The Role of Indigenous Knowledge Practices Within Transformative Reconciliation

The study investigates a framework for the transformation of colonised African mindsets towards the promotion of indigenous knowledge practices. The study relied on existing literature to analyse the African mindset towards indigenous knowledge practices. It was discovered that African countries undermine their indigenous knowledge systems and practices, and prefer those initiated by others, especially from European nations. African indigenous knowledge systems and practices are often under-looked, undervalued, negatively viewed, and spoken badly of by Africans, especially by those of younger generations. This disregard for indigenous knowledge systems and practices is predominantly seen in healthcare systems and practices, even after it has been recorded that, through scientific studies founded on participatory observation and interviews, many areas of the Western healthcare system were developed from the same indigenous knowledge practices that are now being disregarded. The study concluded that Africans should view their indigenous knowledge systems positively, promote them globally and preserve them for future generations to come. To do this, it is suggested that some practices be enhanced through technological changes to enable them to compete or be integrated with Western practices.

This work on STEAM and education for sustainable development was undertaken across a series of collaborative case studies as formative research on the inclusion of Indigenous technologies and knowledge practices in teacher education. We noted that, despite the current academic imperative to decolonise southern African education, one seldom finds the inclusion of Indigenous technologies and Indigenous heritage practices in the contemporary classroom. Teachers we worked with were highly interested in their Indigenous knowledge heritage. Yet, they reported that they, and the young teachers they work with, simply do not have the heritage knowledge capital to include Indigenous knowledge systems in their teaching. Other challenges they face are the time it takes to engage community knowledge holders, and to find knowledge relating to school subject disciplines. The teachers observed that students prioritise modernity over Indigenous heritage and technologies, often undervaluing the latter as a forgotten past. Three exploratory cases delved into teacher education's response to challenges through co-engaged work, and this paper synthesises the emerging evidence-aiming to refine pedagogical tools for integrating Indigenous knowledge into STEAM education. A cultural-historical approach was used to frame the study and to derive insights and inferences in co-engaged lesson design research with teachers.

I am grateful for the financial contributions provided by the Canadian Indigenous of Health Research (CIHR), Institute of Indigenous Peoples Health and Gender and Health, with First Nations Health Authority, the Canadian Nurses Foundation, and the University of Victoria.

