Indigenous knowledge for the benefit of all: can knowledge management principles be used effectively?

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge is one form of knowledge; the other is scientific knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is local knowledge unique to a given culture or society. By its very nature, it is not generally viewed in the business sense as "capital ". It has tended to be "exclusive ", at times susceptible to suspicion and abuse. Knowledge management involves the processing and handling of intellectual capital within and between organisations and communities. Itfacilitates knowledge generation, sharing and reuse. This paper addresses the extent to which knowledge management methodologies and principles can be used to manage indigenous knowledge for the benefit of all.