• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.84-96
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• 2012

A special type of indigenous knowledge on plants utilization and farming system was explored by the Garo tribe community in the North-East region of Bangladesh, which correspond to the severe dependence on homestead forest. Results show that the Garo are totally dependent on the natural resources and that the extent of their dependency is faithfully reflected in their ethno-botanical knowledge. Dependencies that the study addressed focused on various aspects of food, fruit, energy, timber and health care on plants products. Garo tribe community in Bangladesh followed agrosilvipastoral system in their homesteads. They have indigenous hunting procedure to trap the animal in the forest. A total of 9 foods, 15 fruits, 12 energy-producing and 11 timber species was found and recorded that the Garo used in their daily life. Moreover, Garo used 23 medicinal plants species and have vast indigenous knowledge about using herbal medicine in daily health care practices. The Garo women do mostly the household activities, managing homestead forest and helping agricultural field where men perform all hard working activities like ploughing, cutting trees, digging the soil, preparation of horticultural and agricultural land, hunting, etc. The overall quality of life of the Garo could be considerably upgraded if ethno-botanical issues and their own indigenous knowledge will complement with scientific knowledge. The findings of the study conclude that the conservation of the indigenous knowledge of the Garo tribe related to plants utilization can also be turned to good account in forest conservation and is an important tool in this tribal area of Bangladesh.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.181-193
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• 2013

Climate change is considered to be one of the most serious threats and its impact is felt by the most vulnerable world's poorest countries including Bangladesh. In particular, ethnic communities, whose livelihoods depend on the use of natural resources, are likely to bear the brunt of adverse impacts. A case study was conducted in a fragile ecosystem of Lawachara national park of Bangladesh, to know the indigenous knowledge of the ethnic communities, how they adapt with the climate change impact by using indigenous knowledge. They use various IK to protect their crops from climate change impact. Thus, government should design policies which will be helpful to make them more resilience to face climate change impact.

• Women's Studies Review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.3-36
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• 2010

This paper is based on the certain point that 'the indigenous', which have long been occupied by the Asian patriarchy or the local communities, now calls for the repositioning in the feminist context. 'The indigenous', in one part, generally refer to the matured long-standing traditions and practices of certain regional, or local communities, as a mode of a place specific way of endowing the world with integral meaning. In the narrow definition, it points to the particular form of placed based knowledge for survival, for example, the useful knowledge of a population who have lived experiences of the environment. In the other part, 'the indigenous' could be criticized in the gender perspectives because it has been served as an ideological tool for patriarchy and sexism, which have undermined women's body and subjectivity in the name of the Asian traditional community. That's why the feminists with sensitivity to the discourses of it, may perceive it very differently, still hesitating dealing with the problem. However, even if there are tendencies that the conservatives romanticize local traditions and essentialize 'the indigenous', as it were, it does not exist 'out there'. Then, it could be scrutinized in the contemporary context which, especially, needs to seek the possibility towards the alternatively post - develope mental knowledge system. In the face of global economic crisis which might be resulted from the instrumentalized or fragmented knowledge production system, it's holistic conceptions that human, society, and nature should not be isolated from each other. is able to give an insightful thinking. It will work in the restraint condition that we reconceptualize the indigenous knowledge not as an unchanging artefact of a timeless culture, but as a dynamic, living and culturally meaningful system towards the ecofeminstic indigenous knowledge. And then, indigenous renaissance phenomena which empower non-western culture and knowledge system and generate increased consciousness of cultural membership. Thus, this paper argues that the indigenous knowledges which have been underestimated in the western-centered knowledge-power relations, could be reconstructed as a potential resources of ecological civility transnationally which reconnect individuals and societies with nature.

• Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2017

The rich cultural backgrounds and practices of children from native cultures are often absent in classroom instruction, as teachers might feel that they have inadequate knowledge and backgrounds in the unique practices of these populations. Historically, children from native cultures have had challenging educational experiences and poor educational outcomes. To address these challenges, we propose a Family and Culture Based (FCB) framework that draws from family-centered practice, asset-based practice, and culturally responsive pedagogy. This article describes the three steps of the FCB framework, which uses a teacher-as-learner approach to instruct students from native cultures by engaging teachers in reflection, gaining knowledge about the cultural practices of the family and community, and integrating the new knowledge into practice. We use a Pacific Islands case (Native Hawaiian family) and a Pacific Northwest case (First Nations family) to illustrate the potential benefits of using the FCB framework with indigenous students.

