Abstract in English / The number of studies focused on the digital preservation of indigenous knowledge has been growing steadily over the years. Despite the growth in this area of research, there is still a lack of information technology tools that preserve and disseminate indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge has been highlighted as an area that can advance sustainable development, and its preservation is therefore of the utmost importance. Indigenous knowledge is mostly present within older generations, and if it is not preserved, this knowledge will die with its custodians. African communities rely heavily on indigenous medicine. A digital platform needs to be explored that can preserve practices relating to these medicines for future generations. Since indigenous knowledge is dynamic and is constantly evolving, there is a need to explore a digital tool that can highlight this dynamic nature. Current methods of preserving indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants were found to be less than effective and marred by constraints such as space and time. The main objective of this study was therefore to develop a model that could be used to guide the design of a new e-learning system aimed at facilitating the preservation of indigenous knowledge of Namibia’s medicinal plants. In this study, e-learning technology was used to determine the requirements for presenting indigenous knowledge of Namibia’s medicinal plants in such a way as to ensure that individuals can internalise and preserve this knowledge. An interpretivist qualitative approach was followed. Data was collected by conducting a literature review and carrying out a survey. A prototype e-learning system was developed and evaluated based on the collected data. It was found that preserving indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants through e-learning would require, among other things, engagement with the relevant knowledge custodians, leveraging multimedia, and offering content in indigenous languages. / School of Computing / M.Sc. (Computing)

