KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS
ASSIGNMENT 1: Knowledge systems for Agro-ecological intervention.
Facilitator: Prof. Johnnie. W. F. Muwanga-Zake
The community identified is Mede in Pallaro
subcounty, Gulu.)
1.
Knowledge systems
Knowledge refer’s to a theoretical or Practical understanding of a subject. It can be implicit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); it can be formal or systematic. Knowledge is a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as facts , information, description or skills which is acquired through experience or education by percieving, discovering or learning. Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: Perception, communication and reasoning, while knowledge is also said to be related to the capacity of acknowledgement in human beings
System: A set of principles or procedures
according to which something is done: an organized scheme or method influenced
by its environment described by its structure and purpose and expressed in its
functioning. A knowledge system is a broad terminology that covers Ontology,
Epistemology and metaphysics.
The target community for my research is Mede
village in Acholi. In this community education is part of everyday life. Education
is done both formally in schools, less formal with NGO and informally at home. Their
books are the rocks, the rivers and lakes, the trees and roots, the sun, the
moon and the stars. It is from these elements that they fashioned their
material culture. Creative life is in everything. One loved nature and nature
loved in return. The people of mede have built a relationship between nature
and themselves. They have also ways of relating to themselves and structures within
and Trans themselves e.g. Children, women, men, elders, mother, and girl. They
are guided through culture, church and school. The
Acholi dances embody an important instrument for education within Acholi land
and a platform whereby accepted behavioral patterns and socially constructed
norms and values are demonstrated and disseminated. Receiving one's 'Acholi name' and
clan helps to strengthen a person's identity and connection to nature. These
names are often related to nature. This is the ontology and epistemology
of Mede community in Gulu District.
The
people believe in only one Supreme Being, The Creator, whose mighty power
governs and directs the beginning and end of all things. They believe that the Supreme
Being has a hierarchy and enemy in the name of Satan. This is part of the
metaphysics of this community. The church is the source of information
2.
Agro-ecosystem approaches
Agro ecology is the science of applying ecological concepts and
principles to the design, development, and management of sustainable
agricultural systems. Agro ecology requires
a whole-systems approach based
on traditional knowledge, alternative agriculture, and local food system
experiences.
My target community is
one were farmers practice diversification they grow many crops within their
farms e.g. sesame, sorghum, maize, beans these are planted on the same plot
this system creates resilience to climate change, pests and diseases.
Pesticides, herbicides, Inorganic fertilizers are not used this helps preserve
natural enemies hence creating a balanced system were pests are controlled
naturally, this saves our environment from greenhouse emissions that the
pesticides, herbicides and inorganic fertilizers would have introduced. The
community also keeps cattle, goats, chicken this helps to provide manure from
their droppings. The fact that this community cultivates less than 5acres of
land per house hold in it means that not large areas of land are opened for
farming that makes the system prone to erosion and destroys habitat to many
important components of the ecosystem.
In mede community the
agro-ecosystem has a high level of integration livestock and crop with high
diversity, efficiency, with high recycling rates and do not depend on external
inputs. The type of system is self-sustaining. The key crops cultivated include
maize, cassava, rice, soybean, sesame, sorghum, groundnuts and beans.
3. Epistemology
Epistemology is the study of the nature and scope of
knowledge and justified belief (Cohen
et al., 2007, p. 7). It analyzes the
nature of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions such as truth, belief
and justification. It also deals with the means of production of knowledge, as
well as skepticism about different knowledge claims. This community
comes to know that something is the case as a matter of fact e.g. climate
change. knowledge through church, Extension staff, radio programs, neighbors,
relatives, or as a value which is often
expressed in proverbs e.g. a visitor brings satisfaction, This means we must
always welcome visitors “A person chasing two guinea fowls at the same time
does it in futility”, “A bath room is not a sickbay”etc. Knowledge is also
passed through storytelling by elders and through traditional rites, taboos.
We now come to the examination of how
the mede community, conceptualize reality, that is, mede epistemology which, as
we shall see, is not in contradiction or opposition with Western epistemology.
