Corresponding editor)
Dr Tunji Titilola, Research Coordinator
Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER)
PMB 5 – UI Post Office, Ibadan
Nigeria.
Tel.: +234-22-400 500.
Fax: +234-22-416 129 or +234-1-614 397.
E-mail: niser.nigeria@lagosmail.sprint.com

Under the title 'Indigenous and tribal peoples in West Africa', ARCIK coordinated a survey of selected population groups in Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Cameroon. The survey was conducted in collaboration with the following organizations:

• Nigerian Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (NIRCIK);
• Ghana Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (GHARCIK);
• Burkina Faso Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (BURCIK);
• Cameroon Indigenous Knowledge Organization (CIKO).

The survey had three objectives:

• to establish socio-economic profiles of the chosen communities which describe their legal and institutional frameworks, and their indigenous knowledge systems and practices;
• to identify problems hindering the development of these communities,
• to identify possibilities for rural employment that make use of indigenous knowledge in order to help achieve sustainable long-term development.

The survey has been published as INDISCO Discussion Paper No. 1 and is available free of charge from: the Cooperative Branch of the International Labour Office, P.O. Box, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland
Fax: +41-22-799 8572.

YORCIK
Yoruba Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge
Prof. Layi Egunjobi, Coordinator
Dr Bolanle Wahab, Corresponding editor
Centre for Urban and Regional Planning
University of Ibadan, Ibadan
Nigeria.
E-mail: uigislab@infoweb.abs.net (ATTN: Professor Layi Egunjobi) or
library@kdl.ui.edu.nl (ATTN: Professor Layi Egunjobi)

First ethnic-group-based IK resource centre is established

On Monday, 5 January 1998, the establishment of the Yoruba Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (YORCIK) was inaugurated with a first official meeting of the coordinator and the three co-coordinators. This new IK resource centre is the first one based on an ethnic group.

The meeting began with one minute of silence for the late Professor Mike Warren, who passed away on Sunday, December 28, 1997 at Ara town, Osun State (Nigeria). Professor Warren had been scheduled to chair the inaugural meeting. In fact, this was one of the main reasons he was in Nigeria last December. The participants praised the late professor's good work in the area of indigenous knowledge systems and practices, and pledged to carry on his work both within and outside Nigeria. YORCIK will hold a meeting soon to discuss a One-Year Remembrance Programme in his honour.

The nucleus of YORCIK is formed by four IK study groups, one at each of four institutions: the University of Ibadan; Ibadan Polytechnic; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; and the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER).

The directors of the study groups are involved in YORCIK as follows. Professor Layi Egunjobi of the Centre for Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan, will serve as the first coordinator of YORCIK. The three co-coordinators of YORCIK are: Dr Tunji Titilola of the Department of Agricultural Economics (NISER); Dr Bolanle Wahab of the Department of Town Planning, Ibadan Polytechnic; and Dr M. O. Osunade of the Department of Geography, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

The resolutions adopted at the inaugural meeting included the following:

BARCIK
Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge
Sukanta Sen, Coordinator
Parimal Kumar Ray, Corresponding editor
IARD, 5/13, Block E, Lalmatia, Dhaka - 1207
Bangladesh.
Fax: +880-2-815 548 att.: IARD

Professor Paul Sillitoe, of the Anthropology Department of Durham University (UK), who is involved in the IK research project on the floodplains of Bangladesh, recently paid a visit to BARCIK to discuss the possibility of organizing a joint workshop on 'the state of indigenous knowledge in Bangladesh'. It was agreed that with the financial support of DFID (UK), a workshop will be held on 6 and 7 May 1998 in the British Council Auditorium. The purpose of this national workshop will be to enable participants to share experiences regarding the present status of indigenous knowledge in various fields of rural development: health, crop production, agriculture, fisheries, etc. The participants will be anthropologists, researchers in other fields, and development practitioners at national, regional and international levels. Plans for future interventions will be developed on the basis of the workshop's findings and recommendations.

BARCIK has great plans for 1998. All year BARCIK will be conducting workshops on the subject of indigenous knowledge and sustainable development. These will be held at the regional level in different parts of the country, and will address six issues related to indigenous knowledge.

Next, BARCIK will organize six meetings in Dhaka for the purpose of roundtable discussion. Participants will include development practitioners at grassroots level, anthropologists, and policy planners at national and local levels. The recommendations from the workshops and meetings will be translated into practical terms for implementation in the field.

