Whose Knowledge Counts? A Reflection on the Field Narratives of Indigenous Health Knowledge and Practices (original) (raw)
Related papers
2008
The impacts of colonization and modernization have undermined and neglected local or indigenous knowledge -not only in current day developing countries but also for select communities in industrialized or developed countries. Over the last decade, however, there has been an increased international interest to revitalize and restore indigenous knowledge. Multilateral development organizations, local and global NGOs, policymakers, education institutions and the private sector, such as pharmaceutical industries, are among the institutions that have shown interest in indigenous knowledge.
Healing Mainstream Health: Building Understanding and Respect for Indigenous Knowledges
Cultural Competence and the Higher Education Sector, 2020
We first encountered one another around a decade ago when sharing an office at a rural health campus of The University of Sydney, where both of us were working on health research projects. From that first meeting we were intuitively drawn to each other, and soon discovered shared interests, and some surprisingly common perspectives and opinions on health services, seen with an Indigenous Australian lens.
Dismantling the Divide Between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge
Development and Change, 1995
In the past few years scholarly discussions have characterized indigenous knowledge as a significant resource for development. This article interrogates the concept of indigenous knowledge and the strategies its advocates present to promote development. The article suggests that both the concept of indigenous knowledge, and its role in development, are problematic issues as currently conceptualized. To productively engage indigenous knowledge in development, we must go beyond the dichotomy of indigenous vs. scientific, and work towards greater autonomy for ‘indigenous’ peoples.
The indigenous knowledge debate in life sciences: what about Indian indigenous knowledge?
2017
In the recent uproar in South Africa about ‘decolonisation of the Life Sciences curriculum’ and the integration of indigenous knowledge into the curriculum, it is important to not only consider indigenous knowledge from an African perspective. South Africa also has a large Indian population, with their own rich indigenous knowledge system, notably that of Ayurveda, an aspect not previously considered as warranting integration into the South African Life Sciences curriculum. In this paper, which is primarily conceptual in nature, the authors focus on the five basic tenets of Ayurveda as an indigenous knowledge system, and how it can be infused into the South African Life Sciences Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement. Ayurveda aims to achieve positive health and wellbeing by suggesting precise yet practical ways in which humans should conduct their daily and seasonal activities to avoid pain, disease and ultimately suffering. Ayurveda has survived through the ages by having the ...
Indigenous Peoples: Traditional knowledges, climate change, and health
PLOS Global Health, 2023
Indigenous Peoples around the globe make up approximately six percent of the global population, yet they sustainably care for around eighty percent of the world's remaining biodiversity. Despite continued political, economic, and racial marginalization, as well as some of the worst health inequities on the planet, Indigenous Peoples have worked hard to maintain their cultures and languages against all odds. Indigenous Peoples' close connections to land, water, and ecosystems, however, have placed them at increasing vulnerability from the effects of climate change. With this, the health risks from climate change have unique considerations within Indigenous Nations for both mitigation and adaptation responses that are largely unappreciated. This Indigenous narrative review will synthesis the current climate and health landscape of Indigenous Peoples at a global, high-level scale, including relevant international mechanisms and considerations for Indigenous Peoples' health. This Indigenous narrative review will also explore and reflect on the strengths of Indigenous traditional knowledges as it pertains to climate change and health.
This article presents two-eyed seeing as a theoretical framework that embraces the contributions of both Indigenous and Western “ways of knowing” (worldviews). It presents key characteristics and principles of these different perspectives and suggests ways in which they might be used together to answer our most pressing questions about the health of Indigenous people and communities. Presenting a critique of positivism, which has historically undermined and/or dismissed Indigenous ways of knowing as “unscientific,” it discusses the origins of both Western and Indigenous approaches to understanding health; the importance of giving equal consideration to diverse Indigenous and non-Indigenous worldviews such that one worldview does not dominate or undermine the contributions of others; and how balanced consideration of contributions from diverse worldviews, embraced within a two-eyed seeing framework, can reshape the nature of the questions we ask in the realm of Indigenous health research.
Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge
Knowledge systems originate in human cultures animating societies and their relationship to the other human cultures, the earth and the cosmos. What is “indigenous knowledge?” What is “traditional knowledge?” How do they differ? How are they the same? Is indigenous knowledge or traditional knowledge applicable to illuminating or answering humanities’ pressing challenges such as poverty, food security, climate change, war and peace, illness and disease, and the myriad of other quandaries threatening human security? As indigenous peoples actively engaged as participants in local, regional and global efforts to solve complex problems created by human action or natural phenomena, academics, country decision-makers, non-profit organization and business planners recognized the significance and relevance of indigenous knowledge and traditional knowledge to the development of new strategies for meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century.