The Therapeutic Dimensions of BaTonga Mourning Songs: A Study of “Oona mwanaangu waakucaala kunamaumbwe”

A critical and interpretive synthesis of arts-based methods used by dance therapy researchers: A perspective from the creative arts therapies

Arts-based research (ABR) includes research approaches that utilize creative arts, such as photo-taking and film, during various phases of the research process. The dominant paradigm informing ABR draws from features of participatory action research, supporting participants to become active in the research process, engaging critically with research questions. While dominant knowledge systems informing social research paradigms offer a foundation for ABR, they have not historically considered the value of Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS). IKS hold some of the oldest approaches to participatory education, though their benefit and merit has been undervalued and subjected to ongoing erasure. When researchers draw from the philosophical assumptions of IKS, they can expand the boundaries of ABR by incorporating the rigor, strength, and spiritual power of IKS. This integration ensures alignment of ABR with Indigenous worldviews and practices, including relationships that extend beyond humans to include animals, plants, and other beings. This article aims to challenge and demonstrate congruency with the dominant knowledge systems informing ABR, through the lens of an IKS.

Application of African indigenous knowledge systems and practices for climate change and disaster risk management for policy formulation

The purpose of this preliminary qualitative research study is to explore the role and function of multiple dynamic interactive aesthetic and intersubjective phenomena in the creative arts therapies process relative to transformation in perception, behavior, relationship, and well-being. A group of doctoral students and faculty studied these phenomena in an analogous creative arts therapies laboratory context using a method called Intrinsic Arts-Based Research. Intrinsic Arts-Based Research is a systematic study of psychological, emotional, relational, and arts-based phenomena, parallel to those emergent in the creative arts therapies, using individual and collective intrinsic immersive and reflective experience in combination with qualitative and arts-based research methods. Our primary goal was to simulate the creative arts therapies experience in order to identify, document, and describe the complex transformative phenomena that occur at the nexus of arts-based expression, reflection, and relationships in the arts therapies. For the purposes of this paper transformation is defined as “…. a significant reconfiguration of perception and thought resulting in the lessening of psychic restraint and pain, allowing for the emergence of new psychological perspectives that contribute to living a more creative life” (Gerber et al., 2012, p. 45). Through a deductive thematic analysis of written accounts of these simulated creative arts therapies experiences by participant/researchers in the laboratory we identified three primary dynamic and interactive broad constructs that together, with more specific modifying themes, might account for and describe change within the creative arts therapies. These broad dynamic interactive themes are: ruptures, resolutions, and transformation; relationship and intersubjectivity; and, arts-based expressive processes. The more specific modifying themes include: dialectical rupture and resolution, relational attunements and ruptures, imaginational flow, transcendence and ruptures, sensory/kinesthetic/embodied ways of knowing, and intersubjective transcendence. We propose that change in the creative arts therapies is driven more by a dynamic system of interactive phenomena the varying combinations of which create conditions for relational attunement, imagination, dialectical tensions and creative resolutions, and the ultimately creative transformation.

The indigenous knowledge systems are a significant resource which would contribute to the increased efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability in environmental conservation among rural communities of developing countries in particular. They form the basis for community-level decision making in areas pertaining to food security, human and animal health, education and more important in natural resource management. However, despite their critical role in the conservation of the bio-physical environment, these practices and technologies are being marginalized or even forgotten among rural communities in different parts of the world. To ascertain the role played by these traditional practises on the bio-physical environment, this paper identified and established the Teso community indigenous environmental practices and assessed changes in these knowledge systems from the time of Kenya’s pre-independence to the 2000s era. Data were collected using various social science methods such as the questionnaire and focused group discussions. The results showed that the use of totems, protection of sacred places, prohibitions and gender and age restraints declined by 41.3, 68, 41.8 and 38.2%, respectively. The evident decline in the use of the indigenous environmental knowledge systems has negatively impacted on the state of the bio-physical environment exemplified by the Chi-square Pearson (P) values of 0.00 between decline in the use of age and gender restraints and the deterioration in land fertility and only a few elders using the knowledge systems and reduction in the number of rivers, streams and wetlands as exemplified by the Chi-square Pearson (P) value of 0.02. In view of the above, it is recommended that rekindling, recording and preservation of indigenous environmental best practices among local communities such as the Teso for sustainable natural resources management be re-invigorated and integrated in conventional environmental management plans. This also calls for participatory decision-making between policy makers, implementers and actual resource users. Key words: Indigenous knowledge systems, conservation, bio-physical environment.