In colonial nations such as Canada, there have been increasing requirements for governments to engage directly with Indigenous communities regarding their rights and interests in natural resource management generally, with specific focus on the role of Indigenous knowledge systems in harvest management decision-making (Tikina et al.2010). Canadian courts have repeatedly focused on two factors with extremely important consequences for the Nation-to-Nation relationships that exist between the Crown and the Indigenous communities: (1) Indigenous rights must be reconciled with other government responsibilities including justified infringements for the often ill-defined concept of ‘conservation’ (Crawford and Morito 1997; Ayers 2005; Nadasdy 2005), and (2) the ‘honour of the Crown’ must be maintained when consulting Indigenous communities, especially with regard to management decision-making about their natural resources (Morito 1999; Slattery 2005). Given the legal necessities for a Eurocentric government to engage in honorable and meaningful consultation with Indigenous communities about conservation ethics and natural resource management, it remains to be seen how these Indigenous-Western science cross-cultural consultations should be undertaken (Crawford et al.2010). The trend to date has largely been the domination of Western Science over Indigenous knowledge systems (in the sense described by Pentland 1995); circumstances in which Indigenous knowledge holders might be requested to provide information to scientists/managers who would evaluate it for reliability and utility before deciding whether to incorporate in a science-based management program (McGregor 2004; Clark and Slocombe 2009; Lyver et al.2009). Some scholars have suggested that conflict caused by this kind of cultural domination could be reduced if governments and Indigenous communities re-initiated their discussions with an examination of similarities and differences in principles regarding ‘conservation’ and ‘natural resource management’ (Ratner and Holen 2007; Ebbin 2011; Watson et al.2011). In this way, the communities could develop a structured and respectful dialogue about wild harvest management in the spirit of reconciliation and productive collaboration. There have been numerous attempts by Western scientists to reach internal consensus on general principles for natural resource management (Holt and Talbot 1978; Christensen et al.1996; Mangel et al.1996; Dale et al.2000), habitat management (Lindenmayer and Nix 1993; Botsford et al.2003; Naiman and Latterell 2005), harvest management (FSC 1996; Heissenbuttal 1996; Lauck et al.1998; Fowler 2003; FAO 2001; Gonzalez-Laxe 2005; Utne 2006; Shelton and Sinclair 2008; Francis et al.2007; MSC 2010) and biodiversity/endangered species management (Walters 1991; Tilman 1999; Ebbin 2011). Although the practice of ‘defining principles for resource management’ is not something that Indigenous societies typically engage in, there have been many attempts to survey and understand Indigenous values and social norms in this regard (Ratner and Holen 2007; Turner and Berkes 2006; Watson et al.2011). For example, Alcorn (1993) offered a general treatise on the relationship between Indigenous worldviews and the Western idea of ‘conservation.’ Berkes et al. (1998) explored fundamental properties of ecosystem-like concepts in Indigenous cultures. In the 2011 ‘Principles of Tsawalk,’ Umeek (E. Richard Atleo), a hereditary Nuu-Chah-Nulth chief, discussed his culture’s principles of Recognition, Consent, and Continuity and their important role in maintaining balance—in contrast to the global consequences of Western ‘sustainable’ development. Prober et al. (2011) characterized the principles of Australian Aboriginal ecological calendars and indicators and evaluated their possible interaction with Western social-ecological systems for natural resource management. Over the past decades, a growing body of community-based collaborative studies has provided more depth and insight into the structure and function of traditional Indigenous knowledge systems and their associated decision-making processes for harvest management (e.g., Feit 1986; Brightman 1993; Horstman and Wightman 2001; Ayers 2005; Castleden et al.2009; Lyver et al.2009; Moller et al.2009; Bilbao et al.2010). However, as Jones et al. (2010) caution, researchers must always be careful to consider Indigenous community-based value systems as spatially and temporally local expressions of their culture. Efforts to identify general Indigenous ‘principles’ of natural resource management must be tempered by conscious recognition that (1) ‘principles’ are social constructs which are deeply embedded in cultural and social norms that are typically complex and subtle to the outsider (Houde 2007; Peloquin and Berkes 2009), and (2) Indigenous cultures and worldviews are inherently more diverse than the relatively homogenous standards of Western science (although see a provoking challenge of this assumption about scientific homogeneity by Watson-Verran and Turnbull 1995). The goal of our investigation was to develop and demonstrate a process for engaging with Indigenous communities to inquire about the structure and function of social norms in their culture that could relate to Western ‘principles’ for natural, renewable resource management. In order to achieve this goal, we worked in partnership with a sponsoring Ojibway community on a case study to employ community-based, participatory research methods with traditional people who were most familiar with social norms for harvest management.

<JATS1:p>InIndigenous Languages and Indigenous Knowledge in East Africa: Swahili, Kikuyu, and Kamba, Esther Mukewa Lisanza and Catherine Mwihaki Ndungo argue that African languages and indigenous knowledge forms are the tools which have made African communities such as Swahili, Kikuyu, and Kamba thrive for generations. Using interviews and research data, this book investigates the following questions: what is the nature and role of multilingualism in East Africa?; what role do herbs and indigenous foods play in Swahili, Kamba, and Kikuyu communities?; how are the communities governed indigenously?; and what is the connection between indigenous languages and knowledge? The findings presented within this study have demonstrated that multilingualism is a great resource in East Africa as many have prided themselves on their multilingual abilities within their education, careers, and cultures. Although these languages have been identified as carriers of indigenous governance, judiciary, and herbal medicine that have survived for generations, Lisanza and Ndungo advocate for policies and education systems to recenter these indigenous languages and their accompanying indigenous knowledge forms and practices once the older generations have passed on.</JATS1:p>