BARCIK also plans to provide a training course for six groups of development workers—150 people altogether. The subject will be indigenous knowledge and sustainable development.

As regards research, BARCIK is currently drafting proposals for action research on two topics: 'Medicinal plants' and 'Indigenous groups and cultural behaviour of tribal areas'. BARCIK has contacted CARIKS in India, and plans to contact other regional and national resource centres in India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines regarding possibilities for collaboration.

CARIKS
Centre for Advanced Research on Indigenous Knowledge Systems
Dr Jan Brouwer, Director
Ms S.L. Meenu, Corresponding editor
P.O. Box 1, Saraswathipuram
Mysore 570009
India.
Tel.: +91-821-542 467.
Fax: +91-821-542 459.

On 10-12 December 1997, director Dr Jan Brouwer of CARIKS participated in an international seminar on Small enterprise development: the international experience and Asia-Pacific imperatives, organized by the Institute of Small Enterprises and Development (ISED) at Cochin (India) in collaboration with the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). Dr Brouwer presented a case study on small enterprises in South India, which demonstrated a conflict between modern and indigenous perceptions in the small enterprise workplace. In India, modern and indigenous concepts of money, loan, debt, and profits collide. He also observed contrasting perceptions of the concepts 'quality' and 'finished product'. Also, in the indigenous system there is a single network of producers and consumers (horizontal production), whereas in the modern economy producers and consumers belong to different networks (vertical production). The modern survival strategy for small enterprises is based on the concept of the finished product, whereas the indigenous survival strategy is linked with the unfinished product.

The conference marks the beginning of a new application of the concept of indigenous knowledge (IK). As a sequel to the conference, CARIKS wants to advocate the IK component also among the economists, financial experts and others who are not all yet convinced that the IK component does play a significant role in the management of small enterprises and the quality of their products. Even in high-tech industries, it was found that in India, the Japanese form of management could only be successfully implemented for 60 per cent. The remaining 40 per cent conflicted with indigenous practices based on indigenous concepts of social relationships and forms of management.

The CARIKS research unit plans to study the indigenous knowledge component in small and medium enterprises in the light of economic globalization.

On 2-8 January 1998, CARIKS director Brouwer participated in a seven-day international meeting on Popular cultures and social cultural action at the Auditorium of the Bharat Agro Industry Foundation, Pune (India). The inspiring meeting was organized by the Centre for Cooperative Research in Social Sciences (CCRSS) in collaboration with the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH) of the French Embassy at New Delhi. (See report under Conferences.)

CIKIB
Centre for Indigenous Knowledge on Indian Bioresources
Dr S.K. Jain, Director (Corresponding editor)
c/o Institute of Ethnobiology
National Botanical Research Institute
P.O. Box 436, Lucknow 226001
India.
Tel.: +91-522-224 556
Fax: +91-522-282 849.

Ethnobotanical research recently helped India to win a patents battle. In 1995, the Medical Centre of the University of Mississippi (USA) applied for a patent on the use of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) as a wound-healing agent (U.S. patent No. 5,401,504). The patent had six claims. The government of India challenged the patent, arguing that this use of turmeric is not a new discovery; it has been well known in India for centuries. Indian researchers examined a vast amount of literature on ancient uses of the plant, including publications and manuscripts in various Indian languages. They selected a few key references in support of the challenge they would place before the Patent and Trademark Office in the USA. CIKIB director Dr S.K Jain proudly mentions that one of the selected references was his own work on ethnobotany: S.K. Jain (1991) Dictionary of Indian folk medicine and ethnobotany. New Delhi: Deep Publications (see IK&DM 1(2)).

On 13 August 1997 the American patent office mailed a Final Rejection to applicant rejecting all six claims. This highlights the value of critical ethnobiological research for safeguarding intellectal property rights that are based on the bioresources and indigenous knowledge of any given region.

On 27-29 November 1997, CIKIB's director, Dr Jain, participated in the national symposium on Biodiversity, conservation and evolution of plants at the Department of Botany, University of Allahabad (India), where he delivered an invited lecture on 'Biodiversity, man and conservation'.

