Indigenous Knowledge and Development
Monitor, November 2001 Indigenous Knowledge and Development
Monitor, November 2001
Contents IK Monitor (9-3) | IKDM Homepage | Suggestions to: ikdm@nuffic.nl | © copyright Nuffic-CIRAN and contributors 2001.
O. D. Kolawole
Local knowledge utilization and sustainable rural development in the 21st century
Local or indigenous knowledge is essential for rural development. This article provides a conceptual framework to distinguish between the various knowledge systems currently in use. It is suggested that knowledge should be documented and preserved both in situ and ex situ, and urges governments to afford agencies for scheduled change, CBOs and NGOs the opportunity to access information from international centres through the Internet.
On 18 December 1992, United Nations Resolution 164 declared 1993 the 'International Year of the World's Indigenous People'. This was aimed at strengthening international cooperation, in order to address the problems faced by indigenous communities in such fields as human rights, the environment, development, education and health.
According to Warren (1991), the term local or indigenous knowledge (IK) is used to distinguish the knowledge developed by a given community from international knowledge systems or scientific knowledge. The latter, sometimes referred to as 'Western' knowledge systems (WKS), are generated by universities, government research centres and private industry. IK can also refer to the 'technical' insight or wisdom gained and developed by people in a particular locality, through years of careful observation and experimentation with the natural phenomena around them.
In the view of Dewes (1993), the knowledge of local people is an enabling
component of development. He compares indigenous knowledge to the feathers of a
bird, since 'a bird can only fly if it has feathers'.
The terms 'indigenous knowledge' and 'local knowledge' are synonymous. However,
what development experts may object to is the use of traditional to
qualify the knowledge peculiar to a people, since in some circles 'traditional'
evokes 19th-century conceptions of 'simple, savage and static societies.'
Western knowledge systems (WKS) and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) are distinguished on contextual, substantive, and methodological grounds. First, Western knowledge systems are universal, due to the fact that Western education is entrenched in many world cultures. And second, they have long been noted for their rigorous observation, experimentation and validation procedures, all of which are carefully documented. The same cannot be said of indigenous knowledge systems, in particular when it comes to documentation.
Conceptual framework
It has been argued that indigenous knowledge 'is related to the entire culture
of a people, including its identity and spiritual and religious beliefs. While
some scientists and development planners may see traditional knowledge as a
means of resolving certain development problems, indigenous people see it as
part of their overall culture, vital to their survival as peoples' (Dewes 1993).
The Western world must respect the cultural values of this knowledge, and the
right of indigenous peoples to maintain those values must be acknowledged and
protected within the development process.
In any case, whether these knowledge systems are recognized or not, at the grass roots level what has been tested and proved under local socioeconomic, political and ecological conditions will still be preferred to a foreign idea. The insistence on the use of indigenous technological knowledge (ITK) is rooted in Ogburn's (1950) concept of a 'culture lag'. This explicitly states that changes in non-material culture (ideas and social arrangements) always lag behind material culture (technology and inventions). Regardless of the degree to which they have embraced modernity, local people continue to prefer concrete knowledge, which belongs to them in time and space, and which they deem suitable for particular purposes. For people who live by tradition and folklore, change involves risk; they trust what has been tried and tested by long-established custom (Landis 1940).
While the concept of a cultural lag was presumably meant to slight traditional peoples for their apparent unwillingness to respond to social change in the face of Western technological advances, Ogburn failed to realize how strongly local knowledge is associated with certain cultures, which his concept subtly defends. The rate of change in attitudes, values, beliefs and social organization does not even approach the speed of the changes taking place in technology, which helps to explain the 'sluggish' response to the use of foreign technology and inventions.
Culture is a way of life that is handed down from one generation to the next. In an effort to meet various needs, rural communities make use of 'curiosity experiments, problem-solving experiments, and adaptation experiments' (Rhoades & Bebbington 1995). Once validated, the results are added to the body of ancient wisdom. Through socialization and oral tradition, this wisdom is transmitted from the old to the young. Insights gained in this way are not easily compromised.
