Local Knowledge and Natural Resource Management

Abstract

Understanding local knowledge systems is fundamentally important to discern the complexities of natural resource management in any locality, and scientists are increasingly becoming interested in these. However, this interest stems from a narrow technology-centred focus. To broaden this focus, it is important to develop a robust conceptual framework that captures the dynamics of these systems. This article attempts to review various ways of conceptualising local knowledges and the intermeshing of gender and local knowledge in a variety of ways. A feminist gender perspective not only unravels the intricacies of the gendering of knowledge, but problematises the unequal distribution of power, control and skills as these are integral elements of the construction, valuation and marginalisation of local knowledge.