Survival of the Fittest Protection of Indigenous Knowledge

2022 ◽  
pp. 294-316
Author(s):  
Stewart Lee Kugara ◽  
Tsetselelani Decide Mdhluli ◽  
Pfarelo Eva Matshidze
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Qualitative Design ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Legal Methodology ◽  
Survival Of The Fittest

This chapter reflects on numerous protections that are available for indigenous knowledge from those who misappropriate it for personal aggrandizement without regard of the holders of the knowledge. The chapter is underpinned on the Afrocentricity and Sankofa theories. A socio-legal methodology was adopted to ground the work to enable students studying indigenous knowledge systems to have a foundation and be able to follow the interdisciplinarity in the writing. As such, a doctrinal approach and qualitative design were engaged to buttress the philosophical reasoning and capture the rich and unrecorded knowledge of inorganic intellectuals. The chapter's standpoint is that the protection of indigenous knowledge requires African-tailored legislation that resonates with indigenous communities' beliefs and are pragmatic yet innovative to bring benefit sharing. In pursuing this, a normative legal framework that could be utilised in the protection of indigenous knowledge is explored.

Learning From Place

2020 ◽  
pp. 264-286
Author(s):  
Kevin O'Connor ◽  
Gladys Sterenberg ◽  
Norman Vaughan
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Shared Understanding ◽  
Community Partners ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Teacher Education Pedagogy

This chapter investigates how teacher candidates' experiences in STEAM field studies with community partners can inform work in teacher education within an integrated practicum based on curriculum of place. The overall goal of the inquiry is to better understand and articulate the particular ways in which people value place-based knowledge. Through relationships with Indigenous communities, the team of educators has a deeply held conviction that sustained deliberations on the connections between Indigenous knowledge systems and place-based thinking can provide significant opportunities for reframing education. Learning from place emphasizes a relationship with the land, something deeply respected in Indigenous communities and something absent from much of place-based education. The research explores this tension as we come to a deeper and shared understanding of co-responsibility within Treaty 7 relationships. The project seeks to close this gap by considering varying perspectives of place as it informs STEAM teacher education pedagogy.

scholarly journals Traditional Indigenous Approaches to Healing and the modern welfare of Traditional Knowledge, Spirituality and Lands: A critical reflection on practices and policies taken from the Canadian Indigenous Example

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian A Robbins ◽  
Jonathan Dewar
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Traditional Healing ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Spiritual Revitalization

Traditional Indigenous Approaches to Healing and the modern welfare of Traditional Knowledge, Spirituality and Lands: A critical reflection on practices and policies taken from the Canadian Indigenous Example In order for traditional knowledge to be maintained and to develop, it has to be practiced. Traditional healing provides a vehicle for this to occur. In Canada, the spiritual revitalization of Indigenous communities and individuals often involves the use numerous components of traditional healing. These elements are reflected most clearly at the grassroots level, however, current Indigenous programs delivered by Indigenous and governmental agencies have made some accommodating efforts as well. Perhaps most importantly, traditional knowledge and Indigenous spirituality hinges on the maintenance and renewal of relationships to the land. Indigenous land bases and the environment as a whole remain vitally important to the practice of traditional healing. A focus on Indigenous healing, when discussing Indigenous knowledge systems and spirituality, is paramount today due to the large scale suppression of Indigenous cultural expressions during the process of colonization. With respect to policy, there appears to be a historical progression of perception or attitude towards Indigenous traditional healing in Canada from one of disfavour to one favour. There are nevertheless continuing challenges for traditional healing. Mainstream perceptions and subsequent policy implementations sometimes still reflect attitudes that were formulated during the decline of traditional healing practice during colonization processes. As a consequence the ability for particular communities to maintain and use their specific understandings of Indigenous knowledge continues encounter obstacles. Indigenous Knowledge systems are living entities and not relics of the past. Today, these knowledge systems are still greatly being applied to help Indigenous communities and Indigenous people recover from intergenerational pain and suffering endured during the colonization process. Future policy development and implementation should aim to support Indigenous peoples and communities when they decide to learn about, maintain and build upon the knowledge amassed by their ancestors.

scholarly journals Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Conservation of Settled Territories in the Bolivian Amazon

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 6099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pérez ◽  
Smith
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Anthropogenic Land Use Change ◽  
Anthropogenic Land Use

