The purpose of this research activity is to determine how cultural astronomy manages
natural disasters in the local communities. Study Area: Mahikeng in North West
Province among the Barolong boora Tshidi.
Indigenous people have contributed the least to world greenhouse gas emission and
have the smallest ecological footprints on Earth. Yet they suffer the worst impacts not
only of climate change, but also from some of the international mitigation measures
being taken. Impacts on climate change affect people negatively, these may include
droughts, floods, increased diseases in people, plants as well as animals, biodiversity
extinct, high mortality rate, increased food insecurity to mention a few.
This study aims to describe how knowledge of cultural astronomy manages natural
disasters within our local communities. In this dissertation the history of Barolong using
their knowledge of cultural astronomy to manage natural disasters is gradually fading
away because of non-recognition of our knowledge custodians as they do not hold any
formal education and those who have it only ended at primary level.
Democracy brought a sense of mental decolonization unto us as South Africans. This
brought light to some of our village members to acknowledge their identity which
includes their customs and beliefs. This study unearthed that local communities have
the rich indigenous knowledge to sustain their lives that is how some villages are able to
prepare and manage natural disasters without the knowledge of cultural astronomy
only. They practice other measures which also sustain them and are also easy to be
passed on orally from generation to generation. In Barolong communities the knowledge
of sky readers is regarded to be very important, it is information that can be relied on
because sky readers are always correct. In addition, African traditional religious nature
and structure endorses the practice to be acknowledged and be taken as African
identity.
In the light of the above, and after taking comments by the members of the
communities, recommendations are made for an integrated study framework between
the local knowledge and modern technologies or information of astronomy. It is also
recommended that there should be proper documentation which is not distorted before
it can be totally extinct. / Thesis (M.(Indigenous Knowledge Systems) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2014
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/16199 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Kgotleng, Mgkosi Loretta |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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