Week 5: Indigenous Knowledge

Week 5: Indigenous Knowledge

 

The discussion of Indigenous Knowledge-- its nature, its role in

development,

its relation to other forms of more "modern" or "Western" knowledge and

information, strategies for capturing and sharing it -- was one of the most

lively discussions of the entire list conference.  This is perhaps because

the

issue of indigenous knowledge goes to the heart of some of the core

preoccupations of the group over these past three months -- the relationship

between knowledge and power, the relative weight given to 'local' and

'global'

knowledge, the question of "who decides" what knowledge is relevant to

development.

 

The discussion focused first of all on the nature of Indigenous Knowledge

and

how it is different from, and differently valued from, the "scientific",

"Western" knowledge that seems to be the primary focus of development

agencies

in their discussions of the role of knowledge in development.  The group

provided numerous examples of areas where Indigenous Knowledge is adding

great

value to the lives of people both in developing and developed countries --

pharmaceuticals, ceramics and other crafts, agriculture -- as well as some

non-commodity areas of value such as traditional modes of social

organization

and conflict resolution.  Attention also focused on the socio-cultural

embeddedness and contextual specificity of indigenous knowledge, and on its

rootedness in the daily lives of people and communities, in concrete

problem-solving (and therefore the importance of context in discussions of

the

role of knowledge in development.

 

These definitional discussions led to an attention to the difficulties and

distortions involved in applying Western scientific standards to indigenous

knowledge, and the importance of understanding indigenous knowledge in

specific

cultural context.  In this light, current international regimes of

international

property rights and patents do not easily apply to indigenous knowledge.

These

approaches are predicated upon a view of knowledge as composed of discrete,

commodifiable knowledge objects that are the creation of, and therefore

owned

by, individuals.  Indigenous knowledge, on the other hand, is socially bound

and

collective; it is neither possible nor relevant to ask who "owns" the

knowledge

that a certain bark produces a tea that has medicinal qualities.  Yet, the

more

traditional communities, and indigenous knowledge systems, in developing

countries encounter global market forces rooted in individualistic and

commodity-based views of knowledge "ownership", the greater risk there is of

exploitation of indigenous knowledge in ways that deprive communities of the

full value of the knowledge they have developed over centuries.

 

These risks, combined with the beneficial development impacts of indigenous

knowledge properly deployed and contextualized, argue for a much greater

attention on the part of the development community to issues of indigenous

knowledge and strategies for capturing and sharing that knowledge in ways

that

recognize the contribution of the communities where it originated.  It

argues

for an approach to development that envisions not moving communities away

from

indigenous and traditional forms of knowledge and action towards "modern"

knowledge, but finding ways to integrate successfully the best of indigenous

and

global knowledge in a form that resonates with the culture and needs of each

community.  Participants pointed to several projects, such as the Honey Bee

Network, the Kenya Ethno-Veterinary Project, and the indigenous knowledge

assessment manual of the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction,

that

are aimed to increase awareness, preservation, and sharing of traditional

knowledge systems.

 

Week 6: Information Overload

 

Among the messages posted during this discussion, there seemed to be a

strong

consensus on certain key points:

·    While developed countries might suffer from information overload, most

developing countries still face a situation where their access to

information

relevant to their development is uneven and incomplete.

·    Even where there is information overload, this by no means implies that

there is an abundance of understanding and relevant knowledge.  In fact,

information overload may paradoxically lead to knowledge failures, since the

glut of information makes it more difficult for individuals and communities

to

sift out the information that is relevant to their needs and transform it

into

actionable knowledge.

·    The great risk for developing countries is that they will end up with

the

worst of both worlds; a glut of Western "information" and entertainment

content,

and a scarcity of specific, contextualized information and knowledge that

helps

them face their specific development challenges.  The challenge for

international agencies, then, is not simply to help developing countries

increase the aggregate amount of global information resources to which they

have

access, but to help them derive concrete information and knowledge

strategies

that permit them to gain access to the specific information they need to

enrich

their lives and prospects.

 

Week 7: The role of ICTs in Development

 

There was little disagreement with the premise that information and

communications technologies can be powerful tools for empowering individuals

and

communities with information and knowledge relevant to their development.

