Factors Militating Against the Development of Tiv Indigenous Knowledge

The Tiv people right from the time of old possessed a handsome knowledge about their origin, way of life or traditions, science and technology including means of cultivating crops and ways of trapping or killing animals for food, medicinal uses of different plants, methods of making shelters to lay their heads and tactics of making cloths to cover their nakedness among others in a well-defined manner. Essentially, the knowledge the people possessed, which culminated into the Tiv Indigenous Knowledge (TIK) was orally transferred from one descent to another for documentation and continuity. However, the interplay of colonialism, Christian religion and intellectual property laws, constituted factors militating against the development of this crucial indigenous knowledge. This chapter therefore, describes the Tiv indigenous knowledge and the factors militating against it as well as attempt to figure out strategies that could be useful in curtailing these problems.

Critical Reflections on Selected Local Narratives of Contextual South African Indigenous Knowledge

Every humanity has some form of indigeneity – whether conscious or unconscious. It behooves all humanity to redefine and reflect on its indigenous roots. Indigenous Knowledge (IK) has been termed in different ways. These include traditional, cultural, local, community knowledge, etc. All these are interlinked and imply that IK is a body of “knowledge” owned by local people in their specific communities and passed on from generation to generation. Therefore, IK is that knowledge which is known to a group of people or is embedded in a community. It could be rural or urban. The chapter aims to present and reflect on selected local narratives to construct a context. This chapter argues for the ‘contextual' dimension when looking at IK. For the past eighteen years the researcher has worked with a number of practitioners and knowledge holders whose experience has shaped his understanding of the South African IK dialogues, debates, research and studies. The approach adopted for this study is a reflexive one.

Use of Information and Communication Technologies Tools to Capture, Store, and Disseminate Indigenous Knowledge

This chapter explores the role played by Information and Communication Technology tools in the management of indigenous Knowledge in general. Of importance to note, therefore, is the fact that the emergence of Information and Communication Technology tools has opened new avenues in Indigenous Knowledge Management (IKM) which have the potential of playing important roles in the society by making the valuable knowledge available to everyone who recognizes and uses it. Given the nature of indigenous knowledge which is commonly exchanged through personal communication and demonstration exemplified as deriving from the master to the apprentice, from the parents to the children, from the one neighbour to the other and so on. Information and Communication Technology tools appear to be providing as a solution in forestalling the possible extinction of IK.

Indigenous Communication

Communication can be defined as a way of sharing ideas, information, opinions and feelings. This can also be described as a process through which information could be transferred from one entity to the other either verbally through speech or non-verbally through writing or signs. Indigenous communication can therefore be defined as the informal way of transmitting indigenous practices, entertainment, news, persuasion, announcements, and social exchanges of every type. The aim of this chapter is to document selected indigenous practices of the Akan tribe of Ghana. Narratives of the selected indigenous practices were obtained through interviews and participant observation. This study found out that indigenous practices of the Akan tribe of Ghana is gradually being lost through oral transmission of cultural practices between generations. The study therefore recommends the documentation of these indigenous practices to promote access, preservation and dissemination of valuable indigenous information for both present generation and generations to come.

Research Protocols and Ethical Considerations in Indigenous Knowledge Systems

Research in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in South Africa has grown at a very high pace in a relatively short period of time. The growth thereof has presented researchers and the knowledge holders with challenges that have never faced them in the same way before. It has necessitated a review of how researchers interact with those who hold the knowledge and has required that protection mechanisms be implemented to safeguard the misuse and misappropriation of the indigenous knowledge. This Chapter outlines the focus on IKS in South Africa since 1995 and reflects on the challenges related to this focus. Specifically the Chapter looks at the challenges related to the recognition of knowledge holders, the ethical issues facing both researchers and knowledge holders, and the protocols that have been designed and used in South Africa and other places. It concludes by indicating the challenges that still remain and how these can be explored further by the research community.

