C. Antweiler, LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND LOCAL KNOWING - AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF CONTESTED CULTURAL PRODUCTS IN THE CONTEXT OF DEVELOPMENT, Anthropos, 93(4-6), 1998, pp. 469-494
This study shows systematically why local, knowledge (often called ind
igenous knowledge) has a big developmental potential and why its utili
zation for development is ambiguous. Local knowledge consists of factu
al knowledge, skills, and capabilities, most of which have some empiri
cal grounding. It is culturally situated and is best understood as a '
'social product.'' The practical application in the development contex
t is less of a technological but a theoretical and political problem,
what is shown here generally and by referring to forest-related knowle
dge. Local knowledge is instrumentalized and idealized by development
experts as well as by their critics. But it does not necessarily prese
nt itself as a comprehensive knowledge system and activities based on
local knowledge are not necessarily sustainable or socially just. The
use of local knowledge for development should not be restricted to the
extraction of information or applied simply as a countermodel to West
ern science.