• International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.7-30
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• 2023

Nigeria is a country with multiple ethnic groups; as a result, English language is used as a lingua franca to enhance information flow. Despite this, the Indigenous languages of communities are mostly used for interactions, even in university environments thereby affecting smooth interaction for those who do not understand them. This study therefore investigated the impact of being a linguistic outsider on information access, learning and social wellbeing of students. Descriptive research of a case study was used for this study. The population for this study consisted of non-Yoruba indigenous students. Judgmental sampling technique was used to select 50 non-indigenous students; structured interview was used. Results showed that Yoruba indigenous language was used lightly in the classroom and heavily outside the classroom, with mixtures of pidgin and English languages. It was found that being a linguistic outsider had a negative influence on information access. However it was not a total dependent factor to social wellbeing of students who desire for their various languages to be predominantly used and for them to enjoy equal benefits with Yoruba indigenes. This study also revealed that being a linguistic outsider does not have negative influence on academic learning. It was recommended that the stakeholders in university management promote the complete use of English language in the classroom while students should be encouraged to interpret Yoruba language when spoken in the midst of non-indigenes.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2011

Ever since the dawn of civilization, the ambient vegetation and the resources constituted major source of human existence for various substantial requirements. Our present knowledge on plant resources emerged from the traditional heritable knowledge descended from generation to generation. However, traditional knowledge pertaining to several aspects remained untapped from various remote localities or populations. Furthermore, with the present trends of excessive exploitation of natural resources and degradation of habitats, conservation and ecological management require coherence of traditional skills and modern approaches. Therefore, the present study is to record traditional plant based knowledge among the inhabitants of Siwalik region of Uttarakhand Himalaya. Extensive field survey was made for the collection of data on the medicinal aspects of plant species in the study area covering the parts of districts Pauri, Dehradun and Haridwar. During the course of study 130 plant species belonging to 65 families are reported, used as traditional medicine by the local inhabitants of this region.

• International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.95-114
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• 2019

The digitization of traditional medical knowledge in Tanzania will greatly enhance its preservation and dissemination. This is especially important given the challenges facing the current methods of preserving and managing such knowledge. This study presents the requirements engineering approaches and requirements for a web-mobile application that would successfully digitize indigenous knowledge of phytomedicine and relevant practitioners licensing and registration processes. To establish the requirements of such a digital system application, the study sought the opinion of 224 stakeholders whose suggestions were used to analyze and model the requirements for designing such a web-mobile tool. The study was carried out in Arusha, Kagera and Dar es Salaam regions of Tanzania which involved ethnobotanical researchers, herb practitioners, curators from herbaria and registrar officers from Traditional and Alternatives Health Practice Council. Structured interview, survey, observation and document review were employed to find out the basic functional and non-functional requirements for possible designing and implementation a web-mobile application that would digitize indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants. The requirements were modelled using the use case and context diagrams. Finally, the study came up with a list of items for both functional and non-functional requirements that can be used as guidelines to develop a web-mobile application that will capture and document traditional medical knowledge of medicinal plants in Tanzania and, enabling relevant authorities to regulate and manage stakeholders.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.75-97
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• 2019

The growing importance of biological resources as sovereign rights to healthcare, energy, and food has sparked international discussions on Genetic Resources (GRs) and Traditional Knowledge (TK). As the bio-industry continues to grow, research and development utilizing patented biological resources are advocated. Currently, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is actively discussing GRs and TK, and an effective response to national interest has been sought. Of late, there have been growing disputes over issues like ownership, control, and access and benefit-sharing between indigenous peoples and users of GRs and TK resources. Resolution of disputes concerning GRs and TK are thus becoming critical not only to stakeholders such as the indigenous peoples and corporations, but also to third-party users. Due to the weakness of the current IP and court system however, such disputes are not addressed adequately. This paper will address the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), which is an out-of-court dispute resolution system, on conflicting issues regarding GRs and TK. It will consider the WIPO as a forum for ADR and ADR for GRs and TK disputes and it will seek both parties in the dispute to benefit from the use of the ADR process.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.55-76
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• 2016

In this paper, I offer a reflection on two cases to assess in preliminary manner the viability of an indigenous methodology for Southeast Asian Studies. The first is Kaupapa Maori Research (hereafter KM) as spelt out in the much talked about book by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous People (Smith 1999). The second case is Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino Psychology, SP), which began to take shape in the late 1960's and 1970's in the Philippines. Arguably these are among the most developed efforts at decolonization or indigenization of methodology. I intend to use these cases to explore the factors that made possible the flourishing and stagnating of indigenous methodologies. I shall argue that the broader context of knowledge consumption, not epistemological and methodological concerns, poses the most formidable challenge to the viability of indigenization efforts.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2009

The Hajong are the ancient tribal forest community among the ethnic minorities of the North-East region of Bangladesh. The study was carried out with respect to three income groups highlighting their indigenous knowledge. A total of forty-five households (fifteen from each income groups) were assessed using different participatory appraisals through semi-structured questionnaires. A special type of indigenous knowledge on food habit was explored in the Hajong community, which correspond to the severe dependence on forest resources. They collect their food resources from homestead forest (45%) followed by forest (40%), market and others. They have indigenous hunting procedure to trap the animal in the forest. Twenty three tree species were tremendously planted in their homestead forests which are the very important source of food. Male are highly responsible to collect the food materials from forest as well as other sources.