honoring local/indigenous knowledge. primary authors: rick burnett robert brown mavany verdugo...

HONORING LOCAL/INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE

Primary Authors: Rick Burnett Robert Brown Mavany Verdugo

Contributing Authors: Jessica Barnes-Najor Patricia Farrell Ann Belleau Millie Horodynski Miles McNall Anne Suggitt

Activity Question

Have you ever considered the idea of how local or indigenous knowledge relates to or is important for your work?

Yes No Not sure

TOPIC GOAL

Community Partner Goals

Faculty Partner Goals

Communities are confronted by profound and complex challenges

Education

Environment

Health

Racial and Gender Inequities

Economic

Community Safety

Community/University Engagement

To address these profound and complex challenges we need to use both our understandings of science and our understandings of local/indigenous knowledge

To do this we need to understand:

Both local/indigenous knowledge and science

Why local/indigenous knowledge is important

Whose voice is being heard when working with local/indigenous knowledge

What is Local/Indigenous

Knowledge?

Part 1

So, what is it?

Local/indigenous knowledge is facts, concepts, beliefs and perceptions that people hold about the world around them.

Local/indigenous knowledge affects how people see and measure their surroundings, how they solve problems and how they validate new information.

All communities produced and preserved local/indigenous knowledge, use it, and pass it to others.

Source: Warburton, H. & Martin, A.M. 1999. Local people's knowledge. best practice guideline. Socio-Economic Methodologies Programme, DFID, United Kingdom

It has many names:

traditional ecological knowledge

ethnobiology / ethnobotany / ethnozoology

rural peoples'/ farmers' knowledge

indigenous knowledge

ethnoscience

folk science

indigenous science

Source: United Nations Educational. Scientific, and Cultural Organization, http://portal.unesco.org/science/en/ev.php-

It’s everywhere

Every community, regardless of its location, size, or make-

up, possesses local knowledge

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Training Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge

It comes from everyday life experiences

Developed and tested over time

Shaped by local culture and environments so it changes over time

Held by individuals and across entire communities

In our community practices, institutions, relationships and rituals

It is a primary resource used to address hardshipsSources: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsTraining Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge

http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowledge.html

Definition of Local/Indigenous Knowledge

“information that people in a given community, based on experience and adaptation to a local culture and environment, have developed over time, and continue to develop. This knowledge is used to sustain the community and its culture and to maintain the genetic resources necessary for the continued survival of the community.” [2003:3] - American Association for the Advancement of Science Source: Hansen, Stephen A., and Justin W. VanFleet

(2003) Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science.

An Urban Environment Example

The EPA conducted a study of toxic exposures in the Greenpoint/Williamsburg(G/W) neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY

Scientific knowledge missed many potential exposures that local knowledge was intimately familiar with

Dietary pollutants varied by ethnic group Local river fishing

Source: Corburn, J. (2003). Bringing Local Knowledge into Environmental Decision Making: Improving Urban Planning for Communities at Risk. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 22(4), 420–433. doi:10.1177/0739456X03022004008

Alaska Native Local Knowledge Example

Indigenous knowledge regarding weather patterns Ability to decipher and adapt to changing patterns of

weather and seasonal cycles Predict weather conditions based on observations of subtle

signs that presage subsequent conditions

National Science Foundation has begun to fund projects incorporating Indigenous knowledge in the study of climate change

Source: BARNHARDT, R., & KAWAGLEY, A. O. (2005). Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Alaska Native Ways of Knowing. Anthropology Education Quarterly, 36(1), 8–23. doi:10.1525/aeq.2005.36.1.008

International Example

San peoples of southern Africa have traditionally used the Hoodia gordonii plant as an appetite suppressant

The Biomedical industry is recognizing the plant’s potential benefits in the weight-loss industry

A benefit sharing agreement as been established between the San and the pharmaceutical industry

Sources: Chennells, R. (2009). Vulnerability and Indigenous Communities: Are the San of South Africa a Vulnerable People? Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Thics, 18, 147–154.

Hitchcock, R. K., Ikeya, K., Biesele, M., & Lee, R. B. (2009). Introduction: Updating the San, Image and Reality of an African People in the Twenty First Century. Updating the San: Image and Reality of an African People in the 21st Century, 1–42.

Activity Question

What are some examples of local or indigenous knowledge in your own tribe or community?

What is Scientific Knowledge?

Scientific knowledge is characterized by: Information organize into a code or

system by: making empirical observations, proposing hypotheses to explain those observations, and testing those hypotheses in consistent ways.

Withstanding a process of academic peer

Can be replicated by other scientists

Ericksen P,E Woodley , G Cundill, J Mogina, P Olsson, C Raudsepp-Hearne, W Reid, and L Vicente. 2005

Comparing Knowledge Styles

Local/Indigenous knowledge is based upon experience, is holistic, and intuitive.

Scientific knowledge is assumed to the at best an approximation and is founded in observable facts, often focused on subsets of the whole. http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowledge.html

Comparing Knowledge in Use

Local/Indigenous Knowledge Scientific Knowledge

lengthy acquisition rapid acquisition

long-term wisdom short-term prediction

powerful prediction in local areas powerful predictability in natural principles

weak in predictive principles in distant areas weak in local areas of knowledge

models based on cycles linear modeling as first approximation

explanations based on examples, anecdotes, parables

explanations bases on hypothesis, theories, laws

http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowledge.html

Local/indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge are not mutually exclusive

Local/indigenous knowledge may be a mix of scientific understanding and local belief

Source: Yli-Pelkonen & Kohl (2005) Local Ecological Knowledge in Planning

Working Together

Qualities of Knowledge Systems

Source: BARNHARDT, R., & KAWAGLEY, A. O. (2005). Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Alaska Native Ways of Knowing. Anthropology Education Quarterly, 36(1), 8–23. doi:10.1525/aeq.2005.36.1.008

Activity Question

Do you see a need for including local/indigenous knowledge into early childhood education and/or early childhood public policy? Yes No Not sure

Why is Local/Indigenous

Knowledge Important?

