Teaching indigenous knowledge (IK) to African youth has become more complicated due to a variety of reasons such as urban migration, loss of interest in it, the dominance of scientific knowledge and the technological revolution. Therefore, there is a considerable movement towards using technologies to safeguard IK before it becomes obsolete. It is noteworthy that research conducted and software development perspectives being used are mainly based on Western worldviews that are inappropriate for African socio-cultural contexts. IK holders are often not in charge of the digitisation process and merely treated as subjects. In this study, we explored a suitable development approach of a crowdsourcing task management application (TMA) as an auxiliary tool for safeguarding IK. Moreover, the study sought to provide an opportunity for the indigenous communities to make requests of three-dimensional (3D) models of their traditional objects independently. The delivered traditional 3D models are imported into the communities' IK visualisation tools used by the IK holders to teach the youth about their cultural heritage. The main objective of this study was to ascertain how the indigenous rural communities could appropriate a foreign technological concept such as crowdsourcing. This brought about our first research theme: investigating the necessary conditions to establish and maintain beneficial embedded community engagement. The second theme was to determine the suitable methods for technology co-design. Thirdly, to discover what does the communities' appropriated crowdsourcing concept entail. We applied a consolidated research method based on Community-based CoDesign (CBCD) extended with Afrocentric research insights and operationalised with Action Research cycle principles of planning, action and reflection. CBCD was conducted in three cycles with Otjiherero speaking indigenous rural communities from Namibia. Reflections from the first cycle revealed that the rural communities would require unique features in their crowdsourcing application. During the second cycle of co-designing with the ovaHimba community, we learnt that CBCD is matured through mutual trust, reciprocity and skills transfer and deconstructing mainstream technologies to spark co-design ideas. Lastly, in our third cycle of CBCD, we showcased that communities of similar cultures and knowledge construction had common ideas of co-designing the TMA. We also simulated that the construction of traditional 3D models requires indigenous communities to provide insight details of the traditional object to minimise unsatisfactory deliverables. The findings of this study are contributing in two areas (1) research approach and (2) appropriation of technology. We provide a synthesis of Oundu moral values and Afrocentricity as a foundation for conducting Afrocentric research to establish and maintain humanness before CBCD can take place. With those taken as inherent moral values, Afrocentricity should then solely be focused on knowledge construction within an African epistemology. For the appropriation of technology, we share codesign techniques on how the indigenous rural communities appropriated the mainstream crowdsourcing concept through local meaning-making. CBCD researchers should incorporate Afrocentricity for mutual learning, knowledge construction, and sharing for the benefit of all.

This thesis is a study of knowledge practices in contemporary eastern Tibetan villages, where indigenous knowledge, the modern state's rationality and modern science intermingled. The place is rich in the interplay of forms of knowledge. Based on ethnographic observation and reading in hydropower archives, I focus on local knowledge controversies, where there were clashes between the claims of villagers on the one hand, and local officials and visiting scientists on the other. Through the collection of controversies, I observed how different knowledge claims came into contact or conflict with each other, how these conflicts were resolved either in acquiescence or in coordination, and how a conclusion about knowledge was reached in each particular case. In challenging some common assumptions about knowledge production, the thesis makes a contribution to knowledge studies. When researching this subject, scholars have generally studied either the suppression of folk / native knowledge by modern science, or the pure local forms of knowledge as a means of resistance against scientificization. The thesis argues that in contrast to this standard presumption, an alternative form of knowledge production exists. Suppression or resistance are not the only options, hybridization can also be a procedure to produce knowledge, where the outcome is not necessarily purely scientific or purely folk. The case studies I examine do not show either a ruthless plunge into the universe of modern science or an eradication of the modern side and a return to entirely local knowledge. Although modern meteorology prevailed in the face of Tibetans' claims for compensation for destruction of crops by a storm, villagers on the wind-impacted farmlands deconstructed and re-legitimized the science of weather, they did not merely face a simple choice between science and the folk. In another case, villagers clashed with one another on how to delimit the mountain boundary in legal documents, and the state officials took a passive role in these controversies: the geographical entity was not born through suppression, but through villagers' free intellectual movement on the knowledge landscape, from state forestry archives, to local foraging histories, to personal biographies. A controversy over activities related to hydropower manifests the absence of suppression most clearly. Villagers clashed with scientists over seismic damage to local houses, with each side seeking to prove that the damage was or was not caused by a hydropower explosion experiment. The resulting memorandum of understanding that resolved the controversy does not certify scientific explanation nor the folk claim, but is rather a hybridization of incompatible elements from both sides. In this way, the outcome of knowledge-formation through controversies in these Tibetan villages did not fit straightforwardly with the 'logics' of either side. Nevertheless, they were made intelligible and valid as a knowledge in place, in time, and as produced by local groups of people. Simple suppression does not explain local knowledge formation, knowledge derives from complex interplays between scientific, indigenous and administrative practices and narratives.

