COMPAS - Newsletter for Endogenous Development Book 001 Food for Thought - ancient visions and new experiments of rural people
Published: 01/01/1999
The contributors neither romanticize traditional knowledge nor reject western science since both have strengths and weaknesses. Rather they argue that a reciprocal relationship between these sources of knowledge can be beneficial for rural development. When respect is given to traditional functionaries such as spirit mediums, local priests, religious leaders, healers and elders and when their concepts are taken seriously, an opportunity can be created for mutual learning, exchange and a search for complementarity between indigenous and western knowledge. Rural people, researchers and development organizations are challenged in this book to look for the sources of knowledge most appropriate to each specific ecological, social and cultural context.