Landscapes settled by indigenous communities represent nuanced inter-relationships between culture and environment, where balance is achieved through Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). Through IKS, native peoples worldwide live, farm, and consume resources in a manner that is responsive to natural systems and, as such, their lands present less deforestation and more sustainable production per capita than is exhibited by non-indigenous practices. In Bolivia, the Origin Farmer Indigenous Territory (TIOC) communities of Yaminahua-Machineri and Takana-Cavineño, located in the North Amazon, are facing external threats of non-indigenous anthropogenic land use change, such as road-building and industrial-scale resource extraction. In order to understand the potential environmental and cultural loss to these territories, the present work seeks to determine the present, base-line conservation state within these Bolivian communities, and forecast land use change and its consequences until the year 2030. This was undertaken using a three-stage protocol: (a) the TIOC communities’ current forest-based livelihoods, characteristics and management were determined using on-site observation techniques and extensive literature review; (b) the historical land use change (LUC) from natural vegetation to anthropogenic use was estimated using multitemporal satellite imagery; and, finally, (c) geographically explicit non-indigenous anthropogenic land-use change threat was extrapolated until 2030 using the GEOMOD modeler from the TerraSet software. Preliminary results show that both TIOCs case-sites are fairly conserved due to their forest dependence. However, deforestation and degradation could be evidenced, particularly within TIOC areas not officially recognized by the central government, due to pressures from surrounding, new non-indigenous settlements, road infrastructure, connection to markets, and the threat of the oil exploitation. Projected LUC suggest serious threats to the unrecognized TIOC areas if community governance is not reinforced, and if extractivist and non-indigenous development patterns continue to be promoted by state and central government.

scholarly journals Implications of a technoscientific culture on personhood in Africa and in the West

2005 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornel Du Toit
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Community Life ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of Development ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
History Of ◽  
African Community ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich History

This paper endeavours to converge on present-day experiences of self. This is done against the backdrop of the interdependence between person (organism) and environment (physical and cultural). The rich history of development of personhood in the West is discussed with reference to the metaphor of mask for personhood. Cultural epochs are described as phonocentric (in front of the mask), logocentric (behind the mask) and virtuocentric (between non-present masks). The history of modernism led to the experience of the end of personhood in the West. The restoration of personhood (subjectivity) seems possible through the restoration of some form of communitarianism. This brings Africa in focus. In an enigmatic way Africa knows science and utilises technology, but simultaneously relativises it in favour of traditional customs which the Western mind may judge to be mythological and primitive. African personhood is discussed with reference to African science in the format of Indigenous knowledge systems, to African community life as ubuntu, and to the place of seriti in African metaphysics.

scholarly journals Implementing Indigenous and Western Knowledge Systems (Part 2): “You Have to Take a Backseat” and Abandon the Arrogance of Expertise

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather E Castleden ◽  
Debbie Martin ◽  
Ashlee Cunsolo ◽  
Sherilee Harper ◽  
Catherine Hart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Real Problem ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Water Research ◽  
Financial Investment ◽  
The Real ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Decolonizing Research

Despite innovative technological "solutions" to address ongoing water crises in Indigenous communities, significant disparities persist in Canada. Financial investment in infrastructure is necessary, but it is hardly sufficient to address the real problem: entrenched colonialism. One of the greatest challenges in decolonizing research is to prevent that research from reproducing the very categories it is seeking to critique and dismantle. We share findings from thematically-analyzed interviews with academic and community-based researchers who conducted water research with a stated intent to implement Western and Indigenous knowledge systems. Findings revealed that while there is co-learning, ontological and epistemological assumptions carried into these relationships often impede truly integrative practice. Respondents shared how they worked through these persistent barriers of a colonial system.

scholarly journals Sites and objects, indigenous library and the history of Laimbwe, Cameroon

Afrika Focus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Kam Kah
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Historical Objects ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Indigenous Methods ◽  
Rich History