Cognitive injustice, which nourishes and sustains current political, social and economic injustice, has been at the centre of the knowledge production enterprise since the colonisers embarked on their project of dispossession and plunder. In order to achieve global justice, the quest for epistemic justice needs to be brought to the centre of curriculum discourses. The postcolonial critique of the canonical corpus of Euro-Western knowledge demands a change in our locus of enunciation. We seized this zeitgeist to repaint the education curriculum canvass in science professional teacher development. We leveraged theoretical constructs from Southern theory, by adopting a decolonial epistemic perspective and privileging a dialogic dynamic. Six purposefully selected, practising science teachers, who were registered to study an Honours in Education module, were engaged to generate qualitative data to respond to the following question: How do science teachers leverage indigenous knowledge to address sustainable development goals? Teachers engaged in intercultural dialogue with indigenous knowledge holders to tap into a plurality of different knowledges. The indigenous knowledge holders who participated were interested in sustainable production/cultivation of items they had used in their practice. Teachers developed portfolios of evidence and participated in focus group interviews. They experienced moments of mourning, dreaming, rediscovery and recovery. This resonated with the same categories that were previously identified by Chilisa, as teachers deconstructed and reconstructed curriculum materials collaboratively with indigenous knowledge holders. The findings reveal that the teachers viewed an indigenous understanding of the world as crucial in the achievement of sustainable development goals. The monolithic, hegemonic Euro-Western thinking was decentred but not abandoned. Instead, teachers rendered it one part of the intercultural dialogue. The study demonstrated the potential for transforming the curriculum to become inclusive of Southern voices in the production of valuable, truthful, reliable knowledge about living together sustainably.

Although it boasts a rich historical wealth of traditional ecological knowledge, the rural Eastern Cape of South Africa continues to be an environmental hotspot since the mid-twentieth century, suffering land degradation, overharvesting of resources and water scarcity. Over the years, much research effort has been directed to investigating how local communities use traditional knowledge to manage resources. By and large, the studies argue that traditional knowledge provided effective management strategies in the past, hence communities should continue using it. This raises the question: what is happening with traditional ecological knowledge in contemporary rural Eastern Cape in South Africa? To address this question, this work used snowball sampling to recruit 83 respondents from three villages of Colana, Gogela and Nozitshena for in-depth interviews. The respondents were elderly women and men whose families had at least a two-generation history of living in these villages. Using the meta-theory of critical realism, particularly its analytical tools of abduction, hermeneutics, dynamism and context, this work found that there are multiple factors, exogenous to traditional ecological knowledge, that make it fail to effectively address environmental challenges in the present-day rural Eastern Cape. They include changed worldviews, legal pluralism and changed lifestyles which are a consequence of adverse incorporation of traditional systems into the South African nation-state system. Indigenous practices, traditions, local ethics, taboos, social conventions, and other cultural practices, that ensured the usefulness of TEK, have been abandoned over time. Incorporation of rural traditional systems into the South African nation-state have been largely adverse. There has been little or no integration of TEK and the “imported” lifestyles. The application of the “plug-in” principle in this case, thus, faces a very formidable task despite the reality that it is the way to go to ensure sustainable natural resources management and the achievement of some of the SDGs.

Traditional Indigenous knowledge is increasingly recognised and incorporated both in and beyond the university. In Canada's Northwest Territories, this recognition has been manifest as policy mandating that scientists incorporate the knowledge of elders and hunters into their environmental and climate change research. However, the recognition of traditional knowledge has not always been met with acceptance and understanding. This article analyses the book Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry by Francis Widdowson and Albert Howard (2008), which is highly critical of traditional knowledge. Widdowson and Howard advocate for cultural assimilation by arguing that traditional knowledge is incompatible with, and inferior to, modern Western science. In their line of reasoning, the current application of traditional knowledge transplants ‗neolithic‘ culture into modernity and stunts the ability of Aboriginal peoples to participate in modern Canadian (and dominant Western) culture. While other critics argue against the racialised and inflammatory discourse, I try to salvage insight from the authors' misunderstandings; Widdowson and Howard's failed grasp on traditional knowledge actually illuminates a fundamental problem. The problem is not in meshing Indigenous and scientific knowledge; rather, the problem is in bridging the gap between Indigenous and scientific ways of knowing. I engage the work of A. Irving Halowell, Tim Ingold and scholars of Dene knowledge and traditional lifeways to discuss how Indigenous religion and worldview create a unique approach to knowledge.

