Indigenous knowledge: A false dawn for development theory and practice?

Document Abstract / Summary Overview

Recent debates on indigenous knowledge have tended to focus on building up even more case study material of good practice in indigenous knowledge at the local level; the integration of indigenous and scientific knowledge; and the trend towards increased co-option of indigenous knowledge into the current neoliberal discourse. However, indigenous knowledge may have reached something of an impasse in that it has had little impact on development practice. A way around the impasse may be to conceptualize indigenous knowledge more as a way of knowing, or as a process or practice, with less emphasis on content and more on epistemology.