Local Knowledge as Illiterate Rhetoric: An Antenarrative Approach to Enacting Socially Just Technical Communication

2021 ◽  
pp. 004728162110301
Author(s):  
Isidore K. Dorpenyo
Keyword(s):  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Technical Communication ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Biometric Technology ◽  
Dominant Narratives

In this article, I focus on two competing technical communication discourses used to represent the biometric technology Ghana adopted in 2012 and subsequent elections to demonstrate how communication about technology could potentially marginalize local, nondominant knowledge systems whereas it privileges global, dominant knowledge systems. Representation of the biometric technology, therefore, reflects ways that technical communication can become complicit in silencing, excluding, and marginalizing local voices. I call attention to how communication that focuses on dominant narratives obscures and delegitimizes the knowledge of disenfranchised and less privileged groups.

Track 2.a Introduction

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sucharita BENIWAL ◽  
Sahil MATHUR ◽  
Lesley-Ann NOEL ◽  
Cilla PEMBERTON ◽  
Suchitra BALASUBRAHMANYAN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Native Communities ◽  
Cultural Systems ◽  
Local Practices

The aim of this track was to question the divide between the nature of knowledge understood as experiential in indigenous contexts and science as an objective transferable knowledge. However, these can co-exist and inform design practices within transforming social contexts. The track aimed to challenge the hegemony of dominant knowledge systems, and demonstrate co-existence. The track also hoped to make a case for other systems of knowledges and ways of knowing through examples from native communities. The track was particularly interested in, first, how innovators use indigenous and cultural systems and frameworks to manage or promote innovation and second, the role of local knowledge and culture in transforming innovation as well as the form of local practices inspired innovation. The contributions also aspired to challenge through examples, case studies, theoretical frameworks and methodologies the hegemony of dominant knowledge systems, the divides of ‘academic’ vs ‘non-academic’ and ‘traditional’ vs ‘non-traditional’.

Changing Livelihoods, Livestock and Local Knowledge Systems: Women Stake their Claim in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra

2001 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sagari R. Ramdas ◽  
Yakshi ◽  
Girijana Deepika
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Participatory Research ◽  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Andhra Pradesh ◽  
Rural Livelihoods ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Natural Flora ◽  
Women's Role

This paper discusses women's role, resource access control and decision-making power in the context of rapid changes in rural livelihoods, local knowledge systems and NRM. Participatory research was carried out in collaboration with NGOs and community-based organisations in six distinct agro-ecological regions of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, with a focus on eco nomically and socially marginalised communities. The research revealed that state policies have resulted in dramatic changes from food to commercial crops. This has threatened food and fodder security, the biodiversity of crops, natural flora, local livestock and poultry breeds, and led to unsustainable extraction of ground water and high levels of indebtedness. Women have borne the brunt. Women who formerly played key decision-making roles have been marginalised, their knowledge and expertise made valueless. Traditionally also women have been denied access to certain kinds of knowledge that constrain their livelihoods. Participatory research has empow ered women to take the lead in movements to challenge mainstream paradigms of sustainable development.

scholarly journals How do Indigenous and local knowledge systems respond to climate change?

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruxandra Popovici ◽  
Andre G. de L. Moraes ◽  
Zhao Ma ◽  
Laura Zanotti ◽  
Keith A. Cherkauer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous And Local Knowledge

scholarly journals Livelihood Sustainability Under Environmental Change: Exploring the Dynamics of Local Knowledge in Crop Farming and Implications for Development Planning in Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 154-180
Author(s):  
Emmanuel K. Derbile ◽  
Alfred Dongzagla ◽  
Francis Dakyaga
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Endogenous Development ◽  
Crop Farming ◽  
Wa Municipality ◽  
Soil And Water

The relationship between environmental change, local knowledge systems and livelihood sustainability has received increased scholarly attention over the past few decades. However, the inter-linkages and emerging dynamics of knowledge systems in response to environmental change is still a grey area. This paper explores the dynamics of local knowledge systems for adapting crop farming to environmental change in the Wa Municipality, northern Ghana. The study employed a mixed methods research approach to collect data from four farming communities. Qualitative data was collected through in-depth interviews of Key Informants and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with women, men and youth groups involved in farming. This was complemented by a household survey that targeted 200 farmers. The results show that farmers have resorted to integration of indigenous and new external knowledge systems for diversifying crop varieties and soil and water conservation strategies for adapting crop farming to environmental change, particularly, climate change and soil degradation. Drawing on the results, the paper advocates that Development Planning (DP) should emphasize an Endogenous Development (ED) approach and promote pro-poor approaches to crop diversification and integrated soil and water conservation for achieving inclusive environmental and livelihood sustainability in smallholder agriculture in the Wa Municipality and country at large.

Ethnographies of Development in SADC Countries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maropeng Modiba ◽  
Sandra Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Southern African Development Community ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Education Development ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
African Development ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Cultural Ideals ◽  
Development Initiatives

Postcolonial ethnographic studies in Africa and, specifically, in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region tend to demonstrate varying sensitivity to local knowledge systems and culture. Ethnographers, both local and international, differ in the ways in which they engage with these aspects. Studies expose shifts, or lack thereof, in the mindsets of researchers. In general, researchers take for granted their cultural ideals and how to embrace broader responsibilities beyond the education or development initiatives they are studying. Although rhetorically supportive of the education/development of the subaltern, some studies selected and reviewed in this article indicate the researchers’ missionary dispositions and reliance on preconceived notions in making sense of the behavior and environments studied. To varying degrees fragmentations in perceptions, anthropological empathy, reluctance to acknowledge African contexts and ways of living as adequate in themselves stand out rather than deliberate efforts to preserve the internal cultures and knowledge systems of the communities and expand their knowledge and skills in sustainable ways.

Post-Normal Practices Between Regional Climate Services and Local Knowledge

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Krauss ◽  
Hans von Storch
Keyword(s):  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Short History ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
Forms Of Knowledge

Recent surveys show that the communication about climate change between science and the public is severely disturbed. In this article we discuss this problem in focusing on both regional climate services and other, local forms of knowledge. The authors suggest that climate science and its public services have to critically revise their own practices and to acknowledge other forms of knowledge about climate as constitutive. Based on approaches from geography and anthropology, the article first discusses the short history and "normal practices" of regional climate services and how they approach the public. Outlining the potentials and constraints of this concept, the article focuses on the friction, on "its openness to change as it rubs up against society" (Hulme 2007). The focus then shifts to local knowledge systems and how they deal with the challenges of a changing climate. In addition to the "extended peer review" as a new option for climate research in a post-normal setup, the authors discuss the possibility of an "extended knowledge basis," that is, the integration of different forms of climate knowledge with a special focus on regional populations.

scholarly journals Collating and validating indigenous and local knowledge to apply multiple knowledge systems to an environmental challenge: A case-study of pollinators in India

2017 ◽  
Vol 211 ◽  
pp. 20-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara M Smith ◽  
Priyadarshini Chakrabarti ◽  
Arnob Chatterjee ◽  
Soumik Chatterjee ◽  
Uday Kumar Dey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous And Local Knowledge ◽  
Environmental Challenge
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document