The need for the focus for inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) into policy is largely informed by a globalisation process that is characterised by increased knowledge sharing of different cultural and lingual groups. Indigenous knowledge has been an essential survival tool for humans since time immemorial and there is a connection between IK and disaster risk reduction (DRR). Increasingly indigenous knowledge is being valued internationally as a useful resource for dealing with modern problems. The thesis made a case of effectively including IK into DRR policy in Zimbabwe. Focus group discussion, transect walks, document analysis and participatory interviewing methods involving more than 138 participants were employed to gain insights of IK practices and measures used for DRR in four districts (Mangwe, Hwedza, Lupane and Guruve) in Zimbabwe. There are no easy answers for advocating for the inclusion of IK into DRR policy for obtaining IK from participants take time and there is need for patience. However, the main categories of IK emerging from this study contribute to the emerging IK/DRR practices body of knowledge, spanning social science disciplines. The research found that the most used IK domains for components of DRR identified are individual inherited knowledge and knowledge known to the community. Other IK domains used are knowledge practiced by individuals if known to individuals, acquired the skill to practice it faithfully without modification, individual rights to use the modified and unmodified knowledge according to same rules and acquired the skill to practice it faithfully with modification. Communities that have inherited IK, have abilities to observe their surroundings using plants (environmental ethic) and animals (ecological ethic) to develop indicators that can be used to predict disaster risk. There are many IK experts in rural communities for human and animal health. IK use in DRR is about agency, notwithstanding political and economic context. Rural communities’ agency are continuously reviving and becoming more innovative in developing IK technologies for DRR. The inclusion of IK into DRR policy becomes very relevant in that IK categories identified can be used for DRR. Finally, on the basis of the findings suggestions and road map for the inclusion of IK through a broader education strategy has been provided. The suggestion for the inclusion of IK into DRR is either through decentralisation, partnership or devolution. With decentralisation, responsibilities can be delegated with limited authority to dispersed units of hierarchical jurisdiction while in devolution there is a creation of some realms of authority that have autonomy. The thesis recommended that IK requires institutional linkages reinforcement between DRR and rural sectors (local government, village assemblies, traditional leaders, IK experts) and improving quality of education, and incorporating IK for DRR in the education curriculum from primary schools to university level. / PhD (Development and Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The need for the focus for inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) into policy is largely informed by a globalisation process that is characterised by increased knowledge sharing of different cultural and lingual groups. Indigenous knowledge has been an essential survival tool for humans since time immemorial and there is a connection between IK and disaster risk reduction (DRR). Increasingly indigenous knowledge is being valued internationally as a useful resource for dealing with modern problems. The thesis made a case of effectively including IK into DRR policy in Zimbabwe. Focus group discussion, transect walks, document analysis and participatory interviewing methods involving more than 138 participants were employed to gain insights of IK practices and measures used for DRR in four districts (Mangwe, Hwedza, Lupane and Guruve) in Zimbabwe. There are no easy answers for advocating for the inclusion of IK into DRR policy for obtaining IK from participants take time and there is need for patience. However, the main categories of IK emerging from this study contribute to the emerging IK/DRR practices body of knowledge, spanning social science disciplines. The research found that the most used IK domains for components of DRR identified are individual inherited knowledge and knowledge known to the community. Other IK domains used are knowledge practiced by individuals if known to individuals, acquired the skill to practice it faithfully without modification, individual rights to use the modified and unmodified knowledge according to same rules and acquired the skill to practice it faithfully with modification. Communities that have inherited IK, have abilities to observe their surroundings using plants (environmental ethic) and animals (ecological ethic) to develop indicators that can be used to predict disaster risk. There are many IK experts in rural communities for human and animal health. IK use in DRR is about agency, notwithstanding political and economic context. Rural communities’ agency are continuously reviving and becoming more innovative in developing IK technologies for DRR. The inclusion of IK into DRR policy becomes very relevant in that IK categories identified can be used for DRR. Finally, on the basis of the findings suggestions and road map for the inclusion of IK through a broader education strategy has been provided. The suggestion for the inclusion of IK into DRR is either through decentralisation, partnership or devolution. With decentralisation, responsibilities can be delegated with limited authority to dispersed units of hierarchical jurisdiction while in devolution there is a creation of some realms of authority that have autonomy. The thesis recommended that IK requires institutional linkages reinforcement between DRR and rural sectors (local government, village assemblies, traditional leaders, IK experts) and improving quality of education, and incorporating IK for DRR in the education curriculum from primary schools to university level. / PhD (Development and Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Published Article / Sometimes what is not in a text is more significant than what is. This paper examines a variety of texts to establish what is and is not present. The argument presented in this paper demonstrates that skewed perspectives, closed lenses, and distorted worldviews are powerful teachers. Appropriate perspectives and lenses can provide a worldview of complex and sophisticated thought, traditioned through memory, simultaneously stretching back into the past and drawing the past into the present…and pointing a way into the future. The paper examines a well-respected account of the 'Western Mind' and then demonstrates what is not in the text which could contribute to a fuller understanding of human civilization such as is present in the texts of peoples whose knowledge predates and/or precludes scribal alphabetic writing. The paper provides examples of such knowledges from societies which demonstrate sophisticated and complex thinking, both prior to 3000 BCE in theWest and in ancient and present day Africa. The paper demonstrates that the exclusion of evidence of complex and sophisticated thinking which predates or precludes scribal alphabetic writing presents a skewed understanding of the knowledge in such societies, and that Africa can learn from such exclusions to its benefit.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Access to knowledge and information is found to be the cornerstone in the road to knowledge economy transformation whereby the utilization of knowledge is the key engine of economic growth, where knowledge is acquired, created, disseminated and used effectively to enhance economic and social development. This means that the more people acquire knowledge, the more they will begin producing new products or improving systems and existing products, thus adding value to local products and improving the GDP of the country, as well as improving their social livelihood. Therefore, the primary role public libraries have is being the knowledge hubs, to make provision of higher quality knowledge and to make information accessible to the public to equally contribute to all NDPs towards achieving the Namibia Vision 2030 for a knowledge economy. This research study discusses “The contribution of the Public Library services towards a knowledge economy transformation readiness which is envisaged by the Namibia Vision 2030. In achieving that, the study has investigated the state of the Namibia legislative and policy framework reflections of access to knowledge and information as provided by libraries. The study further examines the availability and accessibility of knowledge and information resources, including ICT infrastructure at public libraries in remote rural areas. Moreover, it discusses the types of education and training programmes conducted by public libraries in ensuring that users have the necessary information and retrieval searching competencies and skills for accessing and navigating available information infrastructural resources. Finally, it explores innovation systems, technologically and non-technologically initiated by librarians for library services enhancement, and how library users have tapped into the growing stock of knowledge and information, and adapted them to local needs for economic and social development. The study has employed the four pillars of the World Bank Knowledge Economy Framework, namely an economic and institutional regime; information, knowledge and ICT infrastructure; education and training, and an innovation system as the lenses through which to investigate the research questions understudied.

ABSTRACT Within the National Curriculum Statement, Principle 8 refers to the value of indigenous knowledge systems. This represents the move towards a culturally appropriate curriculum as part of South Africa’s post-Apartheid changes to the education system, in line with the Constitution. Neither environmental education nor indigenous knowledge exist as independent learning areas within the National Curriculum Statement. However, given that indigenous knowledge systems has been included as a principle underpinning the entire National Curriculum Statement, this study examined its potential in contributing to environmental education and the development of environmentally responsible citizens. What has emerged is a plethora of challenges associated with policy translation, South Africa’s colonial legacy, teacher training and the dearth of resource materials, among others, that are effectively coalescing to militate against the effective implementation of Principle 8. Consequently, not only is the country faced with the continued devaluing and loss of indigenous knowledge systems but also with missed opportunities for its enrichment of environmental education and environmental management.