This article focuses on drought risk reduction and climate change adaptation strategies adopted by rural households to sustain their livelihood activities. The overall objective was to understand the local household’s responses to the changing climate especially drought. The study was carried out in Chirumhanzu district in Zimbabwe and used a mixed methods approach combining 217 household surveys, targeted focus group discussions, participatory learning actions methods, key informant interviews and a document review. Household data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and thematic content analysis was used for the qualitative data. We found that the majority of households showed awareness of several risk reduction and adaptation strategies to implement during and/or when drought was predicted, with 56% of the respondents stating stocking of grain as initial strategy. Other strategies adopted at household level included early planting (at first rains), conservation farming, planting small grains and dry planting. Indigenous and traditional knowledge systems and practices, including local people’s holistic view of the community and environment, were a major resource for adapting to climate change and drought risks. However, these indigenous knowledge systems and practices had not been consistently used in the existing adaptation and risk-reduction efforts. Indigenous knowledge was not sufficiently acknowledged and integrated into formal risk reduction and adaptation strategies, which resulted in limited success for external interventions. There is need for integration of local and indigenous knowledge systems and external interventions to build household livelihoods that are resilient to climate risks.

Explorations of the structure-agency dialectic as a tool for framing equity in science education

This final chapter synthesises the contributions of the book to understanding the two questions posed in the introductory chapter. It argues that there are a wide range of positive impacts on development when arts-based research (ABR) enables local communities to articulate their aspirations and formulate action plans for pursuing these. ABR utilises symbols to adumbrate and allow people to notice; embodied, aesthetic knowledge to provide third spaces of dialogue and deliberation; links with indigenous knowledge systems that provide alternative perspectives and connections to collective memory and connection with emotion to build empathy. Links with indigenous knowledge systems not only allow (re-)connection with traditions and lost community, but they also provide opportunities to link Western or transnational science with alternate understandings, to widen the possibilities for addressing contemporary problems. In this way, ABR enables transdisciplinary ways of working. We conclude our discussion with some analysis of ongoing challenges around notions of ‘scaling up,’ assessing the impact of ABR on audiences and the sustainability of those impacts beyond the performance event and some final thoughts.

This article aims to contribute to the current debate on the role of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in arable land productivity. The study uses the Kainam Village ecosystem as a case study to describe the Iraqw community-based knowledge that supports their livelihoods. The study applied both qualitative and quantitative research methods to analyse the indigenous knowledge practices applied in arable land resources utilization. The conceptual framework around which most of the IKS analyses have hinged over time are narrated. It is conceived that IKS have demonstrated a synergetic relationship between land and the use to which it’s put as they support hundreds of people in the village. The findings have revealed that Kainam people living in Mbulu District, have applied IKS in land classification and use, over centuries. IKS practices have sustained household yields and crops quality in the study area. Despite the small farm sizes, traditional tools and tilling methods, the households produce enough for their families and have surplus to assist relatives in far-away villages. This is due to the system of cultivating their farms throughout the year and the culturally in-built knowledge on land resources management, which has been historically accumulated, and used for survival and sustainability of household productivity in the village ecosystems. It is recommended that in order to sustain these best practices of IKS, it is important to integrate it into the curricula of the formal education system at all levels but particularly in primary education which is accessible to most rural Tanzanians.

The study investigates a framework for the transformation of colonised African mindsets towards the promotion of indigenous knowledge practices. The study relied on existing literature to analyse the African mindset towards indigenous knowledge practices. It was discovered that African countries undermine their indigenous knowledge systems and practices, and prefer those initiated by others, especially from European nations. African indigenous knowledge systems and practices are often under-looked, undervalued, negatively viewed, and spoken badly of by Africans, especially by those of younger generations. This disregard for indigenous knowledge systems and practices is predominantly seen in healthcare systems and practices, even after it has been recorded that, through scientific studies founded on participatory observation and interviews, many areas of the Western healthcare system were developed from the same indigenous knowledge practices that are now being disregarded. The study concluded that Africans should view their indigenous knowledge systems positively, promote them globally and preserve them for future generations to come. To do this, it is suggested that some practices be enhanced through technological changes to enable them to compete or be integrated with Western practices.

Purpose This commentary aims to explore the urgent need for culturally grounded mental health interventions for tribal women survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in India. It advocates for the integration of mindfulness-based expressive art therapy (MBAT) as a culturally relevant, trauma-informed approach to healing that aligns with indigenous epistemologies and traditional modes of expression. Design/methodology/approach Using insights from a scoping review of existing literature on mindfulness and expressive art therapies for IPV survivors, this paper critically evaluates the limitations of Western therapeutic models in tribal contexts. It synthesizes theoretical frameworks, empirical evidence and cultural considerations to propose a decolonial model of healing centered on community, nonverbal expression and ancestral wisdom. Findings Mindfulness and expressive art therapies demonstrate efficacy in enhancing emotional regulation, reducing trauma symptoms and fostering resilience among IPV survivors. However, existing interventions often lack cultural adaptation and ignore the sociohistorical realities of tribal communities. This paper finds that when these therapeutic modalities are tailored to tribal worldviews – through symbolic imagery, indigenous art forms and collective healing practices – they become powerful tools for trauma recovery and identity restoration. Practical implications This commentary offers clear implications for practice, including culturally responsive therapist training, community-based MBAT delivery and participatory program design. It urges policymakers to incorporate MBAT into district-level public health initiatives and calls for further research on culturally adapted interventions in tribal settings. Originality/value This work contributes original insights by reframing MBAT not as an alternative therapy but as a culturally and spiritually congruent first-line approach for tribal IPV survivors. It bridges gaps in both theory and practice by integrating decolonial perspectives, arts-based methodologies and indigenous knowledge systems into mental health discourse.