Part 2

I would like to have a video clip from a community partner here talking about how scientific knowledge hasn’t produced the results we want – calling for combining scientific knowledge with community knowledge is needed.

So Why is Local/Indigenous Knowledge Important?

People use it in their ongoing quest for survival:

to produce food

to provide for shelter

to achieve control of one’s life




In agriculture (crop selection, planting times)

In animal husbandry and ethnic veterinary medicine (breeding and livestock management)

In the use and management of natural resources (soil and wildlife)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations


Because it’s relevant to many sectors and groups


In health care (medicinal plants) In community development

(generational heritage) In poverty alleviation (survival

strategies)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations


Because it’s relevant to many sectors and groups


In the emerging global knowledge economy, a country’s ability to build and mobilize knowledge capital is as essential to sustainable development as the availability of physical and financial capital.

The basic component of any country’s knowledge system is its local knowledge.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsTraining Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge

Because it contributes significantly to global knowledge

Policy and Planning Implications

Local/indigenous knowledge can improve policy and planning in at least four ways:

Epistemology: by adding to the knowledge base Procedural democracy: by including new and

previously silenced voices Effectiveness: by providing low-cost policy

solutions Distributive justice: by highlighting inequitable

distributions (for example, environmental burdens)

Source: Corburn, J. (2003). Bringing Local Knowledge into Environmental Decision Making: Improving Urban Planning for Communities at Risk. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 22(4), 420–433. doi:10.1177/0739456X03022004008

Working With Local Knowledge

Part 3

Important UnderstandingsWho’s Reality Counts?

Those with power often think they know what is right and real for those who do not have power and privilege.

Some Questions to Ask Ourselves

How much is our perception colored by our power and privilege?

What are the realities of the poor and disenfranchised and how can they be expressed?

Whose Voice Counts?

Whose knowledge? Whose values? Whose criteria and preferences? Whose appraisal, analysis, and planning? Whose action? Whose monitoring and evaluation? Whose learning? Whose empowerment? Whose reality?

Important UnderstandingsPeople Own their Knowledge – It’s their Intellectual property

Shouldn’t be used without permission

Shouldn’t be misrepresented

Shouldn’t be taken out of context

Must be properly acknowledged

Local people decide: If they want to share their knowledge How it can be collected and used by others

Source: http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowled

ge.html

Important Understanding

Most local/indigenous knowledge is shared among community members.

But some local/indigenous knowledge may be specific to an individual because of their unique life experience

People possess both collective and individual local/indigenous knowledge

Source: http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowled

ge.html

Important UnderstandingLocal/Indigenous Knowledge must not be devalued because of the source

Local/Indigenous knowledge is relevant at three levels of the development process



Level Relevance

Individual We need to recognize that men and women, old and young, produce and use local knowledge

Organizational

We need to recognize that local knowledge can enhance community, economic, and human development efforts

Global We need to recognize that local knowledge forms part of global knowledge and that it can be preserved, transferred, or adopted and adapted elsewhere

Common knowledge is held by most people in a community; e.g. example

Shared knowledge is held by many, but not all, community members; e.g.

Specialized knowledge is held by a few people who might have had special training or an apprenticeship; e.g.

Sacred knowledge is private knowledge which may or may not be shared that can be held by many or a few


Training Manual: Building on Gender, Agrobiodiversity and Local Knowledge FAQ on Local Knowledge

http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5610e/y5610e00.htm

Important UnderstandingsThere are different types of local/indigenous knowledge

http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5610e/y5610e00.htm

Important UnderstandingsConsider the following when working with local/indigenous knowledge

Historical context is important

Emotions, spirituality, aesthetics, morality, and values influence how we see our world

Local/indigenous knowledge is not one thing; it consists of multiple perspectives

Local/indigenous knowledge holders are identified by the community

As local/indigenous knowledge evolves, some important aspects of local knowledge might be lost

“By building on local and scientific knowledge, we hope to develop

healthy ecosystems with multiple community benefits,

where human communities act in concert with natural systems, rather than simply to dominate these systems for short term

gain”Source: Ostrum, E. 1990. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. New York: Cambridge UniversityPress. Ostrum, E., R. Gardner, and J. Taylor. 1994. Rules, Games and Common-Pool Resources. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Moving ForwardLocal/indigenous knowledge contributions

Local knowledge provides insight that traditional ‘scientific’ discourse misses.

G/W Brooklyn example

Local knowledge is providing researchers and communities with tangible benefits

Alaskan native climate studies San/hoodia benefit sharing agreement

Activity Question

Do you use local/indigenous knowledge in your own work? Yes No Planning to in the future Not sure

Describe some ways you have used or hope to use local/indigenous knowledge in your work?

CONTACT INFORMATION

University Outreach and EngagementMichigan State University Kellogg Center, Garden LevelEast Lansing, MI 48824-1022Phone: (517) 353-8977Fax: (517) 432-9541E-mail: [email protected] site: outreach.msu.edu

mailto:[email protected]

http://outreach.msu.edu/

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