On 12 December 1997, Dr Jain delivered a lecture on 'Concepts of biodiversity' in the workshop Assessment of floral biodiversity in countries of South Asia, which was organized by the South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) and the Botanical Survey of India, and held in Calcutta on 12-16 December 1997.

As part of the ongoing CSIR project Comparative studies on ethnobotany between India and Latin America, Indian sources (Ayurvedic and recent works on ethnomedicine) were examined for references to medicinal uses of plants that have been documented in Latin American communities. It was found that some 50 plants are used in ways that are not known in India. The next step will be to publish a small booklet or paper in the Indian language to draw attention to the Latin American uses, and to urge local doctors to try them out.

Based on these comparative ethnobotanical studies, Dr Jain and his research associate, Dr R.L.S. Sikarwar, have published two more articles in the journal Ethnobotany (Vol. 9, 1997). The first is entitled 'On ethnobotanic aspects of some plants in Latin America', the other one (in Hindi) is called 'Studies on comparative ethnobotany of India and South America'.

CIKIB's sectoral coordinators for 1998

Dr B.B. Goswami (Lucknow)
Dr Ved Prakash (Lucknow)
Dr R.R. Rao (Lucknow)
Dr A. Saklani (Lucknow)
Dr Shanta Mehrotra (Lucknow)
Dr R.L.S. Sikarwar (Lucknow)
Dr (Km) Sneh Lata (Lucknow)
Professor P. Sensarma (Calcutta)
Dr V. Mudgal (Calcutta)
Dr D.C. Pal (Calcutta)
Dr V.P. Upadhyay (Calcutta)
Dr S.K. Borthakur (Assam)
Dr K.K. Chakravarty (Bhopal)
Dr Peter Paul Hembrum (Bihar)
Dr A.K. Jain (Gwalior)
Dr Brij Lal (Himayal Pradesh)
Dr M.V. Vishwanathan (New Delhi)
Dr Archana Godbole (Pune)
Dr Prabhakar Joshi (Rajastham)
Dr P. Pushpangadan (Thiruvananthpuram)
Dr V.K. Joshi (Varanasi)

INRIK
Indonesian Resource Center for Indigenous Knowledge
Prof. Kusnaka Adimihardja, Director (Corresponding editor)
UPT Inrik-Unpad
Ruang K-3, JI. Dipati Ukur 35
Bandung 40132, West Java
Indonesia.
Tel.: +62-22-250 3271 ext. 111.
Fax: +62-22-250 1977/237416.
E-mail: inrik@melsa.net.in

In the December 1997 issue of the Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, we reported that in January--with support from the West Java Governmental Development Planning Office--INRIK would begin a study of the importance of traditional social institutions in West Java. Because of the monetary crisis in Indonesia, this project has been delayed indefinitely.

INRIK has begun to work with the NGO Lembaga Tropis Alam Indonesia to help develop a manual for Indonesian NGOs describing techniques for conducting research on local knowledge. INRIK recently wrote to the Rainforest Medical Foundation (the Netherlands) expressing its interest in presenting the travelling exhibit 'Rainforests for health' in Bandung (Indonesia). (See also the notice under Networks, international organizations.)

In February 1998, CUSO-Canada volunteer Marc Clemens and a Kasepuhan farmer from the Mount Halimun area of West Java will go together to Bangladesh for a two-week programme which includes a meeting of farmers and weavers, and a learning session on organic farming. This South-South exchange is being supported by CUSO Canada.

INRIK's other plans for 1998 include a study of the changes in structure and function of West Java's home gardens over the last two decades. The findings wil be used to predict the role of the home garden in providing income at the local level after the year 2000. INRIK is currently seeking funds for this project. INRIK is also looking for funding that would enable it to carry out two studies in the Mount Halimun area: one devoted to indigenous knowledge and technology related to the cultivation and development of herbal medicines; and the other focusing on the development of traditional agroforestry systems. INRIK would welcome enquiries from potential partners interested in doing joint research in the Mount Halimum area of West Java.