An art-based pedagogical research approach was used by a group of students and faculty who embarked upon a twelve-month process of artistic enquiry to explore the phenomenon of intersubjectivity as it emerged within a simulated creative arts therapies (CATs) context. The challenges we identified and faced soon became opportunities and phenomena central to representing our experience, as well as representing an emergent model for art-based research and CATs. Transition, transference, transcendence, transformation and translation are the phenomena we identified that described the dynamic and dialectic experiences of intersubjective artistic enquiry. We conclude that this emerging art-based pedagogical research model is essential not only to systematic enquiry in the CATs, but also in all forms of human self-/other exploration and meaning-making.

Documentary cinema serves as a medium through which Indigenous cultural practices and knowledge systems are recorded and interpreted. Many representations of African ritual traditions, however, remain detached from the philosophical foundations that sustain those practices. This study examines the documentary film Evé Kornu (Inseparable Spirits), set among the Anlo community in the Volta Region, in which a ritual is performed upon the death of one twin to separate the surviving twin from the deceased and restore spiritual balance. The study asks how Evé Kornu functions as a site of ritual pedagogy and decolonial knowledge production in the representation of Indigenous Ghanaian cultural practices. The study employs qualitative film analysis and treats the documentary as a cultural text. Selected scenes are examined through a close reading of the film’s formal elements. Ritual pedagogy provides the central analytical frame, while Indigenous knowledge systems and decolonial aesthetics guide the interpretation. The analysis shows that the film constructs ritual pedagogy through apparition and spiritual disturbance, moral conflict between Christianity and ritual obligation, and ritual enactment as ancestral repair. The study contributes to African documentary film scholarship by showing how cinema can transmit ritual knowledge, preserve Indigenous epistemology, and represent twinship as a cosmological condition.

The exploration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in agriculture marks a paradigm-shifting endeavour, heralding a resurgence of timeless wisdom that forms the bedrock of human existence. This article explores IKS in agriculture within Java, Indonesia and Mindanao, Philippines. It analyses key aspects such as ecological management, farm practices, traditional knowledge transmission and cultural significance, emphasizing sustainable land use and biodiversity conservation. Employing qualitative methods like interviews and participant observations, the study ensures cultural respect and participant rights protection. It discusses challenges and promising initiatives in traditional knowledge transmission, emphasizing the cultural and spiritual dimensions intertwined with agricultural practices. The research underscores the pivotal role of indigenous knowledge in addressing modern agricultural challenges and fostering inclusive, sustainable futures in Javanese and Mindanaoan regions.

Indigenous knowledge systems related to solid waste management in economically marginalized communities have been largely overlooked in the scientific literature, even though the indigenous communities of developing nations struggling to manage solid waste rely on these practices. It is startling that indigenous solid waste management practices are scarcely documented in the scientific literature despite their position as potential alternative disposal methods. This gap persists amid limited municipal budgets, inadequate waste collection services, and poor infrastructure in economically marginalized indigenous rural communities in developing nations. Subsequently, in the discipline of solid waste management, this obstacle impedes the recognition and inclusion of indigenous waste management practices into integrated waste management plans. As a result, this causes a delay in their progress or elevation to the same level of credibility as mainstream scientific knowledge. In the process, this relegates the waste management practices of indigenous communities to the background. Against this background, the current study sought to investigate the indigenous solid waste management practices of rural communities in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality. As such, ten cases that captured the spatial cultural diversity of indigenous communities’ practices across Bushbuckridge Local Municipality (BLM) were selected for sampling. Data were collected using ethnographic research methods. Data analysis was carried out using the thematic analysis approach. Inductive logic was used in the interpretation of the current study results. The results of the current study indicate that indigenous communities of Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, in the absence of formal waste management services from the local authority, resort to an indigenous knowledge system to manage solid waste. Waste burning (100%), open-air dumping (100%), and backyard pits (90%) are some of the indigenous waste management practices espoused by the rural communities of BLM. The similarity in practices was corroborated by statistical inferences that revealed that between BLM communities, the amount of indigenous waste management practices is not significant (p > 0.05). However, there are concerns that despite the sustainability aspect associated with recycling (<25%) practices, these disposal methods are not common in the rural communities of BLM. This is a setback for an indigenous knowledge system that is supposed to advance environmental sustainability practices.