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Indigenous knowledge and western science: the possibility of dialogue

The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science

George Gheverghese Joseph

Universities of Exeter, Manchester and Toronto

In recent years, a number of scientific bodies and development agencies have called for indigenous and traditional systems of knowledge to be recognised as valuable reservoirs of learning - a move inspired, in part, by the prospect of multinational biotechnology corporations exploiting traditional non-western medical, agricultural and ecological knowledge. But recognising the legitimacy of indigenous knowledge, albeit partially, has profound implications for conceptions of science. First, the relationship between science and bodies of knowledge hitherto repudiated as myth and superstition needs to be rethought so that indigenous knowledge is demarcated from both science and pseudo-science. Second, the histories of science and mathematics need to recognise consistent criteria for establishing the existence of cross-cultural transmissions. Third, strategies need to be found to legitimise, where possible, indigenous theoretical and methodological discoveries. Fourth, a multicultural idea of science needs to be developed that is distinct from a postmodern, anti-science stance.

Key Words: cross-cultural dialogue • Eurocentrism • history of mathematics • history of science • International Council for Science • philosophy of science

Race & Class, Vol. 49, No. 1, 39-61 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0306396807080067


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