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What is the Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge?The Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge, known as ICIK, is located in the College of Education at The Pennsylvania State University. ICIK, is part of a global network comprised of more than 20 indigenous knowledge resource centers in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. ICIK is the only currently active indigenous knowledge resource center located in the United States. At Penn State, ICIK is a network that promotes communication among community residents, students, university faculty and staff from across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who share an interest in diverse local knowledge systems and would like to engage with communities that generate locally-useful knowledge to enable their survival in a rapidly globalizing society. ICIK maintains a list-serve, a website and a resource library, sponsors seminars, conferences and workshops and produces an indigenous knowledge book series. ICIK also encourages collaborative research that addresses issues of community scholarship and transformation of the academy to embrace both outreach to, and inreach from, local communities. Who can be a part of ICIK? Any individual, organization or agency can affiliate with ICIK by adding his/her name to the ICIK list serve. There are no fees associated with ICIK membership. |
Welcome to the ICIK Web Page at the Pennsylvania State University. ICIK is located in the office of the Associate Dean for Outreach, Technology and International Programs in the Penn State’s College of Education.
Book Series What is indigenous knowledge? Voices from the academy, edited by Semali and Kincheloe (1999) Education, modern development, and indigenous knowledge: Analysis of academic knowledge production by Seana McGovern (1998) Heartbeat of indigenous Africa: A study of the Chagga educational system by Raymond Mosha (2000) . |
What is Indigenous Knowledge?Indigenous knowledge is an emerging area of study that focuses on the ways of knowing, seeing, and thinking that are passed down orally from generation to generation, and which reflect thousands of years of experimentation and innovation in everything from agriculture, animal husbandry and child rearing practices to education; and from medicine to natural resource management. These ways of knowing are particularly important in the era of globalization, a time in which indigenous knowledge as intellectual property is taking new significance in the search for answers to many of the world’s most vexing problems—disease, famine, ethnic conflict, and poverty. Indigenous knowledge has value, not only for the culture in which it develops, but also for scientists and planners seeking solutions to community problems. Development processionals treasure this local knowledge, finding it extremely useful in solving complex problems of health, agriculture, education, and the environment, both in developed and in developing countries.
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Director:
Dr. Ladislaus M. Semali 241 Chamber Building Department of Curriculum and Instructions College of Education Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA 16802 Phone: (814) 865-2246 Fax: (814) 863-7602 Email: lms11@psu.edu |
Co-Director:
Dr. Audrey N. Maretzki 218 Food Sciences Building New Department of Food Science College of Agricultural Sciences Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA 16802 Phone: (814) 863-4751 Fax: (814)863-6132 Email: anm1@psu.edu |