However, there was concern among the participants that ICTs will only serve

such

a role if there is considerable attention paid to several issues, including;

·    equity of access to ICTs;

·    strategies for harnessing ICTs to maximize South-to-South and

South-to-North communication and information-sharing, and not just

North-to-South "dissemination" of information;

·    programs that imbed ICT deployment in broader knowledge and empowerment

strategies for poor communities, rather than assuming that the mere

provision of

ICTs will by itself solve poverty, social and economic inequity, and power

differentials.

 

One participant raised the (legitimate) concern that, in a week-long

discussion

of ICTs and their impact on developing countries, no one mentioned the

increasingly important issue of the domination of major international

communications and information media by a shrinking number of global

companies.

 

Week 8: The Role of International Institutions

 

The discussion on the role of international institutions not only provided

an

opportunity to synthesize many of the issues that had been discussed in

previous

weeks into a concrete set of recommendations for international action; it

also

set the stage for a return to an intense debate begun earlier in the

dialogue on

whether one could speak at all about "knowledge for development" without

addressing more fundamental questions of the nature, and limits, of

development.

 

In this broader debate, participants disagreed about whether "development"

as we

know it had reached its sustainable limits, and whether it was necessary to

rethink our model of development, and our expectations of continued global

economic expansion, in order to address issues of environmental

sustainability.

Some participants also suggested that, even if the current model of

development

were environmentally sustainable, it was fundamentally flawed as a model of

social organization and human development.  Some participants also felt that

the

focus of international institutions should be as much on capacity building

of

information and knowledge capabilities as there was on the centralized

dissemination of information from institutions such as the World Bank.

 

Despite these disagreements, participants seemed to agree more on certain

simple

principles to guide the future role of international institutions in

promoting

knowledge and information as tools of sustainable development.  These

principles

include:

·    the need for international agencies to focus more on supporting, and

helping to replicate the successes of, small scale projects that engage the

active participation of, and "ownership" of, local communities in developing

countries;

·    the importance of fostering greater lateral knowledge-sharing in the

field,

rather than filtering all field experience through the traditional

aggregation

mechanisms of international agencies such as consultants' reports;

·    the vital importance of recognizing that development is about more than

economics, that it does not occur in isolated components but as a wholistic

process, and that knowledge is the tool that weaves the components together;

·    the need to adapt the behavior of international organizations, and even

their project cycle, to account for and support this more complex and

nuanced

view of the development process.

 

Subject: [IKD] Re: Development Project Knowledge Network

Date: Sun, 25 Apr 1999 09:42:05 PDT

From: "Javed Ahmad" <jsahmad@hotmail.com>

Reply-To: ikd@jazz.worldbank.org

To: ikd@jazz.worldbank.org

 

Dear IKD Subscribers,

 

I am not sure if the World Bank becoming a "Knowledge Bank" is a

as serious a matter as it sounds. Internet has already become the

global knowledge bank in many ways, although much more needs to be

added to its deposits. Wouldn't it be more interesting if the Bank

took a lead instead in disseminating knowledge? In other words,

supporting, facilitating, and financing all forms and channels of

communication that would bring knowledge to the final consumer. If

some lone individuals can do it, imagine what the Bank can accomplish?

If the process is further enriched by also establishing some feed back

mechanisms, the pay offs could be beyond all expectations.

 

Javed S. Ahmad

Kathmandu, Nepal

jsahmad@unfpa.wlink.com.np

 

Subject: Re: [IKD] LIST SUMMARY

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 16:00:03 -0400 (EDT)

From: Harbans Bhola <bhola@indiana.edu>

Reply-To: ikd@jazz.worldbank.org

To: moderator1@worldbank.org

CC: ikd@jazz.worldbank.org

 

My admiration for Deane, Dalhman, and McNamara for an excellent List

Summary.

 

We may have had a blind spot, however: That blind spot has been ADULT

LITERACY.  The phrase has not appeared even once in the List Summary.  I

do not remember to have come across the word/phrase in our earlier

discourse either.

 

In our times, without adult literacy we will be limping on one leg and

will sway and stagger all the time on the road to development.  We may

make do but without literacy it is well-nigh impossible to receive,

select and share information across individuals, communities and nations.

 

Few of us seem to realize that without literacy radio, TV and the computer

also become less useful.  Most of the educational radio is "print spoken

aloud."  Radio uses the grammar of print wrapped in artificial

spontaneity.  Even TV messages are more easily accessible to and

understood by the literate.  Computer is, of course, often printed

material sent electronically.  To sum, literacy is also the most

democratic and supremely egalitarian of media available to humanity.