ELLRIK
Elliniko Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge
Dr C. Lionis, Coordinator (Corresponding editor)
Medical School, Department of Social Medicine
University of Crete
P.O. Box 1393, Heraklion, Crete
Greece.
Tel.: +30-81-394 621.
Fax: +30-81-542 120.
E-mail: lionis@fortezza.cc.ucr.gr

ELLRIK continues to document and study traditional medicine in Greece. Indigenous knowledge concerning the practices of folk healers in Crete was reported in an article entitled 'Back to the Dioscorides period: traces of Ancient Greek medicine in the practices of a folk healer in a well-defined area of rural Crete, Greece'. This article, which was written by the coordinator of ELLRIK, Dr C. Lionis, will be published in a special issue of Curare—Zeitschrift für Ethnomedizin und transkulturelle Psychiatrie which is focussed on the subject 'Therapeutic concepts in transcultural comparison'.

One of ELLRIK's priorities is to foster research on the use of herbs for medicinal purposes. At present, the Department of Social Medicine, Medical Faculty, of the University of Crete (Greece), is conducting research on the anti-oxidative effect of the most commonly used Cretan herbs. This project is supported by ELLRIK.

The future plans of ELLRIK include improving its facilities for electronic communication. The ELLRIK homepage on the World Wide Web is in preparation.

The Netherlands

CIRAN
Centre for International Research and Advisory Networks
Drs G.W. von Liebenstein, Director
Nuffic-CIRAN
P.O. Box 29777, 2502 LT The Hague
The Netherlands.
Tel.: +31-70-4260 321.
Fax: +31-70-4260 329.
E-mail: ciran@nuffic.nl
ikdm@nuffic.nl

With deep regret, CIRAN director Guus von Liebenstein sent a letter on 8 January 1998 to members of the international indigenous knowledge network who had known Dr D.M. Warren, to inform them that Dr Warren had died unexpectedly in Nigeria on 28 December 1997. Dr Warren was the director of CIKARD and a member of the editorial board of the Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor. The letter evoked many responses expressing sadness at this loss--yet another indication of how Dr Warren will be missed as a teacher, colleague and friend.

In the December 1997 issue of the Monitor, CIRAN wrote about the new service it is offering to the international IK network: IK-pages on the Internet. Members of the network were asked to help make the IK-pages more relevant and useful, and to send CIRAN any news about primary or secondary Internet sources of indigenous knowledge so that links to these sources can be added to the IK-pages. Already, links to 111 new URLs (homepages of organizations or electronic documents) have been added, bringing the total to 278. Searches for information on IK-related issues are made easier by the headings under which the links are placed: 'topics', 'regions' and 'organizations'. The IK-pages can be browsed, but it is also possible to do full-text searches on specific subjects. Users are encouraged to let CIRAN know of any important websites or organizations that are missing. All comments and suggestions are also most welcome.

Mr Von Liebenstein visited Harare (Zimbabwe) in January 1998 to discuss plans to establish a national indigenous knowledge network in Zimbabwe, as well as a Zimbabwean Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (ZIRCK). The visit was initiated by Mr Wilbert Sadomba of Grassroots Consultants in Harare. With the support of Mr Washington Chipfunde (of Grassroots Consultants), meetings were held with individuals from various disciplines, sectors and organizations, and with the indigenous knowledge taskforce chaired by Dr Claude Mararike, Professor of Rural Development at the University of Zimbabwe. The central topics of discussion were: the agenda for the development of IK policy in Zimbabwe; the identification of stakeholders and financial resources; organizational and institutional aspects (including the ZIRCK plan of action); and the next steps to be taken to prepare a national workshop on indigenous knowledge in Zimbabwe. A meeting was also held at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Harare to inform the sector specialists on the initiatives in Zimbabwe.

While in Africa, the director of CIRAN also visited Johannesburg (South Africa), where he met with Dr Wally Serote (member of the South African Parliament) and Ms Gugu Moloi (then of CSIR). The Science and Technology Portfolio Committee, chaired by Dr Serote, is currently in the process of formulating an indigenous-knowledge policy for South Africa. (See also the notice under Networks, international organizations)

LEAD
Leiden Ethnosystems And Development Programme
Dr L. Jan Slikkerveer, Director
Institute of Cultural and Social Studies
University of Leiden
P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden
The Netherlands.
Tel.: +31-71-527 3469.
Fax: +31-71-527 3619.
E-mail: slikkerveer@rulfsw.leidenUniv.nl

The members of the indigenous knowledge and systems research and training consortium (IKS R&T consortium): LEAD, INRIK, MAICH, had reached an agreement to undertake a new research programme in agroforestry development in Indonesia and Malaysia. In line with the agreement, LEAD's director, Dr L.J. Slikkerveer, has prepared a new project proposal entitled Indigenous agroforestry knowledge systems in Indonesia and Malaysia: towards synergy for sustainable agriculture and rural development in South-East Asia, and submitted it to the European Commission in Brussels. For the programme, the consortium will be strengthened by a Malaysian counterpart.