The use of climate services (CS) for the provisioning of climate information for informed decision-making on adaptation action has gained momentum. However, a comprehensive review of the literature to evaluate the lessons and experiences of CS implementation in the African agriculture sector is still lacking. Here, we present a systematic review (mapping) of 50 pieces of literature documenting lessons and experiences of CS adoption in the agriculture sector of 20 African countries. The qualitative analysis of the reviewed literature revealed: (1) CS implementation overwhelmingly relied on a participatory process through workshops and participatory scenario planning meetings to connect users with actors along the CS value chain of forecast production, translation, integration, and application. Additionally, innovations such as mobile phones and internet service are increasingly being integrated with CS to strengthen the relationship between CS providers and users. They are, however, mostly at the trial stage and tend to have a varying impact depending on available facilities and infrastructure in the community. (2) Although there is a growing recognition of the need for the integration of indigenous and scientific knowledge systems in the production of climate information, such integration is currently not happening. Rather, indigenous knowledge holders are engaged in a participatory process for insight on modalities of making scientific climate information locally relevant and acceptable. Given the aforementioned findings, we recommend further research on modalities for facilitating indigenous knowledge mainstreaming in climate information production, and investigation of options for using innovations (e.g., mobile) to enhance the interactions between CS users and CS providers. Such research will play a great role in scaling up the adoption of CS in the African agricultural sector.

Tribal communities in West Bengal possess a rich repository of traditional knowledge, encompassing indigenous practices, folklore, and environmental wisdom that have been sustained across generations. However, the integration of this traditional knowledge into modern educational systems remains a challenge, leaving many tribal populations marginalized. This qualitative secondary study examines the potential of a blended educational approach that integrates traditional knowledge systems with formal modern education to empower tribal communities in West Bengal. Drawing upon secondary data from government reports, academic publications, and case studies, the paper highlights the cultural significance of traditional knowledge among West Bengal’s tribal groups, including the Santals, Oraons, and Mundas. It critically explores the shortcomings of the current education framework, which often disregards indigenous perspectives, leading to a sense of alienation among tribal students. The study further investigates innovative educational programs that have successfully combined traditional practices with modern curricula, focusing on their socio-cultural and economic impacts. The findings underscore that incorporating traditional knowledge into educational strategies fosters cultural pride, strengthens community identity, and enhances the learning experience of tribal students. This approach also aids in preserving indigenous practices while equipping tribal youth with the skills needed for broader societal integration. The paper argues that a collaborative effort involving policymakers, educators, and tribal communities is essential to design context-specific educational models that respect and sustain tribal heritage. By emphasizing the importance of blending traditional and modern knowledge systems, this study advocates for a culturally inclusive and empowering education framework as a means to address the marginalization of tribal communities in West Bengal. Such a framework must not only preserve the rich cultural heritage of tribal communities but also ensure that their traditional wisdom is recognized as a valuable resource in modern society. This requires educational policies that are flexible, participatory, and context-specific, incorporating the voices and needs of tribal communities.

Indigenous agricultural knowledge: A neglected human based resource for sustainable crop protection and production

Indigenous community knowledge is indeed essential for the sustainable development of community and University-Industry Linkage (UIL) initiatives. It provides valuable local contextualized expertise, engages local indigenous stakeholders, bridges the gap between academia, industry, and the community, incorporates local traditions and indigenous cultural practices, and creates a long-term impact on society, universities, and industries towards achieving sustainable development goals. Therefore, this study aims to examine the existing indigenous knowledge models for sustainable UIL and community development, thereby developing a unique indigenous knowledge model showing how it transforms the UIL and community development to sustainable development through integrated systems nexus. The study utilizes an in-depth literature review as its methodological approach, examining existing data from literature and conceptual frameworks of innovation development models. The results obtained from this comprehensive review indicate that many research findings have portrayed indigenous knowledge as a primitive method of knowledge sharing. However, the findings of this current research, along with a few other studies, demonstrate that indigenous knowledge serves as a foundation and baseline for UIL and community development, aligned with indigenous culture. This allows for the easy communication and diffusion of knowledge to the user community through their native way of life. The findings have also revealed the dynamic interaction among indigenous communities, industry, universities, and government, showing how these stakeholders collaborate synergistically to achieve sustainable development goals for both the community and UIL initiatives. The model is distinctive in that it introduces the Indigenous Quadruple Helix Nexus Model, which provides a novel perspective on contemporary knowledge. This model highlights the interplay and collaboration among indigenous communities, industry, universities, and government, emphasizing the unique contributions and interactions of each stakeholder group in shaping and advancing knowledge in the present context. In conclusion, this study has assessed the existing literature related to indigenous knowledge and its linkage with UIL and introduced a unique helix model that integrated the community, industry, university and government.