Farmers in developing countries have quite a sophisticated knowledge of agriculture and natural resources. This knowledge is based on many generations of insights gained through their close interaction with the natural and physical micro-environment (Amusan & Warren 1996; Osunade 1988; Atte 1991; Rajasekaran et al 1991). Variations in environmental circumstances from year to year mean that farming systems must be dynamic, if only to ensure sustainability. For example, 'cultivator experimentation is a normal part of agrarian change' (Box 1999). The knowledge systems upon which farming decisions are based must be both reactive and proactive, relying on indigenous experimentation and innovation, as well as technologies made available through external channels, to cope with and adapt to changes (Warren 1996).
The stages of local knowledge development have been identified as:
On the basis of the literature and observational evidence, the utilization of local knowledge goes through five stages:
Sustainable rural development
Rural development aimed at improving the quality of life of low-income people is
multifaceted, taking into account such disciplines as agriculture, medicine,
technology, politics, economics, sociology, and education. At the grassroots
level, it focuses on the enhancement of agricultural production, improved
literacy levels, technological growth, improvements in health-care services, and
the reinforcement of leadership structures within the community. However, the
basis and starting point must be the people themselves, who have intrinsic
knowledge of the conditions and phenomena which affect them. Their socioeconomic,
cultural, ecological and political background must be taken into consideration
by development agencies when seeking to improve their living standards. 'So long
as farmers' own research efforts and their plethora of communication resources
are ignored, much of donor investment in research and extension institutions and
projects will be lost. Like it or not, both research and extension depend for
their success upon farmers' own informal systems of technology validation and
transfers for success' (McCorkle 1994:39). Many farmers' ideas which were in the
past regarded as primitive or misguided are now being seen as appropriate and
sophisticated (Chambers 1983).
In the past development programmes were often approached by governments through a top-down strategy. The building of infrastructure and the provision of social amenities alone were believed capable of providing solutions to rural problems. Policymakers and governments were soon proved wrong, for development is all about people. If infrastructures are put in place without considering the beneficiaries, by getting them involved in the process of development, all efforts to bring about improvement in people's daily lives will always be futile. People become involved when they are allowed to have a say in issues affecting them. Moreover, they must be encouraged to participate actively. They must be seen as stakeholders and power wielders - as any projects that do not get their approval are likely to fail.
In many instances people have rejected, abandoned or undermined programmes,
which they regarded as something imposed on them. For instance, when the
Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) was set up in
Nigeria, its mandate was to improve rural life by providing infrastructural
facilities. When manually pumped boreholes were
installed in Badagry and other communities, the women quickly became
disenchanted with them. The use of the pumps was thought to lead to time-wasting,
and the husbands felt that household chores were no longer being promptly
attended to. This led to internal domestic problems, and locally the project was
known as 'wahaladabule' (i.e., problem has come to the village).
Similarly, in a Latin American community a pipe-borne water project was set up to deal with a guinea worm infestation. It failed, because the women preferred to get water from brooks, which traditionally serve as social meeting places (Rogers 1962).
Development may be said to be sustainable when it has become self-perpetuating, self-regulating and beneficial to coming generations (Alao 1995). Among the factors which are crucial to this process are good resource management, an effective flow of information, and good leadership. Today participatory approaches are seen as the most appropriate measures to achieve that aim, particularly in rural areas, where over 70% of the population in the developing world live.
Adaptive co-management
Recognizing the role which rural communities could play in the process of
development, experts have started to evolve strategic approaches that seek
their participation in the planning and implementation of projects and
programmes. Approaches now commonly in use include Participatory learning and
action (PLA); Participatory rural appraisal (PRA); Change agent methods (CAM);
Strategic planning processes (SPP). The key concepts in implementing these
approaches are:
Adaptive co-management means the involvement of the people and a two-way information flow between all stakeholders. If this can be done, then both human and material resources will be judiciously used and adequately managed. The flow of information between donor agencies, agencies for change, and project beneficiaries will create scope for better understanding.