This thesis investigates how Māori knowledge and language articulate with current discourses of Pūtaiao education, and possible alternative articulations. A Kaupapa Māori version of critical discourse analysis methodology is developed and applied to discourses relevant to Pūtaiao, or Māori-medium science education. This topic represents an intersection between language, science, education, and culture - fields which are all highly politically charged. Therefore, it is essential that a politically robust Kaupapa Māori position be taken in relation to the research topic. Not only the issues being investigated but the underlying research paradigm must be interrogated using Kaupapa Māori theory at each stage of the project. The goal is to study the range of possible meanings for the notions of 'Pūtaiao' and 'Māori science' by exploring the relevant dialectical issues, critiquing the assumptions and positions taken on language, knowledge, identity and ethos, in order to inform further Pūtaiao curriculum development. The research project is a narration of the larger story of Pūtaiao education: what is the current situation, how did it come about, what theoretical issues have been influential in this process, and what possibilities are there for further development of Pūtaiao curriculum and pedagogy? The thesis research consists of a series of discourse analyses of varying levels of focus and intersection with Pūtaiao: Wāhanga 1: Translated NCEA L1 science and mathematics examinations, and a traditional Taitokerau oral text; Wāhanga 2: Māori science curriculum policy; Wāhanga 3: Multicultural science education research; Wāhanga 4: Curriculum politics, preventive linguistics, language of science; Wāhanga 5: Mātauranga, rationality, philosophy of science. Each analysis takes the form of a narrative history, based on a selected corpus of previously published scholarship (in Wāhanga 1, including numerical data and oral tradition) on the issue under examination, from a Kaupapa Māori perspective. Mainly in the first two chapters, analysis at times also draws on 'personal narrative' accounts of previously unpublished details relating to Pūtaiao. Additionally, an investigation of various qualified notions of 'science' is undertaken, beginning in Wāhanga 2, concluding in Wāhanga 5, in order to explore the nature and boundaries of science as a system of knowledge, and its relationship to other types or systems of knowledge. Synopses are included of the following concepts and theoretical issues impacting on the discourses under analysis: Wāhanga 1: Ethnicity, 'race', critical theory, Kaupapa Māori theory. Wāhanga 2: Science, scientism, science ideology and anti-science. Wāhanga 4: Identity, linguistic purism, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Informed by this research, in Wāhanga 5 an original model for the relationship between mātauranga and science is proposed, and the notion of Kaupapa Māori science/epistemology is explored. An analogy between the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and multicultural science is used to draw together the cultural debates in language and knowledge, which are surmised to intersect at the level of discourse. The final chapter presents a re-articulation of Pūtaiao as the notion of Kaupapa Māori science education, and some recommendations for language and content knowledge in further development of Pūtaiao curriculum policy.

Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Interest in indigenous knowledge (IK) research has grown since the 1980s, and more recently the topic has drawn attention in information sciences research. At the same time, the evolution of electronic information and communication technologies (ICTs), most notably development of the Internet, has profoundly influenced information sciences research. This study explores perceptions of community members involved in the creation, development, and use of digital libraries with indigenous knowledge materials. Research methods used in data collection include a quantitative survey distributed to community members involved in the creation, development, and use of digital libraries with indigenous knowledge materials and qualitative analysis of the research process. The study proposes a framework of guidelines to conduct future research on digital libraries with indigenous knowledge that includes: acknowledging the reality of the community involved in creating, developing, and using digital libraries with indigenous knowledge materials; developing appropriate research methods for this community; and identifying specific actions for such research.

A chasm exists between science curriculum offered within K-12 and post-secondary education systems, and the needs of national and international decision-makers with respect to the inclusion of Indigenous knowledges within processes aimed at protecting global biological diversity. World governments seek to protect biodiversity through the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and consideration of Indigenous knowledges has emerged in governing texts. Yet, sustaining Indigenous knowledges as global wisdom will not be possible if young people lack opportunities to learn Indigenous traditional environmental knowledge as an integral part of their education experience. Métis traditional environmental knowledge can be a modality of science education that will engage learners in understanding relationships with the natural world and the importance of developing sustainable lifestyles within holistic lifelong learning.<p> In advancing this contention, a series of interviews were conducted with Métis traditional land users from North West Saskatchewan. The interviews provided data in 17 thematic areas including: balance, economic, environment, harmony, health, Indigenous knowledge, political, social, spirituality, values, land, language, people, self, imagination, tradition, and learning. Results were used to respond to the four primary research questions: According to traditional land users in North West Saskatchewan, what is Métis traditional environmental knowledge? How does Métis traditional environmental knowledge in North West Saskatchewan align with established theories of Aboriginal epistemology and supporting principles? What evidence and arguments exist that support the development of Métis traditional environmental knowledge as a modality of science education? How can Métis traditional environmental knowledge be developed as a modality of science education?<p> Findings support development of holistic education processes that comprise a broad scope of knowledge integral to understanding our environment. Métis traditional environmental knowledge requires learners engage in activities outside the classroom, participating in experiences that facilitate an understanding of holistic thinking in intellectual, physical, affective and spiritual domains. Traditional environmental knowledge and practices of Métis People can inspire learners in science education, improving their engagement, understanding and decision-making abilities concerning the natural environment.

This study explores the meaning and value of Basotho traditional farming practices and Indigenous knowing using Indigenous methodology. The study sought to 1) understand the core tenets of Basotho traditional farming practices that involve Indigenous knowledge and sustainable land care; 2) investigate the implications of these practices, and how they may inform school curriculum in ways that promote food security and reduce child hunger; and 3) examine the role of gender in food practices in Lesotho. I collaborated with women Elders who knew oral traditions or traditional farming practices by working with children on a school farm. I used Basotho ways of knowing and communication to gather data including storytelling and observation. I complemented my observation data by utilizing photographs and field notes. The Elders shared their farming experiences, oral traditions, and knowledge including the cultural and survival significance of selecting, preserving, and sharing seeds, how to grow diverse, healthy, and nutritious food and how to be food self-sufficient. They spoke of and demonstrated ways to gather people together as a community to plant, harvest, and share food while caring for the land through culturally respectful practices. The Elders further shared ways to think about and relate to the land as a gift, as 'a being' from Creator, to be respected and cared for in the same way humans care for themselves. The Elders underscored the need to promote food security and land care through a food curriculum that embraces traditional farming practices steeped in Indigenous knowledge. Farming practices such as letsema (community collaborating in fieldwork), hlakantsutsu culture (diversified mixed cropping), koti (minimizing tillage), use of animal dung and ash fertilizers, selecting and preserving native seeds and molala (allowing land to rest after harvest) can constitute a desired curriculum. The Elders taught me what I understood as, and call, the principles of Re seng (we are all related): all humans and non-humans alike, rootedness, letsema (community collaboration), interdependence, connectedness, reciprocity, respect and care for the land. Reflection on these principles continuously shaped the study's theoretical framework with consequent implications on the participatory action methodology, which I characterize as the Basotho Indigenous Participatory Action Methodology.