In every epistemological system or study, one is bound to find such core
notions as “knowledge, justification, truth, belief, ideas, intentions, explanation,
understanding, experience and human action” etc. One term which encapsulates
all these is rationality which again is found, one way or the other, in all
societies and conceptual systems. Mede thought is no exception to this since
they attempt to validate their knowledge following certain epistemological
cannons as found elsewhere. The mede community terms ‘Ngec’and ‘yeyo’ which
putatively translate ‘knowledge’ and ‘belief’ in English are used to express
their understanding or opinion of the facts in the world. Thus “Ngec” (knowledge) is used by the Acholi
to explain those things or events for which they have good reasons and which
can be verified through common sense perception or observation. This is
first-hand information since the person witnessed the events and is prepared to
provide evidence and justification for his claims. Here justification is based
on perception which is obtained through the five senses. So when the Acholi say
“Ka aneno ki wanga no ageno ni ada”
(What I see with my eyes and which my mind or consciousness supports it), then
they can claim to know it. “Yeyo” (belief)
on the other hand, is used by the Acholi to express those things which they
accept on trust, faith and confidence for which there is no reliability or
certainty. Such second-hand information like reports from other people is
regarded as not reliable. However, the Acholi attitude to reports from the
testimony or reports from “Ludiru”(elders)
“lawirwodi or rwot” (titled holders)
and “Ajwaha” (native doctors) is
different since they regard such reports as true and reliable, though, derived
from second-hand information.
4. Ontology
Ontology is the
philosophical study of being (Crotty,
1998, p. 10).
More broadly, it studies concepts that directly relate to being, in particular
becoming, existence, reality, as well as the basic categories of being and
their relations. Ontological
assumptions are concerned with what constitutes reality, in other words what
is. Researchers need to take a position regarding their perceptions of how
things really are and how things really work. Mede community draw their
identities by embedding their existence on a luminous, self-creating and
self-organizing Supreme Being who gives them attribute of existence, so that
they can give a rational accounting of their existence and the cause of their
existence. Their identity is deeply linked with the self-generating Supreme
Being who consciously created them by sharing his powers with them and all the
other beings, including animals and plants with which they share the world. On
this view all beings are created by the Supreme Being and that all these beings
have dignity and corresponding rights, which cannot be violated. These sacred
dignities are the source of their Existential seriousness. These mythopoeic
articulations of African Existence are simultaneously mythical and rational,
descriptive and analytical, poetic and discursive. These ontologies are sources
of Acholi identity and give complete individual ontologies, which also link
them to the communities in which they grow and mature. On this view conception
of the individual is imbedded in community and the community itself is composed
of ontologically complete individuals who move from the “I” to the “We”, and
when necessary from the “We” to the “I”. African ontological vocabularies
empower individuals to speak as free individuals critically and lovingly. This connection
is evident in the day to day interactions when people meet. Individuals greeting
are concerned about each other’s wellbeing, family, neighbors and domestic livestock.
5. Interventions and how they were approached
The development intervention by government programs like Operation
wealth creation, Local NGOs, District local governments are normally at
institutional level with little emphasis on consideration of the knowledge
systems in these communities. The interventions tend to take on a linear
approach e.g. when we train farmers and demonstrate on a new high yielding
sorghum variety they shall adopt it since its high yielding and therefore food
security shall have been improved in this community. However it turns out that
this community tends to keep sorghum for long in their granaries for up to
8months and utilize it in piece meal, therefore a variety that has a longer
shelf life is not attacked easily by pests is their preference. The
intervention had not looked at the shelf life of the new varieties that are
easily attacked by pests as compared to the varieties used by the farmers. The
farmers here have never heard or practiced preservation of sorghum yet the
trainings left out this component. This implies the technology introduced to
this community did not work. The approach did not take into consideration the
wholeness of this community. The approach was not holistic and should as well
look at how this community utilizes sorghum as a product and all the knowledge
system in this community should have been taken into consideration e.g.
awareness of these interventions through local dance, songs, poets and drama.
This makes it part and parcel of the community and if well done they shall be
able to identify with it and take it as their own.
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