Conclusion
This is perhaps an appropriate place to acknowledge what IK has achieved in all
fields of human endeavour. In the area of health care, diseases which orthodox
medicine has been unable to cure are treated with ethnomedicine. In housing, too,
local raw materials are used in building heat-resistant and durable homes in the
tropics. Not only does this directly or indirectly conserve foreign currency, it
also strengthens local industries.
Indigenous technical knowledge (ITK) is noted for its special characteristics. Those techniques that are cost-effective, user-friendly, and easily communicated must be documented and preserved, and made available ex situ for international adaptation (where possible). In the same way as Western knowledge systems, such local knowledge must be isolated, documented and stored in international, regional and national archives.
From the contextual perspective, the in situ preservation of knowledge has been found to be less cost-effective; moreover, the in situ approach could fail and eventually create 'a knowledge mausoleum'. Hence, ex situ preservation would appear to be more appropriate. But then, one Western academic opposed that view in this journal, saying that such ex situ found successful in unearthing useful information, it would benefit the richer and more powerful centers of knowledge preservation - thus downplaying its objectives to benefit 'the poor, the oppressed and the disadvantaged' (Agrawal 1995).
Contrary to this view, however, it is the author's belief that in situations where national policy thrusts afford agencies for scheduled change, community-based organizations (CBOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) the opportunity to access information from international centres by means of the information superhighway (the Internet), 'the poor, the oppressed and the disadvantaged' could in this way be reached. And this should be the emphasis in the 21st century.
Olutoyin Dare Kolawole
Research Fellow
Centre for Rural Development
P.M.B 029, Festac Town, Lagos
Nigeria
E-mail: toyin_kolawole@yahoo.com
References
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Indigenous
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Alao, J.A. (1996) 'Sustainable rural development for rural transformation - Plea for Relevance', pp. 3-11 in S.F. Adedoyin and J.O.Y Aihonsu (eds) Proceedings of the Eight Annual Conference of The Nigerian Rural Sociological Association. Nigerian Rural Sociological Association.
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Box, L. (1999) 'For the Fun of it', Guest Column, Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor 7(2): 36.
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Scientific and Technical, co-published with John Wiley and Sons. Inc., New York.
Dewes, W. (1993) 'Introduction', p.3 in 'Traditional knowledge and sustainable development', in S.H. Davis and K. Ebbe (eds) Proceedings of a Conference held at The World Bank Washington, D.C., Sept. 27 - 28. Environmentally Sustainable Development Proceeding Series No. 4
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Osunade, A.M.A. (1988) 'Soil suitability classification by small farmers,' The Professional Geographer 40(2): 194-201.
Rajasekaran, B .D., D.M. Warren and S.C. Babu (1991) 'Indigenous natural-resource management systems for sustainable agricultural development - A global perspective', Journal of International Development 3(4): 387-401.
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Rhoades, R., and A. Bebbington (1995) 'Farmers who experiment: an untapped resource for agricultural research and development', pp. 269-307 in Warren, D.M., L.J. Slikkerveer and David Brokensha (eds) The Cultural Dimension of Indigenous Knowledge Systems. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.
Rogers, E.M. (1962) Diffusion of Innovations. The Free Press: New York, and Collier-Macmillan Ltd., London.
Warren, D.M (1991) 'Using indigenous knowledge in agricultural development', World Bank Discussion Papers. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.
Warren, D.M. (1996) 'The Role of indigenous knowledge and biotechnology in sustainable agricultural development', A Keynote Address Presented at the Southwestern Nigerian Regional Workshop on Indigenous Knowledge and Biotechnology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria 30 July.
Photographs and Websites that may interest readers of this article.
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