 

I think literacy should become central to all information/knowledge/

development strategies.  Literacy is after all the second culminaiton of

our hamanity, speech being the first culmination of our being human.

 

I would suggest that all projects of development should include a

component of education and extension, and all projects of education and

extension should include adult literacy component.  Literacy would work

truly as an instrument of transformation of identities and communities.

Literacy is a gift that will keep on giving in the context of each and

every project of development that is undertaken now or later.

 

Literacy projects should be started in all communities of the Third World,

rural and urban with further procrastination.  Its justifications should

be more than merely economic.  The political, cultural, religious should

also be joined with the merely utilitarian.

 

Literacy teachers should be given resources for writing oral histories of

communities as well as to develop almanacs for local development.  In

the context of writing these almanacs, local plans for economic production

and education could be prepared.  Local indigenous knowledge could be

dusted off and coordinated for use and enrichment where necessary.  The

beginning of almanacs should be coordinated with local new year.  For

example, it could be the Dewali festival in parts of India, Chrismas in

other places, and so on.

 

While I am at it, I also like to say that we already have a very good

definition of development embedded in the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN

RIGHtTS.

 

In regard to the fulfilment of our hopes for development and actualization

of our plans, I must say that not much is going to happen unless we

combine the SPIRITUAL with the social; unless we expand the circle

of human solidarity to include everyone on earth; unless we accept the

idea of strategic transfer of wealth across nations, between

regions, classes, and the excluded.

 

Unfortunately, the more likely scenario is "free market economy"

where profit is God and wherein almost every bargain is good for the rich

and bad for the poor!

 

H.S. Bhola

Professor of Education

Indiana University at Bloomington, IN., USA, 47405

Tel: 812-856-8376

FAX: 812-856-8440

 

Subject: [IKD] Post-Literacy through TV

Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 17:31:04 -0400 (EDT)

From: Brij Kothari <brij@iimahd.ernet.in>

Reply-To: ikd@jazz.worldbank.org

Organization: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India

To: ikd@jazz.worldbank.org

CC: bhola@indiana.edu

 

Prof. H.S. Bhola has made some very insightful points about the need for

integrating literacy development into development initiatives in

general.  In this regard, I would like to share with you a project that

promises much to the millions of neo-literates in India, through

television, if only top education and media policy makers can agree to

implement it.  The idea is so simple and ridicuously cheap that one can

grossly underestimate its potential national impact.  And that too, in a

country with the largest number of non- and neo-literates in the world.

Thanks.

Brij Kothari

------------

 

Literacy skill development for the millions of neo-literates in India,

through television and popular songs

 

At the Ravi J. Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation, Indian

Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, we have been exploring the possible

literacy gains from subtitling film-song programmes (widely shown on

Indian television) in the same language as the audio.  Audience

reactions from several field tests had earlier found that Same Language

Subtitling (SLS) is indeed popular.  Now we have confirmed from a

sustained experiment in a govt. primary school that SLS also leads to

measurable gains in a neo-literate's reading ability.

 

These findings convinced Doordarshan, Ahd. (state TV for Gujarat) to

telecast three SLSed Chitrageet programmes to see audience reaction to

the idea.  Audience reaction has been overwhelmingly positive to the

first two programmes already shown.  Out of the 80 or so post-cards

received from all over Gujarat, only two people have prefered

unsubtitled songs.  The rest have given a range of reasons for liking

subtitling, confirming that it is useful for literacy, the deaf (who can

also enjoy the songs now), and enhanced enjoyment of the songs since

people can "hear" the song lines better, know the lyrics, and sing along

(as in Karaoke).

 

Because the response of viewers has been so positive, Doordarshan, Ahd.

has also agreed to telecast SLSed Chitrageet during a six-eight month

experiment and longer if necessary.  If the experiment leads to literacy

gains, and every indication is that it will, then the idea is to push

for its implementation in all film song programmes shown on state and

national networks, in all vernaculars.

 

Rough calculations are that the expense of this approach in Gujarat

amounts to Rs. 0.07 per neo-literate per year (or US$ 0.00163 per

neo-literate per year).  Currently Gujarat state spends about Rs. 10-20

per neo-literate per year (roughly US$ 0.25-0.50).  If the SLS approach

can be implemented with a mere fraction of the present expense, its

significance for literacy development is, we argue, going to be several

times more.  If done in Hindi, the cost of SLS would drop to less than

US$ 0.00025 per Hindi speaking neo-literate per year.