This study focuses on the construction of the history of the Laimbwe people of Cameroon through indigenous methods of enquiry and/or epistemologies. These include analyses of surviving historical objects, sites and artefacts from the pre-colonial period to the reunfication of British Southern Cameroons with the Cameroun Republic in 1961. Some traditional items of the Laimbwe people of Cameroon and existing artefacts as well as sites reveal a very rich history with information that Western and conventional research have not vividly captured. In this paper, we reflect on the salience of these sources in understanding the rich socio-cultural and political history of the Laimbwe. There is a need to document this as an indigenous African library in this age of globali- sation so that indigenous knowledge systems are disseminated to a wider academic audience. A construction of Laimbwe history through these indigenous forms of the library present them as new perspectives of local epistemologies beyond the capture of the western library introduced into Africa during the colonial period and even before. It continues to shape the way African national and local histories are written based on Western interpretations and or epistemologies. Key words: sites, objects, history, Laimbwe, Cameroon 

scholarly journals Sites and objects, indigenous library and the history of Laimbwe, Cameroon

Afrika Focus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-73
Author(s):  
Henry Kam Kah
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Political History ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Historical Objects ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Indigenous Methods ◽  
Rich History

This study focuses on the construction of the history of the Laimbwe people of Cameroon through indigenous methods of enquiry and/or epistemologies. These include analyses of surviving historical objects, sites and artefacts from the pre-colonial period to the reunification of British Southern Cameroons with the Cameroun Republic in 1961. Some traditional items of the Laimbwe people of Cameroon and existing artefacts as well as sites reveal a very rich history with information that Western and conventional research have not vividly captured. In this paper, we reflect on the salience of these sources in understanding the rich socio-cultural and political history of the Laimbwe. There is a need to document this as an indigenous African library in this age of globalisation so that indigenous knowledge systems are disseminated to a wider academic audience. A construction of Laimbwe history through these indigenous forms of the library present them as new perspectives of local epistemologies beyond the capture of the western library introduced into Africa during the colonial period and even before. It continues to shape the way African national and local histories are written based on Western interpretations and or epistemologies.

Preservation of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Zimbabwe

2017 ◽  
pp. 244-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mass Tapfuma
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Ethical Practices ◽  
Unethical Practices ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Conceptual Overview

The chapter discusses the ethical considerations that have to be observed in the preservation of indigenous knowledge following observations that there is no documented evidence of efforts in Zimbabwe to protect indigenous knowledge from unethical practices by researchers and companies as they tap and use the knowledge. The chapter brings to fore the importance of ethics with regards to research aimed at tapping and preserving indigenous knowledge systems before the knowledge becomes extinct. Therefore, a review of literature was done in order to provide a conceptual overview of the importance of ethics, and measures that can be taken in the preservation of indigenous knowledge are also explored. The chapter recommends that policies promoting ethical practices in the preservation of indigenous knowledge systems of the indigenous communities, be put in place as a measure against theft of innovations and knowledge and the filing of bad patents.

Colonizing Innovation:

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhinav CHATURVEDI ◽  
Alf REHN
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Frugal Innovation ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Management Literature

Innovation is one of the most popular concepts and desired phenomena of contemporary Western capitalism. As such, there is a perennial drive to capture said phenomena, and particularly to find new ways to incite and drive the same. In this text, we analyze one specific tactic through which this is done, namely by the culturally colonial appropriation of indigenous knowledge systems. By looking to how jugaad, a system   of   frugal   innovation   in   India,   has been   made   into   fodder   for   Western management literature, we argue for the need of a more developed innovation critique, e.g., by looking to postcolonial theory.

Indigenous Environmental Justice, Knowledge, and Law

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah McGregor
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous Worldviews ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
The World ◽  
Innovative Approaches

This article aims to introduce a distinct conception of Indigenous environmental justice (IEJ) based on Indigenous legal orders, knowledge systems, and conceptions of justice. This is not to suggest in any way that the existing environmental justice (EJ) scholarship is flawed; in fact, the scholarship and activism around EJ have been central in diagnosing and drawing attention to injustices that occur on a systematic basis everywhere in the world. This article argues instead that such discussions can be expanded by acknowledging that concepts of environmental justice, including distinct legal orders informed by Indigenous knowledge systems, already existed on Turtle Island for thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans. It also suggests that environmental justice framed within Indigenous worldviews, ontologies, and epistemologies may make significant contributions to broader EJ scholarship, particularly in relation to extending justice to other beings and entities in Creation. This approach acknowledges ongoing colonialism and emphasizes the need to decolonize in order to advance innovative approaches to IEJ. 

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