19 Worldviews and Integration There are certain socio-political and methodological challenges in integrating or mainstreaming TK. An important question in the integration of TK and institutional knowledge systems is of the hegemonic relationship between these knowledge systems. Institutions commonly assume that TK can and must be validated with the logical positivist epistemology of scientific institutions (Haverkort et al. 2003, Shankar and Unnikrishnan 2004, Haverkort and Reijntjes 2010). Jenkins (2000) notes how modernisation has dramatically devalued traditions by universalising abstract norms of action, valuing along with individualised patterns of socialisation. In these processes, tradition has often been seen as an impediment to progress or an ideal to return to so as to resolve the problems that modernity has brought. The modernist attitude towards TK has been ‘either modernise or disappear’ with what reads as being strongest and thus most coherent being rational. (Couze and Featherstone 2006). On the question of optimising the tensions between present and traditional, note that “older knowledge may be readmitted but subject to the critical and skeptical judgment of a rational method, uncluttered by faith and dogmas” (Couze and Featherstone 2006: 459). In the efforts to achieve ‘development,’ emphasis has been placed on economic growth and related practices. In the same vein, the role of culture in contemporary societies has been examined through the lens of direct relevance to commercial activity. Social analysis has been largely documented by rational behaviour models that abstract economic action from the complex dynamics of its historical contexts (Jenkins 2000) and without cognisance of the ‘practice architectures’ within which these dynamics are inscribed and function (Kemmis and Mutton, 2012). For example, cultural artifacts or art forms are seen as vehicles for economic empowerment with less focus on their contextual functions in and for the communities in question. Another example is the increasing focus on traditional medical drugs in bioprospecting while neglecting the holistic dimension of traditional medicine. There is also often emphasis on aggregate growth rather than distributional effects or equity. A view of TK as unchanging, inscription of antiquity, relegating it to the status of a commodity that should be documented and preserved is a matter of concern. The discourse has been centred on the protection of intellectual property rights, often overlooking and neglecting a need to consider and strengthen the social and cultural processes of continuity and contemporary utility around such knowledge. Whereas the documentation and preservation of TK (which are on the verge of extinction with the receding of language diversity) are needs of the hour, the promotion of contemporarily relevant TK and encouraging continued creativity and dynamism are vital. Traditional knowledge is often considered exotic and confined to indigenous communities. While the presence of TK might be obvious in such communities, sociological analysis amply reveals that such knowledge and related practices are embedded in all sections of societies. However there may be a dominant influence of social classes or caste or ethnic groups on such knowledge within the communities. There is also a contested idea that promotion of TK in certain sections of society where modern science and technology benefits are not available or accessible, create double standards within a society and further deepen inequity in less developed countries. RCE Espoo has initiated an innovative project called “Encounters” led by Keinumäki´s school project with around 40 other partners in the region. Encounters seeks to find ways in which sustainable development and methods become rooted in the school’s daily activities by developing methods that involve networking with local stakeholders, authorities, researchers and experts and by choosing those pedagogical methods that support social interaction and participation and enrich the working methods within the school’s learning environment. Various dimensions of sustainability such as local, social, technical, didactic-pedagogical aspects are explored for bettering learning in schools. Learning packages focus on ecological, economic, social and cultural dimensions and include aspects such as historical mapping cultural heritage, mapping of present environment, interactions with informal learning centres such as national parks, and transforming schools into learning domains for sustainable lifestyle.
Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity
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