ABSTRACT This study examines the politics of knowledge benefit-sharing within the re-regulatory framework of the Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement which entered into force in 1995 under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The thesis argues that TRIPS both represents a mainstream legal mechanism for states and organisations to govern ideas through trade, and is characterised by a commercial direction away from multilateralism to bilateralism. In its post-implementation phase, this situation has seen the strongest states and corporations consolidate extensive markets in knowledge goods and services. Through analyses of the various levels of international and national governance within the competitive knowledge structure of international political economy (IPE), this study argues that the politicisation of intellectual property has resulted in the dislocation of reciprocity from its normative roots in fairness and trade equity. In conducting this enquiry the research focuses on the political manifestations of intellectual property consistent with long-standing epistemic considerations of reciprocity to test the extent to which the intrinsic public good value of knowledge and its importance to human societies can be reconciled with the privatisation of public forms of knowledge related to discoveries and innovations. This thesis draws on Becker's virtue-theoretic model of reciprocity premised on normative obligations to social life to ground its claim that an absence of substantive reciprocal requirements capable of sustaining equivalent returns and rewards is detrimental, both theoretically and practically, to the intrinsic socio-cultural foundation and public good value of knowledge. The conceptual framework of reciprocity defined and developed in this study challenges the materialist controlling authority and proprietary ownership vested in intellectual property law. A new conceptual approach proposed through reciprocity, and provoked by on-going debates about IP recognition, knowledge protection, access and distribution is advanced to counter strengthened and expanded IPRs. Theories of knowledge and property drawn from political philosophies are employed to test whether reciprocity is sufficiently robust enough, or even capable of, encompassing the gap between capital and applied science. This thesis argues that hyper-capitalism at global, national and local levels, accompanied by the boundless accumulation of technology, closes down competition both compromising IP as private rights and the viability of their governance. The political implications of the protection and enforcement of private rights through IP is examined in two key chapters utilising empirical data in relation to traditional knowledge (TK) and reciprocity; the first sets the parameters of TK and the second explores aspects of Māori knowledge systems and reciprocity directed at identifying national and local issues of significance to the debates on IP governance. As a viable direction for knowledge governance this thesis concludes that the gap between the re-regulatory trade framework of intellectual property on the one hand, and reciprocity on the other, requires closing to ameliorate the detrimental disruptions to democratic integrity, fairness and trade equity for significant numbers of communities and peoples around the world.

This thesis is written at a time when the world faces many challenges. Gross violation of human rights persists, discrimination against and alienation of marginalized groups continues, the gulf between rich and poor yawns ever wider, and the rapid degradation of the environment continues to gain momentum. One area upon which environmental degradation impacts most crucially is water. In terms of vulnerability and scarcity as a commodity, water has come to be called by some 'the new oil'. Already, water has influenced political strategies and been the cause of wars. The aim of this thesis has been, firstly, to identify the status and trends in inland water ecosystems and their immediate dependents, with particular reference to indigenous communities living close to the water source, and hence more directly affected. If the destruction of inland water ecosystems is allowed to continue unchecked, it will inevitably have disastrous universal consequences. The thesis also discusses the protection of indigenous knowledge and innovations, provided by intellectual property and other instruments, and attempts to analyse developments in international law, which have relevance for indigenous peoples in connection with the conservation, management and sustainable use of inland water systems.

Maya peoples in Guatemala continue to practice their Indigenous knowledge in spite of the violence experienced since the Spanish invasion in 1524. From 1991 until 1996, the state and civil society signed a series of Peace Accords that promised to better meet the needs of the Maya, Xinka, Garífuna and non-Indigenous groups living there. In this context, how does the current educational system meet the varied needs of these groups? My research investigates the philosophy and praxis of Maya Indigenous knowledge (MIK) in broadly defined educational contexts through the stories of 17 diverse Maya professional women and men involved in educational reform that currently live and work in Guatemala City. How do they reclaim and apply their ancestral knowledge daily? What possible applications of MIK can transform society? The findings reveal that MIK promotes social change and healing within and outside institutionalized educational spaces and argues that academia needs to make room for Indigenous theorizing mainly in areas of education, gender, knowledge production, and nation building. I analyze these areas from anticolonial and critical Indigenous standpoints from which gender and Indigenous identities weave through the text. Thus, I rely on Maya concepts and units of analyses (Jun Winaq’) guided by an Indigenous research methodology (Tree of Life) to conduct informal and in-depth interviews that lasted 2 to 4 hours. In addition, I held a talking circle with half of the participants. My analysis is founded on my own experience as an Indigenous person, my observations and participation in two Maya organizations in 2007 and a review of secondary literature in situ. The study contributes to a general understanding of contemporary Maya peoples and knowledge, and describes the theoretical validity of the Maya concept of Jun Winaq’. I argue that this concept seeks to heal individuals and a society to strengthen the Maya and all peoples. Throughout the dissertation I highlight the value of Indigenous knowledge and voices as parts of a political process that has the potential to decolonize mainstream education. I end with a graphic illustration of the elements in Maya Indigenous education and discuss future research for building a political agenda based on self-determination and healing relevant to Indigenous struggles globally.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.