 

This project has been a long battle and has come to this stage over the

last three years.  The battle continues, however.  Top education policy

makers in the National Literacy Mission (NLM) nor in Gujarat state have

agreed, thus far, to contribute the Rs. 0.07 or US$ 0.00163 per

neo-literate per year.  This, despite the  fact that creating

opportunities for the maintenance and improvement of neo-literates'

skills as a lifelong process, so that they don't relapse into illiteracy

or remain at very low non-functional levels, is one of the most imposing

challenges before the NLM and state

bodies.  Fortunately, Doordarshan, Gujarat, under its present director

has demonstrated remarkable support for the idea, by testing it out its

popularity in live telecast mode.

 

Although the project has presently been suggested with film songs, just

because such programmes already exist and enjoy tremendous popularity,

it would be equally promising to try out the idea with folk songs,

bhajans, etc.

 

Further questions may be directed to:

Brij Kothari

Asst. Prof.,

Ravi J. Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation

Wing 14, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

Vastrapur, Ahmedabad-380015

Gujarat, India

 

Fax: 91-79-6427896

Tel: 91-79-6407241

e-mail: brij@iimahd.ernet.in

 

Subject: [IKD] Information Poverty Research Institute

Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 17:51:29 -0400 (EDT)

From: Frederick Noronha <fred@goa1.dot.net.in>

Reply-To: ikd@jazz.worldbank.org

To: ikd@jazz.worldbank.org

 

[from IPRI's web page]

 

Information Poverty Research Institute

 

Information Poverty Research Institute is a US based think-tank

(under registration as a non-profit organisation) that studies the

long-term effects of information technology on world poverty. The

institute's research is concerned with the fact that almost 99

percent of the world's population has no access to information

technology. The economic, political and cultural repurcussions of

this fact are the basis of a new form of poverty -- information

poverty. IPRI believes that information poverty will be one of the

greatest issues confronting individuals and nations in the 21st

century.

 

Information technology is today one of the most fundamental building

blocks of western economies, most notably the United States. This has

led these economies to unprecedented levels of growth and

competitiveness. However replicating this growth in developing

countries faces innumerable obstacles--poor telephone density, low PC

penetration, lack of software in local languages, paucity of funds

for infrastructural development etc. These obstacles threaten to

throw developing economies out of synch with the rapidly evolving

mainstream digital economy.

 

IPRI believes that this is a complex issue that has not received the

attention it deserves. We also believe that since these are the early

days of the digital revolution, we have a chance to guide technology

in directions that are ultimately beneficial to society as a whole.

 

IPRI aims to achieve this goal by:

 

1) Collaborating with academic institutions with similar research

goals.

 

2) Studying successful applications of information technology in

developing countries.

 

3) Coordinating with international organisations to publish research

on the subject.

 

4) Interacting closely with the world press to raise awareness of

information poverty.

 

5) Organising conferences and seminars on information poverty.

 

IPRI's board of advisors will consist of technologists, journalists,

and activists from all over the world.

 

Contact us: mail@ipri.org

http://www.ipri.org/

 

Subject: [IKD] Re: Post-Literacy through TV

Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 17:52:54 -0400 (EDT)

From: "Vivien Ponniah" <ponniah@unfpa.org>

Reply-To: ikd@jazz.worldbank.org

Organization: UNFPA

To: ikd@jazz.worldbank.org

CC: bhola@indiana.edu, Millennium Institute <millennium@igc.apc.org>

 

So many distinguished contributors speak to the importance of INTEGRATED

development assistance and coordinated planning at country level with

country citizens in the driver's seat.

 

Yesterday I was proud to be representing the UN/UNFPA at a side event for

the Commission on Sustainable Development ongoing sessions currently in New

York, UN Hq.  The exemplary Malawi case was presented and the use of a

software-based planning tool -- Threshold 21 was demonstrated by a small but

remarkable NGO -- Millennium Institute.  It's power lies in it being simple

but not simplistic, dynamic, multi-stakeholder participatory process

qualities, cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary, and capabilty to show

results or lack of them over time in a holistic, systems-approach.

 

It is possible -- there are practical tools for coordinated planning that

allow this -- mostly there is lacking a knowledge, or political will and

commitment to try, or for all specializations to come together in

nonconventional ways,  to adapt and to refine.  Malawi is a challenge to us

ALL.