Dr Slikkerveer represented LEAD at the 1997 World Forum on Conservation and Development, held in Istanbul (Turkey) on 15-20 November 1997. He presented a paper at the session chaired by Dr D.A. Posey on 'Cultural and spiritual values of biodiversity'.

In January 1998, LEAD was host to Dr N. Barwa from the Martha Tilaar Foundation, an Indonesian NGO based in Jakarta. The aim of Dr Barwa's visit was to discuss further preparations for new interdisciplinary activities of the extended IKS R&T consortium involving research on ethnobotanical knowledge systems in West Java. One result was that Dr Slikkerveer finalized the project proposal on Indigenous botanical knowledge systems for sustainable medicinal plant conservation and use in West Java and submitted it to a funding agency.

Dr John Markakis, a visiting professor at LEAD from the University of Crete (Greece), together with Dr Slikkerveer and LEAD's research associate Mr Y. Gheneti, are presently preparing a new research project on agro-pastoralism in the Horn of Africa. Research on indigenous knowledge is to be conducted in Ethiopia and Kenya. The proposal will soon be finalized and submitted to an international agency for funding.

Recently, Dr Slikkerveer visited Indonesia to participate in several meetings at the Indonesian Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (INRIK) in Bandung, and to hold further talks with the Martha Tilaar Foundation in Jakarta.

VERSIK
Venezuelan Resource Secretariat for Indigenous Knowledge
Dr Consuelo Quiroz, National Coordinator (Corresponding editor)
Centre for Tropical Alternative Agriculture and Sustainable Development (CATADI)
University of The Andes, Núcleo 'Rafael Range'
Apartado Postal # 22
Trujillo 3102, Estado Trujillo
Venezuela.
Tel.: +58-72-721 672.
Fax: +58-72-362 177.
E-mail: cquiroz@ing.ula.ve

VERSIK is still working on reformulating the proposal entitled 'Local knowledge systems, agrobiodiversity and gender. Case: traditional food plants in Trujillo state, Venezuela', which has been submitted to the Kellogg Foundation for funding.

VERSIK's plans for 1998 include starting up a project entitled 'Local knowledge systems about traditional food plants, gender and agrobiodiversity. A case from selected rural communities in Trujillo State, Venezuela'. This project will be funded by the National Council for Scientific Research. VERSIK has also been approached by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, in Rome (Italy), about possibilities for undertaking a collaborative project.

CIKARD
Center for Indigenous Knowledge for Agriculture and Rural Development
Dr Norma Wolff, Associate Director
318 Curtiss Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011
USA.
Tel.: +1-515-294 0938.
Fax: +1-515-294 6058.
E-mail: nhwolff@iastate.edu

CIKARD deeply regrets having to announce the death of our director, Dr Dennis Michael Warren. He died at home in Ara (Nigeria) on 28 December 1997. Although he will be greatly missed, CIKARD staff and volunteers are working diligently to see that his dynamic and fundamentally important work continues.

In the months prior to his death, Dr Warren presented papers at several meetings and conferences on the topic of indigenous knowledge. At the ILO-INDISCO donor consultation meeting in New Delhi (India), 4-8 November 1997, Dr Warren presented a paper on 'Preserving and promoting traditional jobs through indigenous knowledge.' On his return to the USA, he was the keynote speaker at an Indiana University conference on Preserving Ghana's oral heritage (9 November 1997). His address was entitled 'Preserving Ghana's heritage: a personal pathway leading to the global network of indigenous knowledge resource centers.' On 17 November 1997, Dr Warren presented the paper 'Who "owns" indigenous knowledge? Intellectual property rights, ethics and indigenous knowledge' to members of the African Studies Program at Michigan State University (USA). In December he traveled to Venice (Italy) to give a paper, 'The practical application of indigenous knowledge systems' at the Instituto Veneto di Science, Lettere ed Arti intenational conference on Nature knowledge (4-6 December 1997).

