Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Heritage Education and Practice

The current crisis has compelled us to rethink the prevalent notions of development, and seek alternatives for an equitable and ethical development paradigm. Scholars and some practitioners have been looking at ways to learn and borrow from indigenous wisdom demonstrated through time-tested knowledge systems. Many of these indigenous knowledge systems are still in practice by various communities. They have also been acknowledged in various modern disciplines including agriculture, architecture, crafts, and heritage. However, these academic acknowledgement and practice references are rather scattered and have a much lesser voice in otherwise (un)sustainable global systems today. For the heritage sector, these indigenous knowledge systems offer tremendous opportunities to learn and practice alternate ways of integrating the developmental desires with local resources and know-hows. This means heritage education needs to engage critically and creatively with these knowledge systems rather than just preserving and promoting some achievements of these age-old knowledge systems. This webinar highlights some of the on-ground initiatives on respecting and integrating indigenous knowledge systems in various contexts, and discusses their broader relevance to heritage management education as well as policies on heritage and development, and associated practices.

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