Researching Indigenous Ways of Knowing-and-Being

This chapter focuses on exploring the contributions of indigenous-oriented relational thinking-and-being in terms of implications for the quality of social living and for sustaining relationships with everything in our ecological niche. It offers an account of how we can treat Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) as envisaging socio-economic development differently from economic models of growth which thus far can be said to govern processes of globalization. The chapter attempts to demonstrate that resuscitating IKS is not so much a matter of researchers' documenting and respecting the content of indigenous knowledge that has been created to date. More important is to direct research with the aim of drawing out and revitalizing the styles of knowing and living that can be interpreted as characterizing indigeneity. Examples are provided of how research can be directed with this in mind.

Psychotherapy in Indigenous Context Psychotherapy in Indigenous Context

This chapter posits that the science of psychotherapy is a culturally defined art. Psychological theories must, of necessity and efficacy, be adapted and responsive to the context within which they are practiced. The Ghanaian cultural context is deeply spiritually-oriented. Socio-religious beliefs in this cultural context define the Ghanaian concept of health, ill health, and health-seeking behaviours. Therefore, effective psychotherapy and culturally competent care must be context specific and suited to the needs, norms, practices and beliefs of the indigenous people. Yet, it is not unusual to find clinicians who practice in one cultural context but were trained in another; a situation that sometimes hinders effective service delivery. The chapter discusses some of the challenges faced by Ghanaian psychotherapists, practicing in Ghana, who were trained in a non-African cultural context. Excerpts of clinical case studies are used to illustrate these issues and suggestions for culturally competent care conclude the chapter.

Pluralistic Tendencies in Healing Abantu Illness in the Contemporary South Africa

Ukuhanjwa illness was used as an example to understanding abantu illnesses. With attributional theory ukuhanjwa illness is attributed to spiritual and social causes rather than biomedical causes, whereby causal link is socially constructed between ukuhanjwa illness and entry into the body by familiars. Issues explored included conceptualisation of ukuhanjwa illness. The focus of the chapter is on the reasons for continued pluralistic tendencies in healing regardless of the expectation by the West that people should be focusing on the use of the fast evolving biomedical healing methods. The ethnographic study took place among the Southern Nguni people of OR Tambo District Municipality (ORTDM) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Data was collected using qualitative and ethnographic research methods amongst a sample group of 50 participants. The sample was composed of traditional healers, mothers of children who have experienced ukuhanjwa illness, elderly people (male and female), biomedical practitioners and nurses.

Hybrid Method for Exploring Efficacy of Indigenous Management of Common Cold through African Therapy

Medicinal plants have been used by indigenous people for the treatment of different conditions since time immemorial. About 80% of the population in the world uses medicinal plants as the first line of treatment (WHO, 2003). The main aim of this study was to confirm for the western science that the knowledge of indigenous people is also a domain of science. The study was tried to understand the efficacy of indigenous management of influenza using two medicinal plants, namely, wildeals (Artmisia Afra) and wynruit (Ruta Graveolens). Indigenous populations have been managing the ailments, including flu, using medicinal plants. This form of therapy is not taken seriously, despite its widespread use today. The study used the hybrid methodology approach. The findings confirmed that generally the two medicinal plants used by the community to treat common cold are effective.

Multiple Voices, Multiple Paths

The Western knowledge paradigm – with its ways of knowing, ways of seeing and its notions of reality - has dominated the global knowledge arena, rendering many indigenous knowledge systems as invalid, illegitimate and irrelevant. This is particularly true for indigenous medical knowledge systems, which have struggled to articulate their voices from the marginalisation imposed by colonialism, globalisation and modernity. This chapter outlines paradigmatic tenets and key conceptions underpinning Western Biomedicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Traditional African Medicine. It explores areas of synergy and contradiction, as well as points for potential dialogue between the medical systems. The chapter suggests that if carefully excavated, explorations into such ontologies and epistemologies can make meaningful contributions to knowledge brokerage, thus promoting inclusivity and ethics in knowledge societies. It therefore makes a case for cognitive justice – ‘the right of different traditions of knowledge to co-exist without duress'.