Indigenous Communication and Indigenous Knowledge
Indigenous Communication and Indigenous Knowledge
Indigenous Communication and Indigenous Knowledge
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An elder in a Pacific island fishing village stands in a beached outrigger canoe. A circle of
younger villagers sits in the sand around the boat. The old man peers beneath the canoe as if
searching for fish, gestures, hauls on an imaginary net. Too old to go fishing himself now, he
is explaining fishing techniques to the less experienced youths.
The old man is passing on to the younger generation a lifetime of experience and knowledge.
Knowledge of fish behavior, subtle changes in the sea and the sky, ways of handling nets and
boats. Knowledge that means the difference between boats coming home full of fish and boats
returning empty. Knowledge that represents the villagers' very survival.
–
An old woman has just died in this village in Kenya. She was the last person to know of a
forest plant that could be used to treat epilepsy attacks. She had no children and no pupils.
No one wanted to learn her skills. Now her wisdom is gone forever.
–
The agricultural researchers were satisfied with their farming systems project. They had
successfully introduced a new rice planting technique in southern Sumatra. Instead of wait-
ing for their fields to flood in the rainy season before transplanting their rice, farmers now
plant rice seen in the fields as soon as the rains begin. The new technique, called gogorancah
in Indonesian, gives the plants a head start; a gogorancah crop could be harvested at least
two weeks earlier than a transplanted crop. That leaves time for an extra crop of soybeans.
The farmers didn't know, and the researchers sometimes forgot, that gogorancah was not a
new technique. It had been used for many years by rice farmers in other parts of Indonesia.
The researchers had merely adapted it for the climate, soils and rice varieties of Sumatra.
–
Indigenous technical knowledge is a new focus in development circles. Growing numbers of
scientists and organizations are recognizing that it offers cheap, locally adapted solutions to
development problems, or that it can be melded with scientific knowledge to boost
productivity and living standards.
But, as the above examples illustrate, most indigenous knowledge is not written down. It is
held in people's heads, passed down from one generation to the next by word of mouth. But
how is this information communicated? How do people learn indigenous knowledge? Who is
involved? How is the communication organized? We have few answers to these questions.
Indigenous communication includes the transmission of entertainment, news, persuasion,
announcements and social exchanges of every type. While these topics are important, this
article focuses on the communication of technical information, since this parallels the interest
in indigenous knowledge for development.
Why Study It?
Studying indigenous communication is important for many reasons.
Indigenous communication has value in its own right. It is an important aspect of culture
and it is the means by which a culture is preserved, handed down and adapted. But
indigenous communication is being eroded by exogenous systems - the mass media, schools,
agricultural extension, bureaucracies - endangering the survival of much valuable
information.
Exogenous channels have limited range. Television and newspapers are largely confined to
urban areas in the Third World. Even the most widespread exogenous channels, extension
personnel and radio, fail to reach many rural people. Indigenous channels, by contrast, are
ubiquitous. They are needed to convey messages to people out of the reach of exogenous
channels.
Indigenous channels have high credibility. Because they are familiar and are controlled
locally, indigenous channels are highly credible. Local audiences are often skeptical of the
externally controlled mass media.
Indigenous channels are important conduits of change. Research has shown the
importance of informal, interpersonal contacts in persuading people to adopt, or reject,
innovations. Such contacts are often made through indigenous channels.
Development programs can use indigenous communication to collect and to disseminate
information. Outsiders can tap indigenous channels for information on the local situation
and for feedback on project initiatives. Many projects rely on indigenous channels to diffuse
innovations and development messages. Some have made explicit use of indigenous channels
such as folk media and village organizations. There remains much untapped potential in
using such approaches.
Indigenous channels offer opportunities for participation by local people in devel-
opment efforts. They allow local people to communicate among themselves and with
development professionals and decision makers. Local people can retain control over local
media more easily than over technology-intensive media.
If indigenous communication is ignored, the result might be inappropriate development
efforts. For instance, planners failed to recognize the role of a network of "water temples" in
controlling irrigation in Bali, Indonesia. This led them to introduce cropping methods and
construct canals and dams that were not appropriate to local conditions.
Paul Mundy, from the United Kingdom, is an associate of Iowa State University's Center for
Indigenous Knowledge for Agriculture and Rural Development (CIKARD). He is currently
studying for his PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. J. Lin Compton is professor of
extension education and international agriculture at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
This article is adapted from a chapter by the authors in a forthcoming book entitled
Indigenous Knowledge Systems: The Cultural Dimension, edited by D. Michael Warren,
David Brokensha and L. Jan Slikkerveer.