This study aims to identify traditional medicines which people use in Babati District, Tanzania and to find out which direction the local use and knowledge of traditional medicine is taking in comparison with modern medicine (MM). It is a case study based both on primary and secondary sources. The primary information was gathered with the help of semi-structured interviews and shorter enquiries with people of all categories that use herbal remedies or visit bone fixers and with women that are supported by traditional midwifes. For simple health problems people use TM, for more complicated cases, they go to the hospital. A difference between Babati urban and rural inhabitants was noticed in the usage of traditional and modern medicine, but not between poor and rich people, opinions being slightly different. The Tanzanian government does not encourage the implementation of the TM in the modern medical system and as long as the young generation is not interested to learn the secrets of their parents‟ vocation, this knowledge is threatened by being forgotten. All the herbs used in TM will most likely find their way into the modern pharmacy; however because of the lack of documentation and statistics, it can take up to one hundred years. For this purpose, the gap between TM and MM has to narrow through a better collaboration between all the involved parts.

A chasm exists between science curriculum offered within K-12 and post-secondary education systems, and the needs of national and international decision-makers with respect to the inclusion of Indigenous knowledges within processes aimed at protecting global biological diversity. World governments seek to protect biodiversity through the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and consideration of Indigenous knowledges has emerged in governing texts. Yet, sustaining Indigenous knowledges as global wisdom will not be possible if young people lack opportunities to learn Indigenous traditional environmental knowledge as an integral part of their education experience. Métis traditional environmental knowledge can be a modality of science education that will engage learners in understanding relationships with the natural world and the importance of developing sustainable lifestyles within holistic lifelong learning.<p> In advancing this contention, a series of interviews were conducted with Métis traditional land users from North West Saskatchewan. The interviews provided data in 17 thematic areas including: balance, economic, environment, harmony, health, Indigenous knowledge, political, social, spirituality, values, land, language, people, self, imagination, tradition, and learning. Results were used to respond to the four primary research questions: According to traditional land users in North West Saskatchewan, what is Métis traditional environmental knowledge? How does Métis traditional environmental knowledge in North West Saskatchewan align with established theories of Aboriginal epistemology and supporting principles? What evidence and arguments exist that support the development of Métis traditional environmental knowledge as a modality of science education? How can Métis traditional environmental knowledge be developed as a modality of science education?<p> Findings support development of holistic education processes that comprise a broad scope of knowledge integral to understanding our environment. Métis traditional environmental knowledge requires learners engage in activities outside the classroom, participating in experiences that facilitate an understanding of holistic thinking in intellectual, physical, affective and spiritual domains. Traditional environmental knowledge and practices of Métis People can inspire learners in science education, improving their engagement, understanding and decision-making abilities concerning the natural environment.

Interest in indigenous knowledge (IK) research has grown since the 1980s, and more recently the topic has drawn attention in information sciences research. At the same time, the evolution of electronic information and communication technologies (ICTs), most notably development of the Internet, has profoundly influenced information sciences research. This study explores perceptions of community members involved in the creation, development, and use of digital libraries with indigenous knowledge materials. Research methods used in data collection include a quantitative survey distributed to community members involved in the creation, development, and use of digital libraries with indigenous knowledge materials and qualitative analysis of the research process. The study proposes a framework of guidelines to conduct future research on digital libraries with indigenous knowledge that includes: acknowledging the reality of the community involved in creating, developing, and using digital libraries with indigenous knowledge materials; developing appropriate research methods for this community; and identifying specific actions for such research.