Local knowledge has become a common factor in development discourse and policies since the 1990s. Using different denominations (Indigenous Knowledge, tradition, ethno-development, even social capital), international agencies (from the WB to UNESCO or WHO) have invoked cultural factors hitherto ignored or rejected. At the same time, these knowledges have been raised as a fundamental component of the decolonial message* (epistemologies of the South, ontological turn…) that is shaking the global language during the 21st century. It is perhaps in sub-Saharan Africa that the greatest hopes have been placed on the activation of such knowledge and also where the convergence of the two scenarios mentioned above is proving most paradoxical.
The panel proposes precisely to contribute to generate a balance on the confluence of these scenarios in Africa. And it proposes to do so, looking to the future by contrasting studies on concrete cases: multisectoral (health, governance, gender equity, ecology and climate change, popular economy…) and multidisciplinary (open to all sciences, even if anthropology is the one that can be most immediately alluded to). OBJECTIVE: to generate synergies and clues for new roadmaps on the future role of local knowledge in Africa, assuming the multidimensionality of the concept.
Despite the visibility of the aforementioned trends, particularly the second, the implementation of programs, projects and initiatives that mobilize this local knowledge is very limited, if not minimal, in the set of investments and policies aimed at the production of wealth and the well-being of populations. On the contrary, the studies suggest that, at the informal level, its validity is very notable and involves a majority of the population.
The main reason for this apparent contradiction seems to lie in the fact that these discourses are neither issued nor projected into institutionally endorsed actions by the communities that, in principle, have originated the knowledge to which they refer. In other words, either the projects and programs have not recognized the autonomy (legal, economic, political) of the collective subjects of law involved – recognized locally and traditionally, but not legally, in general – “traditional”), or the discourses are issued by people and in spheres outside these collectives, particularly in contexts of ancient or “disconnected” diaspora. In both situations, not only does a not very legitimate “ventriloquism” appear, but, above all, it becomes difficult to weigh the effectiveness and efficiency of the knowledge in question. This fact has tended to “informally” disavow development initiatives based on local knowledge, despite the multiplication of decolonial identity claims in the global framework, generating a real loop of scientific opacity. The COVID-19 pandemic both dramatizes and accentuates this contradiction, despite the fact that it was an excellent opportunity to test the potentials of local knowledge in many facets of activity that interact in health, and despite African claims in this regard.
This ventriloquism is particularly serious because local knowledge cannot be captured, “objectified”, in formal and univocal discourses, in formulas. This knowledge is largely “embodied”, relational, performative, where networks of hierarchical actors update, negotiate and operationalize knowledge. This is why contrasting concrete cases is the first step to overcome this impasse. This contrast will also make it easier to address the relevance and adaptability of local knowledge in its current context, that of the development of the information society in Africa, with the rapid implementation of NICT and AI. Minimizing, therefore, factitious idealizations of such knowledge (for or against).
We therefore invite contributions arising from critical self-reflection of case studies related to local knowledge in development, from all fields of human society, although the team proposing the panel (SACUDA, Health, Cultures and Development in Africa) has worked mainly on health, governance and gender.
