Culture Knowledge and Indigenous People

Photographer Réhahn, who is based in Vietnam, travelled around the world to capture the smiles and stories of indigenous peoples. His award winning photos remind us of the heritage we sometimes forget about. These wonderful peoples and their life stories are all too often marginalised due to globalisation and modernisation. In Vietnam, things are changing particularly fast. These are interesting times, but also times when we have to take a step back and consider whether we really all need to think, dress, eat and believe in the same way. Réhahn's photos remind us of the importance to preserve the "ethnosphere" (term coined by Wade Davis, TED). Students at BIS Vietnam can visit his gallery in HCMC. For more information on his projects

Image: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w1CiihUoL9DVJTnPjEefuPLIrnfh1FNU/view?usp=sharing

"Photographer Jimmy Nelson spent nearly three years visiting 31 remote and unique tribes and cultures around the world, witnessing their rituals and capturing their traditional dresses, jewellery, weapons and symbols in a series of beautiful portraits. His book, Before They Pass Away, is published by teNeus" https://www.jimmynelson.com/

Wade Davis on TED on endangered cultures

​Wade Davis's brilliant talks illustrate how indigenous communities acquire knowledge and make sense of their world. Davis argues that the explanations we are the most familiar with are not the only possible explanations. His very well illustrated talks highlight the dangers of cultural and linguistic imperialism.

Video 1: https://youtu.be/bL7vK0pOvKI

Video 2: https://youtu.be/-QIL5dWP8ss

Language and indigenous knowledge

The connection between the language used by indigenous people and the knowledge this language represents has been the root of debate amongst cognitive scientists, linguists and anthropologists around the world. The thought provoking video about the Piraha language is a good TOK stimulus. You wish to consider on what grounds Chomsky makes his claims. How should/could human scientists verify the claims they make about the connection between language and thought about societies that are very different from theirs? What could be considered a fact or evidence in the field of anthropology, cognitive science and cognitive linguistics?

Scope

• Does our culture determine what we know?

• Is there anything that is true for all cultures?

• In what ways does the loss of indigenous languages signify a loss of knowledge and cultural diversity?

• Is it possible to have knowledge of a culture in which we have not been raised?

• Does the emphasis on holistic knowledge found in some indigenous societies avoid a limited understanding of reality resulting from the compartmentalisation of knowledge?

• Who owns knowledge?

• How have government education policies and systems compromised the transmission of indigenous knowledge?

​Methods and tools

• How reliable are oral traditions in preserving knowledge in indigenous societies?

• What is the role of oral tradition in enabling knowledge to be handed down through generations?

• What role do objects and artefacts play in the construction and sharing of knowledge?

• How crucial is memory in constructing knowledge?

• What is the role of folklore, rituals and songs in acquiring and sharing knowledge

• What methods have indigenous peoples developed to support the recording, preservation and protection of their traditional knowledge?​

Ethics

• Does the diversity of moral practices that we see in indigenous societies around the world support the case for moral relativism?

• To what extent does deliberate disinformation by education and governments threaten indigenous knowledge?

• Is cultural appropriation an example of a violation of collective intellectual property rights?

• Is there is a difference between moral values and cultural customs?​

​Perspectives

• To what extent is our perspective determined by our membership of a particular culture?

• To what extent does the fact that most early literature on indigenous societies was written from a non-indigenous perspective affect its credibility?

• What values and assumptions underpin the use of the term “indigenous” knowledge

• Does a neutral position exist from which to make judgments about competing claims from different groups with different traditions?

• Does the term “indigenous knowledge” necessarily suggest power divisions between a dominant and non-dominant group?