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Legitimizing local knowledge: From displacement to empowerment for third world people

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  • Lori Thrupp

Abstract

Increasing attention has been given to “indigenous” knowledge in Third World rural societies as a potential basis for sustainable agricultural development. It has been found that many people have functional knowledge systems pertaining to their resources and environment, which are based on experience and experimentation, and which are sometimes based on unique epistemologies. Efforts have been made to include such knowledge in participatory research and projects. This paper discusses socio-political, institutional, and ethical issues that need to be considered in order to understand the actual limitations and contributions of such knowledge systems. It reviews the nature of local knowledge and suggests the need to recognize its unique values yet avoid romanticized views of its potential. Local knowledge and alternative bottom-up projects continue to be marginalized because of the dominance of conventional top-down R&approaches, pressures of agrochemical firms, scientific professionalism, and for other political-economic reasons. It is argued that the exploitation of local knowledge by formal institutions should be avoided; instead, people need to establish legitimacy of their knowledge for themselves, as a form of empowerment. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1989

Suggested Citation

  • Lori Thrupp, 1989. "Legitimizing local knowledge: From displacement to empowerment for third world people," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 6(3), pages 13-24, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:6:y:1989:i:3:p:13-24
    DOI: 10.1007/BF02217665
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    1. Richard B. Norgaard, 1984. "Traditional Agricultural Knowledge: Past Performance, Future Prospects, and Institutional Implications," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 66(5), pages 874-878.
    2. Cohen, John M. & Uphoff, Norman T., 1980. "Participation's place in rural development: Seeking clarity through specificity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 213-235, March.
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    1. Constance McCorkle, 1995. "Back to the future: Lessons from ethnoveterinary RD&E for studying and applying local knowledge," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 12(2), pages 52-80, March.
    2. Lori Thrupp & Bruce Cabarle & Aaron Zazueta, 1994. "Participatory methods in planning & political processes: Linking the grassroots & policies for sustainable development," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 11(2), pages 77-84, March.
    3. Jeffery Bentley, 1994. "Facts, fantasies, and failures of farmer participatory research," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 11(2), pages 140-150, March.
    4. Dianne Rocheleau, 1994. "Participatory research and the race to save the planet: Questions, critique, and lessons from the field," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 11(2), pages 4-25, March.
    5. John Browder, 1995. "Redemptive communities: Indigenous knowledge, colonist farming systems, and conservation of tropical forests," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 12(1), pages 17-30, December.
    6. Harvey S. James, 2023. "Agriculture and human values at 40 years: reflections on its scale and scope," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 25-30, March.
    7. Xudan Lin & Hong Zhu & Duo Yin, 2022. "Enhancing Rural Resilience in a Tea Town of China: Exploring Tea Farmers’ Knowledge Production for Tea Planting, Tea Processing and Tea Tasting," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, April.
    8. Kristen Nelson, 1994. "Participation, empowerment, and farmer evaluations: A comparative analysis of IPM technology generation in Nicaragua," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 11(2), pages 109-125, March.
    9. Joanne Millar & Allan Curtis, 1999. "Challenging the boundaries of local and scientific knowledge in Australia: Opportunities for social learning in managing temperate upland pastures," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 16(4), pages 389-399, December.
    10. Harvey James, 2013. "From the editor," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(4), pages 493-494, December.
    11. Cristian Timmermann & Georges Félix, 2015. "Agroecology as a vehicle for contributive justice," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(3), pages 523-538, September.
    12. Nathan Einbinder & Helda Morales & Mateo Mier y Terán Giménez Cacho & Bruce G. Ferguson & Miriam Aldasoro & Ronald Nigh, 2022. "Agroecology from the ground up: a critical analysis of sustainable soil management in the highlands of Guatemala," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(3), pages 979-996, September.
    13. Helda Morales & Ivette Perfecto, 2000. "Traditional knowledge and pest management in the Guatemalan highlands," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 17(1), pages 49-63, March.
    14. Fabien Girard & Christine Frison, 2021. "From farmers’ rights to the rights of peasants: seeds and the biocultural turn," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 102(4), pages 461-476, December.
    15. William Lacy, 2023. "Local food systems, citizen and public science, empowered communities, and democracy: hopes deserving to live," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Marco Barzman & Nick Mills & Nguyen Thu Cuc, 1996. "Traditional knowledge and rationale for weaver ant husbandry in the Mekong delta of Vietnam," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 13(4), pages 2-9, September.
    17. Rocheleau, Dianne E. & Steinberg, Philip E. & Benjamin, Patricia A., 1995. "Environment, development, crisis, and crusade: Ukambani, Kenya, 1890-1990," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1037-1051, June.
    18. Peter Trutmann & Joachim Voss & James Fairhead, 1996. "Local knowledge and farmer perceptions of bean diseases in the central African highlands," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 13(4), pages 64-70, September.
    19. Dianne Rocheleau, 1991. "Gender, ecology, and the science of survival: Stories and lessons from Kenya," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 8(1), pages 156-165, December.
    20. Alois Mandondo, 1997. "Trees and spaces as emotion and norm laden components of local ecosystems in Nyamaropa communal land, Nyanga District, Zimbabwe," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 14(4), pages 353-372, December.
    21. Alba Mohedano Roldán, 2017. "Political Regime and Learning Outcomes of Stakeholder Participation: Cross-National Study of 81 Biosphere Reserves," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-15, April.
    22. Jeff Dlott & Miguel Altieri & Mas Masumoto, 1994. "Exploring the theory and practice of participatory research in US sustainable agriculture: A case study in insect pest management," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 11(2), pages 126-139, March.
    23. Cecilia M. V. B. Almeida & Biagio F. Giannetti & Feni Agostinho & Gengyuan Liu & Zhifeng Yang, 2021. "What Are the Stimuli to Change to a Sustainable Post-COVID-19 Society?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-13, November.
    24. Goswami, Rupak & Biswas, Malay Sankar & Basu, Debabrata, "undated". "Validation of Participatory Farming Situation Identification: Case of Rainfed Rice Cultivation in Selected Area of West Bengal, India," Working Papers/Conference Papers 97599, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Integrated Rural Development and Management Faculty Centre.
    25. William O'Brien & Cornelia Flora, 1992. "Selling appropriate development vs. selling-out rural communities: Empowerment and control in indigengous knowledge discourse," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 9(2), pages 95-102, March.

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