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The expansion of modern Western science threatens the survival of the knowledge of indigenous and local people. This dynamic leads to an impoverishment of human knowledge which, as well as being dangerous, brings little material benefit to most countries in the world.
Speakers like Christine Müller and Josep M. Basart believed modern Western science seems to have relegated local knowledge and indigenous science to second place. It is important to recover ancestral and non-Western knowledge in order to blend them and perhaps in this way research and achieve better remedies and cures for many problems which we currently find difficult to clear up.
Combining both views of knowledge would provide a richer, more diverse perspective, reminding us that there is not always just one way of doing things. In many cases, local and indigenous knowledge start from positions that are more respectful of the environment and more sustainable.
Applying this combination of Western and non-Western, modern and pre-modern knowledge, could be very useful from agriculture to medicine, and could considerably reduce public spending, above all in the most under-developed countries.
It is important to consider horizontal cooperation between both disciplines, encouraging harmonious coexistence between both sets of knowledge as a route towards cooperation and mutual enrichment in order to contribute to the progress of humanity.
This proposal has led to various experiments in Australia, Thailand and Uganda.
Issue:
It is very difficult for the Third World to access the First World's machinery and health resources and the traditional culture that until now has been used to tackle the problems of life is being lost. There is no harmonious coexistence between both forms of knowledge, but rather a subordination of wisdom based on experience within the scientific-theoretical framework. In addition, the development of scientific and technical knowledge, logic schemes that are very often detached from the social and cultural context are used.
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Proposal:
To recover indigenous and traditional knowledge so it can be researched and applied, and to blend ancestral cures with First-World science. There is also a need to democratize coexistence between indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge through listening and respect.
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Stances:
Importance of re-evaluating and recovering the value of ancestral knowledge. Christine Müller declared that there is no dichotomy between the two forms of knowledge, but rather mutual exchange and coexistence involving reciprocal interaction. Josep M. Basart declared that respect is crucial and we have not yet achieved it.
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Best practices:
Exhibition in Australia of traditional, ancestral cures. - Coexistence in Thai hospitals of two possible medicines, depending on public preferences. - Combination of types of agriculture in Uganda.
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Conclusions:
It is necessary to encourage cooperation between indigenous and scientific knowledge on a horizontal level, through mutual respect. There was a final consensus on the responsibility of social participation to contribute towards correcting this current imbalance. There is a vision of hope for the future.
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IF Cultural Competence
AS New Ignorances, new literacies. Learning to live together in a globalizing world
RS Indigenous knowledge and modern science