Understanding of Traditional Knowledge Systems

Traditional Knowledge is one which has more than one approach for conserving and managing natural
resources. The culture and knowledge systems of indigenous people and their institutions provide useful
frameworks, ideas, guiding principles, procedures and practices that can serve as a Foundation for
effective endogenous development options for restoring social, economic and environmental resilience
in many parts of the country. Knowledge system can be used to
Increase and enhance livelihood options,
Revitalize agriculture,
Increase food security,
Improve health and promote a sense of cultural pride within the community.

TKS is holistic, taking into account the effects of the technology on every part of the environment as well
as the effects of the environment on the technology. All problems are situated in a context, linked in
diverse ways to the rest of the world and solutions are developed in an actual situation granted its
diverse links to the rest of reality. There is no fragmentation of approach and the approach is to solve
problems by taking them in their entirety with all their inter linkages and complexity. Thinking and
acting are indivisible and reflect in practice, a respect for life - all forms of life. This commands a respect
for non-life too, because living beings are totally dependent on the purity of the non-living surroundings
that sustain them. This translated into respect for the environment in its totality. This basic manner of
seeing and doing things has been so profoundly rooted in indigenous technologists that it is often
carried out unconsciously and automatically.
Modern science was introduced to India under the shadow of colonialism. This neither means that
its progress in India was simply a matter of European discovery and imperial dissemination, nor that
that there was no “science” in India prior to the British conquest of India. However, what is
important to observe is that between modern science and traditional science there was a marked
disjunction as there was between traditional knowledge and “English education.”

Development has typically come to mean an attempted transfer of modern Western scientific
knowledge and technologies based on these scientific knowledge systems. The myth of the neutrality of
scientific knowledge and the rationality of economic reasoning disarmed the victims of progress by
inculcating a conviction that their own ways of knowing and economic, political, and socio-cultural
practices based on alternative knowledge systems were backward and in need of modernization.

Indigenous people examine elements of their surroundings in terms of how they relate to each other.
For example, the notion of the seasons only makes sense when considered with the movement of the
animals, growth of plants, movement of water. There is a relation between each element. An Indigenous
view moves beyond simple examining the wind, clouds and temperature.
People are part of the environment. Their actions directly impact on the flora and fauna. People are in and
not external to their environment. There is a connectedness with nature and each other rather than the
view that nature can be controlled.
The gathering of food or hunting of animals is based on present needs of its people, within the context of
ensuring scarce resources will be available in the future. For example, a waterhole is imported and must
be cared for and not depleted.
Art, dance, music and dreamtime stories link knowledge with the land and its people. For example, an
understanding of day and night may be closely linked with the dreamtime. Stories link people and nature
together, and provide a vehicle for passing on cultural knowledge from adults to children.

TKS with Modern Reductionist Science

 

Traditional knowledge provides the basis for local-level decision-making about many fundamental
aspects of day-to-day life: hunting, fishing, gathering, agriculture and husbandry; preparation,
conservation and distribution of food; location, collection and storage of water; struggles against disease
and injury; interpretation of meteorological and climatic phenomena; confection of clothing and tools;
construction and maintenance of shelter; orientation and navigation on land and sea; management of
ecological relations of society and nature; adaptation to environmental/social change; and so on and so
forth. While the present document focuses upon the term ‘traditional knowledge’, it is important to realize
that this designation is only one of several currently employed by practitioners in the field. A variety of
scientific, social and political considerations make it all but impossible for a single term to suit all settings
– each one has its shortcomings transmission through past generations, but obscures their dynamism and
capacity to adapt and change. Another widely used term, ‘indigenous knowledge’ (IK), emphasizes
attachment to place and establishes a link with indigenous peoples. For some, however, this connection
narrows the term’s application and excludes certain populations who are not officially recognized as
‘indigenous peoples’, but nevertheless possess sophisticated sets of knowledge about their natural
environments. In contrast, terms such as ‘local knowledge’ are easily applied to a variety of contexts, but
suffer somewhat from their lack of specificity. Yet other terms that are encountered are ‘indigenous
science’, ‘farmers’ knowledge’, ‘fishers’ knowledge’ and ‘folk knowledge’. The relationship between
traditional knowledge and science has always been very close in ethno biology and in the broader field of
ethno science. Ethno biology is the study of the reciprocal interactions between people and biological
organism and of traditional knowledge about these interactions; while ethno science is the study of
interactions and of traditional knowledge of the physical and biological world. Traditional knowledge
informs and profoundly influences ethno biology and ethno science. Thus, traditional knowledge is useful
to science and to contemporary society. Consider the nature of knowledge and the nature of reality within
the context of the worldview of reductionist science. The scientific methodology is based on the
assumption that in the process of observation, the observer remains detached from the reality being
observed. The educational methodology, reflecting the same basic assumption, is based on the
detachment of the learner from what is being learned in the process of learning. The society becomes
dominated by the same worldview. People subconsciously perceive reality within its framework. Their
beliefs are structured according to its basic assumptions. The repercussions pervade all areas of public
endeavour including education. With a bias toward completely 'objective' knowledge, scientific
methodology directly influences the educational methodology. The aims of education are formulated in
terms of the acquisition and measurement of 'objective' knowledge. Cognitive knowledge is assumed to
be present only if it can be tested with objective tests. Class work and coursework are designed to result
in the effective answering of tests. The value of knowledge is measured in terms of its usefulness. In this
worldview, the objective scientific reality of 'being human' is defined in terms of objective scientific
reality. It is not defined in terms of the intrinsic nature and value of what it is to be human. Cognitive
knowledge is not considered in terms of its intrinsic value to the development of the human potential or
the enrichment of the inner life. The basic assumptions of this 'scientific' worldview must be re-examined.
A new scientific methodology of holistic science is based on the assumption that the observer participates
in the process of observation. Reflecting the same basic assumption, a new educational methodology
recognizes and validates the participation of the learner in the learning process. The worldview of holistic
science forms the basis for a holistic education.
Traditional knowledge has informed modern science in many areas, most notably in taxonomy, medicine,
agriculture, natural resource management, and conservation. For example, in taxonomy many species new
to science have been pointed out by traditional peoples knowledgeable in the flora and fauna of their
environment. The methods of modern science based on the well established assumptions of
objectivism, positivism and determinism have become established as orthodox science.
Traditional knowledge is providing scientific insight into crop domestication. Still then there is a need of
new system. Reductionist science produces mechanistic worldview – universe is a mechanical system
composed of elementary building. Shift from the mechanistic worldview of reductionism to the ecological
worldview of holistic science
Mechanistic reductionist paradigm emphasises linear sequential processes. People subconsciously
perceive reality within its framework and common beliefs are structured according to its assumptions, but
still then there is need of new scientific methods.

Debidutt Gharai
2008JDS6039
M.Des industrial design