Local Knowledge in Development (Geography)

Abstract

The use of local knowledge in and for development is a relatively recent phenomenon, entering the realm of development theory and practice from the mid‐1970s, yet it has become a key part of the rhetoric and practice of development agencies and academic research. The conceptual and historical background to local knowledge in development, including its roots of ‘Western’ engagement with ‘other’ or ‘indigenous’ knowledges, is key to understanding their more contemporary application in development practice. As local knowledge has entered the development orthodoxy, so a more critical approach has emerged, with particularly important contributions from Geographers, as to the use, application, and conceptual understanding of how knowledges are interpreted and adopted within development. This critique has highlighted the dynamic, political, and spatial nature of such knowledge, and problematises the notion that they are fundamentally ‘good’ for local development. For Geographers, and those working in development studies, there remain important questions about local knowledge, including how such knowledges are constituted by relationships and networks that go beyond the local, how such knowledges are ‘learnt’ and (re)produced in time and space, and how the knowledges of still marginalised actors in local communities can be taken account of.

The importance of protected areas as natural landslide laboratories

“…Because it is being created largely through practice, 'the theory often takes a back seat' , as stressed by Wiewel et al (2012), and critical assessment is lacking. Another danger is 'romanticizing local knowledge' into development practice and assuming its inherent superiority over knowledge produced by traditional academic research, as pointed out by Smith (2011). In our opinion, the participatory method presented here could be useful in order to draw local knowledge into decisions that affect people of local communities so that they can achieve sustainable outcomes on their own terms.…”

Why We Should Talk? The Potentials of Community Dialog in Grounding an Integrated Rural Development

“…This is verified by existing studies by confirming the vital roles of local knowledge contribution to development and its' sustainability. Local knowledge provides information for community-based assessment development program (UNESCO, 2017), contributes to planning process, especially for technical information and technical investigation (Taylor & de Loë, 2012, p. 1213, increases community resilience and development sustainability (Ŝūmane et al, 2018, p. 239), provides basis for development (Fritz-Vietta et al, 2017;Smith, 2011;World Bank, 1998), informs development programs (Aswani et al, 2018;Kolawole, 2001), generates problem solving thinking (World Bank, 1998), increases community resilience and adaptation to changing environment and uncertainty (Beckford & Barker, 2007;García et al, n.d.;Setten & Lein, 2019;UNESCO, 2017), enhances ecological understanding (Bala, 2015), development resources (Warren & Rajasekaran, 1993), informs decision making (BRACED, 2018; García et al, n.d.; Kolawole, 2001), disaster mitigation and life-risk protection (Ngwes et al, 2018;Sultana et al, 2018).…”

Characterising Local Knowledge across the Flood Risk Management Cycle: A Case Study of Southern Malawi

“…Broadly speaking, LK is 'the knowledge that people who live in a particular place have about their area' [24], p. 595, and it is 'knowledge that has evolved within (inside) a specific community or area, but that has potentially incorporated or been shaped by outside knowledge in its continuous evolution' [35], p. 99. A number of terms for LK are commonly found in the literature (e.g., 'indigenous knowledge', 'traditional knowledge', 'traditional ecological knowledge' 'rural people's knowledge', 'indigenous technical knowledge', 'traditional environmental knowledge', 'folk knowledge', 'people's science', 'folk science') [22,27,35,67,68], and the application of a specific term seems to depend on academic discipline, context and language [8].…”

“…Among others, factors such as age, gender, power status, poverty levels, and social grouping create diverse sets of knowledge within a community, and condition access to LK and its use [22,25,58,69,77]. Hence, any meaningful involvement with LK cannot ignore the issues of local power relations and hegemony [24,25,59,78,79].…”