Dr Warren was very pleased to be able to finalize the arrangements for the new ethnic-based IK resource center in Ghana after his arrival there in December. The Bonoman Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (BORCIK) was inaugurated on 24 December 1997 at the palace of the Techimanhene, Techiman (Ghana) with Dr Warren in attendance. The centre will focus upon the indigenous knowledge of the Techiman-Bono, the earliest centralized Akan ethnic group in Ghana. This final accomplishment was particularly meaningful to Dr Warren as he had served in the Peace Corps in Techiman in the 1960s and had done intensive research and produced publications on the Bono ethnic group.

Dr Bolanle Wahab, CIKARD visiting scholar, returned to Nigeria to continue as a senior lecturer at the Polytechnic in Ibadan.

Robert Mazur, Associate Director for Research at CIKARD, is involved in a five-year research project designed to facilitate and monitor the impact of changes being made to rural infrastructure in Mozambique's central Zambezia Province. Because the project involves communities along approximately 1000 km of tertiary roads, the challenge has been to understand the indigenous livelihood strategies and forms of social organization and land tenure--all of which are affected by the rapidly changing social, economic, and political environment that has evolved following three decades of armed conflict. The research project combines participatory learning approaches with structured interviewing and monitoring methods in order to examine local changes in their larger, provincial context.

Research Associate Ms Solskin Gomez Krogh graduated and has left CIKARD. A new Research Associate, Ms Tracey Eccles, joined CIKARD in October. She is a student of anthropology and health studies. Her work is funded through the United States Department of Agriculture.

Research Associate Ms Pernell Plath is working on a new teaching module on swidden agricultural systems. This should be available on our web site at http://www.iitap.iastate.edu/cikard/cikard.html and in our library later this spring.

Associate Director Dr Norma Wolff will be presenting a paper on the Yoruba textile taxonomy at the triennial symposium of African art, an international meeting to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana (USA) in April.

ICIK
Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge
Ladi Semali, Director (Corresponding editor)
The Pennsylvania State University
254 Chambers Building
University Park, PA 16802, USA
Tel.: +1-814-865 6565.
Fax: +1-814-863 7602.
E-mail: lms11@psuvm.psu.edu

ICIK continues to grow in membership as it begins its third year. Today it has over 100 members, including university faculty and graduate students from a variety of colleges and institutions. We owe a tribute to Dr D. Michael Warren, whose work and encouragement led to the establishment of ICIK. The news of his sudden death in Nigeria was received by ICIK members with great shock and sadness.

Ever since ICIK's establishment in 1995, scholars from all over the world have found Penn State a place to undertake graduate studies as well as to pursue opportunities for collaborative work. ICIK brings together faculty and graduate students from across disciplines and colleges throughout the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. ICIK members are hard at work organizing workshops, seminars, and national conferences on the theory and practice of indigenous knowledge. All these activities encourage scientists, planners and other professionals to value local knowledge and the contribution it can make to solving complex problems of health, agriculture, education and the environment, in both developed and developing countries.

In the past two years, ICIK has received at least ten applications from scholars and students wishing to collaborate with ICIK members and to pursue post-secondary education at the colleges of Education and Agricultural Sciences. Dr Audrey Maretzki and Dr Ladi Semali have placed these applicants in departments of the university where ICIK members are located.

Three graduate students completed their theses on IK-related topics last year. The topics were:

• Generating indigenous knowledge: the practice and theory of Pratec;
• Culture and language in second-language pedagogy: a reconceptualized post-formal approach;
• Contextualized science: an Indian experience.

During the autumn of 1997, Dr Israel Osokoya, a visiting scholar from Ibadan University (Nigeria), spent a semester at Penn State working with faculty in Education. He plans to conduct research on IK education for nomadic peoples of Nigeria, in collaboration with Dr Semali. Discussions are also underway regarding possible ways to collaborate with IK Resource Centers in South Africa and certain Asian countries.

In late autumn, ICIK enjoyed a stimulating visit from the chairwomen of two Nutribusiness Cooperatives in Kenya, a project that Dr Maretzki has been coordinating since 1992. The women participated in classes, gave seminars and met with students and faculty. In one of their presentations for ICIK members, the women discussed the dilemmas they face as they try to integrate indigenous practices into efforts to organize local women's cooperatives and to develop foods for children who are being weaned.

(Judy Nastase)