Knowledge, culture, and power: Some theoretical issues related to the agricultural knowledge and information system framework

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine some theoretical issues impinging on questions of culture and power as they relate to the concept of Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (AKIS). The AKIS is, in my judgment, one of the most significant and productive attempts at theorizing the complex, multifaceted and multivalent process of knowledge generation, exchange and utilization. There are a number of merits to this conceptualization, which is both theoretically sophisticated and praxiologically oriented. Indeed, the best theories are those that have the greatest practical value. The AKIS framework adopts a systemic perspective that seeks to place emphasis on the mutual interactionism of the diverse elements and the synergy thereby generated. The research activities and the supporting institutions, extension services, policymakers, administrators, companies associated with the business sectors, the users and their environment are all seen as vital elements of a complex and interacting system. As Niels R61ing has said