ABSTRACTIn this study, Indigenous Knowledge Holders were gathered in a collaborative forum to discuss weather, in particular, Indigenous Science knowledge related to severe weather, climate change, and weather prediction methods. Weather forecasting methods that arose in discussion were further explored based on a framework of Bridging, Braiding, and Weaving knowledge systems. Numerous Indigenous Science‐based weather prediction methods were documented, with most lending themselves to follow‐up testing. The Knowledge Holders emphasized that Indigenous Science is an important component within the broader domain of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, with current and historic empirical and holistic insights into natural phenomena. There was consensus among the Knowledge Holders that Indigenous Science should not be perceived as subordinate to Western methodologies but instead viewed as a complementary and equivalent knowledge system. This paper underscores the importance of a co‐produced approach to research where Indigenous Knowledge Holders share their expertise to enrich and inform Western research design, including the interpretation of study results and the implementation of subsequent policy and decision‐making. We provide examples of Bridging, Braiding, and Weaving Indigenous Science using weather‐related phenomena, such as animal behavior, atmospheric patterns, and plant growth indicators, while also offering insights into the impacts of climate change and severe weather.

Traditional knowledge about fire and its effects held by indigenous people, who are connected to specific landscapes, holds promise for informing contemporary fire and fuels management strategies and augmenting knowledge and information derived from western science. In practice, however, inadequate means to organize and communicate this traditional knowledge with scientists and managers can limit its consideration in decisions, requiring novel approaches to interdisciplinary and cross-cultural communication and collaboration. We propose that Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) is one platform for the assemblage and communication of traditional knowledge vital to fire and fuels management, while preserving linkages to broader cultural contexts. We provide summaries of four preliminary case studies in the Intermountain West of North America to illustrate different potential applications of a PGIS tool in this context and describe some remaining challenges. Management and Policy Implications: Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) can offer a powerful approach for enhancing current decisionmaking by allowing for the integration of traditional and scientific knowledge systems with spatial environmental data in an interactive participatory process. Integrated data sets can allow traditional and scientific knowledge experts to share, explore, manage, analyze, and interpret multidimensional data in a common spatial context to develop more informed management decisions. Such combined data sets could provide a more comprehensive assessment of fire-related ecological change than is currently used in decisionmaking and enhance inclusion of effects on local resource utility values and areas of cultural significance. The use of a PGIS interface creates opportunities for traditional knowledge holders to share information and potential prescriptions while maintaining confidentiality. Knowledge integration efforts using PGIS as an organizational tool would help to bridge the communication gap that commonly exists between scientists, managers, and traditional knowledge holders as ecosystems continue to be altered through processes of land management and climate change.

Social work education modules are contested to be dominated by Western pedagogy and perspectives. Recent discourses on indigenizing social work education in Africa focused on promoting social work education curricula that will be context-specific and largely reflect indigenous knowledge and practices. This study explored the views of social work educators and students on how indigenous knowledge and cultural practices can be utilized in developing social work education modules to achieve effective education that will be responsive to the peculiar needs and social problems of contemporary Nigeria. We interviewed eight social work educators and 12 social work students from two universities in Nigeria. Findings reveal the ongoing integration of local content into social work modules and the non-inclusion of local stakeholders in the modules’ review processes. Also revealed was a lack of Nigerian research-informed module development. The students voiced concern about the nonuse of information from their fieldwork reports and experiences in the curricula informing their learning. We recommend using responsive local content and learnings from Nigerian social work research and students’ fieldwork reports in social work curricula, engaging local stakeholders, and including students’ representatives in curriculum development/review processes for more efficient education and training.