Documenting indigenous knowledge systems in Africa: prospects and challenges

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge (IK) systems are very important for the communities from which they come from. Such knowledge dictates how people behave generally, how they relate with the land and other resources that they have, and how they make sense of the world around them. IK's importance is seemingly being overshadowed by western knowledge which has the advantage that it is codified and is largely viewed as better, and more scientifically proved knowledge. Given the encroachment of urban lives into many African countries, indigenous knowledge is slowly being eroded. The traditions where the elders used to sit and work with the youth and pass on that knowledge are very fast being eroded. Globalisation has resulted in an inundation of western values and culture beamed through satellite television and the Internet, quickly captivating the youths' minds such that they deem their own cultures, rituals and traditions as inferior, old fashioned, and barbaric. More important, whilst we are eschewing indigenous knowledge, interest in IK and its potential has taken hold in the West. A direct result of this is that IK is being appropriated and the owners, that is, the communities have nothing to show for it. The intellectual property of the IK is being claimed by individuals outside the communities that own the knowledge, simply because they have codified it. All of this brings the point home that there is a need to document IK in order to preserve it for posterity; and to ensure that once it is codified, it cannot be used to obtain patents by people other than those who own it. In that regard, this article considers the prospects and challenges of documenting indigenous knowledge by considering the following: definition of IK and its importance to communities, its characteristics and problems associated with that, the need to document IK, arguments for and against documenting IK and challenges in documenting IK.

Keywords: documenting indigenous knowledge, Africa

ESARBICA Journal Vol. 24 2005: 63-73