The knowledge society globally has made us realize that knowledge is an important resource in gaining not only a competitive advantage but also for social and economic development. Each society and country possesses some inherent information and knowledge, which is unique to its growth and development trajectory. This is ‘indigenous knowledge' or ‘local knowledge'. However, the method and approaches to preserve this ‘indigenous knowledge' or ‘local knowledge' is less known and neither understood by many, especially in the emerging economies. Hence, adopting a systematic literature review method and in-depth literature review, the aim of this chapter is to provide strategies to preserve and manage indigenous knowledge systems. Further, the chapter also provides a holistic approach to preserve and manage indigenous knowledge.
TopLiterature Review
Indigenous knowledge (IK) refers to a complete body of knowledge, expertise and practices maintained and developed by peoples through generations specific to certain areas. As they have extended histories of interaction with the natural environment, indigenous knowledge is somehow unlike the international knowledge system, which is generated by universities, research institutions and private firms. IK is the information base for a society, which facilitates communication and decision-making; it is dynamic and is continuously influenced by internal creativity and experimentation as well as by contact with external systems. On the other hand, IK is unique to a given culture or society, the basis for local level decision making in agriculture, healthcare, food preparation, education, natural resource management and a host of other activities for example in African communities. Thus, IK can be broadly defined as the knowledge of indigenous (local) community accumulated over generations of living in exacting environment. This definition encompasses all forms of knowledge – technologies, expertise skills, practices and beliefs – that enable the community to achieve stable livelihoods and survival in their environment.
Indigenous knowledge is built up by a group of people through generations of living in close contact with nature but mostly not available in codified form. According to Gorjestani, (2004), “IK is usually tacit knowledge, stored in people’s individual or collective memories, and often guarded jealously, hence the saying that each times an elder dies; it is as if a library had burned down”. Indigenous knowledge is also the accumulation of practical experiences and encompasses sum of facts that are known or learnt from experience or acquired through observation.