The Incompleteness of Indigenous and Local Knowledge and the Application of Knowledge in Strategic Simplification:

Reply Based on the Experience of the Maasai and the Knowledge of Africa

Abstract

  This paper answers two questions: whether, assuming the wholeness and integrity of indigenous and local knowledge, an equal fusion between it and scientific knowledge is feasible or not, and what the validity and feasibility of coexistence and strategic simplification might amount to. Regarding the first question, it is pointed out that adherence to the concept of wholeness and integrity should be abandoned, and indigenous and local knowledge should be considered incomplete, fluid, open, and relational. In response to the second question, coexistence is not a valid option amounting to being an essentialist view. The strategic simplification is valid in that it does not adhere to wholeness and integrity, and aims to transform existing policies and social perceptions. However, to achieve its goal, a more concrete and realistic logic for the central phases of circulation and application is required.