Knowledge and indigenous societies
To explore knowledge and indigenous societies, it is important to know that Indigenous societies comprise people following distinctive traditional, cultural, socio-economic, and political practices in contrast to dominant societies with whom they share space. As per the estimate given out by the UN, there are around 370 million indigenous people spread over 70 countries around the globe.
According to the definitions, they are the descendants of those who inhabited a country or a geographical region at the time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived. The newer migrants then became dominant to establish their footprints through nature of work, settling in the vicinity and means of living that kept their interest.
It is need of the hour, to conserve and preserve the ideologies propagated by them because it gives an insight to the origins of many systems and practices. The essence of their traditions and practices must be contained before it goes completely extinct.
The optional theme tries to engage students on the relevance of such groups and engages them to embrace more on such cultures and promote evident learning on the same.
Knowledge Framework- Scope
Knowledge questions
In what ways does the loss of indigenous languages signify a loss of knowledge and cultural diversity?
Language is not just a medium of communication. It is also a gateway to know how a particular culture defines itself. Language envisages as the representation or an embodiment of culture or heritage represented by a particular group of people. Through the loss of a language, also implies the loss of legacy or existence of the people it represented. According to a study by linguists, it is found that apparently a language goes extinct every two weeks and most of them belong to the indigenous societies.
With the advent of new systems and developments, people started moving around the world. The process initiated engaging into dominant cultures and adapting into the system and leaving behind one’s own indigenous heritage. This might be one of the reasons there is language extinction which eventually leads to a significant loss of culture and altogether the knowledge it propagated. This whole process can be named as language switch which means people leave the heritage language and move towards a major language or a language with more acceptance around the world.
Mandana Seyfeddinipur is a linguist and the director of the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme at SOAS University of London. She talks about how most of the languages will be extinct by the end of this century. How it leads to the extinction of an entire community which is a treasure bowl of various things the humanity must not even have ventured into yet.
Knowledge framework- Perspective
Knowledge questions
To what extent is our perspective determined by our membership of a particular culture?
Indigenous societies are abundant in values and traditions. They have a very rich cultural heritage and the surroundings they live and strive for might be completely different from the dominant societies. The first shaping up of an individual comes from the environment they are born into. It all intertwines with the system.
What one chooses to see, to react, to eat, etc., all of this is influenced in a high probability. As their heritage is unique, people belonging to such rich cultures may have a higher chance of carrying what they have endured and learned through with them. The chances of these learnings to affect how they see the world is something that cannot be pushed aside.
The thought processes of an individual can be influenced or instigated by how they have been taught to perceive things. Hence, eventually, their perceptions will be governed by the ideologies shared by the respective cultures and societies.
Julien is the founder of Mondå, a project that helps Norwegians benefit from cultural diversity while supporting talented foreigners in their efforts to adapt and connect with Norway. He tries to put forward how different meanings are perceived because people can’t stop thinking from their cultural glasses.
This can take a back step when the thinking becomes subjective when the knower is able to evaluate and not let any other factors affect his viewpoints. But for this ability to be induced into life, the individual must see himself out of the box, start thinking from another person’s shoes, exposure to ground realities, etc. This will help in embarking upon a journey where acceptance will unravel holistically.
Knowledge framework- Methods and Tools
Knowledge questions
What role do objects and artifacts play in the construction and sharing of knowledge?
Indigenous societies have a very intricate and beautifully conceived cultural diversity. Indigenous people are in possession of unique language, cultural systems, beliefs, and have invaluable knowledge on practices of sustainable management of natural resources. Therefore, they have a very interesting collection of artifacts and objects which helps in studying them better and inculcate their culture in a better way. These instruments help in painting a clearer picture of how life was and more ideas regarding the distinctive ethnicity of such indigenous groups.
The artifacts and objects give an explicit idea about the time in which little has been known. The intrigue of the knowers is enhanced by studying such tools. It gives an outlook on the people, their survival, lifestyle, and so on. Each representation is connected with the existing available information and a whole system is weaved around it.
Let’s take the example of Aboriginal Australians. As per National Geographic, Aboriginal Australians could be the oldest population of people living outside of Africa. Three percent of Australia is inhabited by Aboriginal Australians. They have been said to inhabit the space from 70,000 years ago approximately. There are around 250 distinct language groups in Australia.
The article published by the Guardian introduces ten such objects found as a part of the Aboriginal population which gives an idea of how the system functioned around in that era. The artifacts include drawings on rock, a shield used by the natives to protect themselves from intruders, a boomerang that belonged to the resistance hero Jandamarra who fought against the encroachment of Britishers onto their homeland, and so on.
This collection of articles takes a knower into a different space of time altogether and guides them into the details of human life and their nature in a very methodized way. It also gives an authentic foundation to a population that is on the verge of extinction.
Even when artifacts and objects give an insight into the life of indigenous people back in time, there’s a chance that a misplaced artifact can paint a completely different picture. There is also a fair share of intellectual connection given by the researchers to these tools so as to make it a relevant piece of history. Hence, authentication of such objects can come under questionable situations.
Knowledge framework- Ethics
Knowledge questions
To what extent does deliberate disinformation by educational institutions and governments threaten indigenous knowledge?
Indigenous knowledge as defined by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is “local and indigenous knowledge refers to the understandings, skills, and philosophies developed by societies with long histories of interaction with their natural surroundings.” This knowledge gives an idea of how the systems were conceived at the time of their origin. Their culture and heritage hold utmost importance and are the foundation for future developments. It helps in finding newfound knowledge and collaborating the understanding in order to incorporate better use of the same.
The influx of this knowledge might be not very well pertained by the members of the dominant society. This may lead to suppressing the indigenous culture and curtail the propagation of the knowledge induced by the group. Eventually, it leads to the extinction of the system and their cultural heritage.
Looking into the Canadian system of education, the indigenous population and knowledge were sidelined by the European settlers. The European settlers expected the indigenous population to imbibe to their culture spontaneously and encroachment into their land for residence and such developments. An infamous step was also taken so that the children of the members of the indigenous community doesn’t inherit the culture of their forefathers and they had to be sent into a boarding school to be erased of their culture completely.
These schools were seldom considered imparting education to the students instead was considered for labor. The food was of bad quality and under less quantity which made the children be malnourished. The below article gives a better insight into the atrocities practiced by the relevant authorities themselves to children of the indigenous group so as to curb the expansion of the culture and knowledge envisioned by the same.
Coming to a different side of the world, Arunachal Pradesh, a state in India has started off a new school system that incorporates the indigenous culture and system and to promoting it to the students so that an effective understanding is inculcated. A sum of 3 crores has been earmarked for the development and enhancing of the school.
Striving of indigenous societies and their heritage and culture is definitely dependent on every other human existing on this planet. These societies are a treasure trove of various kinds of knowledge that might not have been ventured into yet. Depriving the members of such communities of their basic rights to survive and propagation of the invaluable heritage to their future generations has to be discouraged holistically.
A co-existence of both the groups will encourage collaboration of cultures and knowledge which will lead to the sustainable growth of the world as a whole. Hence, eradication should be pushed aside and preservation should be the motto that has to be efficiently popularized.
If you like what you read, you might consider reading Knowledge and language
