Desta, Amare

destaa@lsbu.ac.uk

Comprehending Indigenous Knowledge: An Ethnographic Study of Knowledge Processes within Natural Resource Management

(2009)

This study investigates the exploitation of indigenous knowledge within Ethiopia against a background of increasing concern for the sustainability of natural resources. It applies the lens of knowledge management to the processes surrounding the creation, capture, storage and retrieval, transfer and application of indigenous knowledge in the context of natural resource management. It combines and adapts earlier knowledge process frameworks together with stakeholder analysis to produce a robust conceptual tool to explore indigenous communities and their knowledge.

The research uses an ethnographic approach to studying an indigenous community in Debre Berhan, Ethiopia. The four-month fieldwork produced extensive data concerning the way the community relies on and handles indigenous knowledge for natural resource management. It also shows the ingenuity and extent of local innovation by the villagers in an effort to solve local problems with local solutions.

Using the conceptual framework developed in the first part of the study, the data is analysed with reference to knowledge processes and the four main stakeholder groups: the indigenous farmers, the government and its agencies, local and international non-governmental organisations, and research institutions.

The analysis leads to a call for more involvement of the local people in the management of indigenous knowledge, as well as the need for more coordination among the stakeholders involved. Further discussion includes the additional pressures of land scarcity and over-population on the survival and health of indigenous knowledge.

Amare Desta is currently Senior Lecturer and a Course Director in the Faculty of Business, Computing and Information Management at London South Bank University (LSBU)

Supervisor: Steve Smithson PhD

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