Progress Report: Technologies & Indigenous Societies

I like the idea technologies are not just Ipods and GPS. I like that engineering can be craftsmanship on a lego level rather than something futuristic. Having no experience of engineering, I have made it into something much larger and scarier in my mind, something I could never comprehend or lend a hand to. I did not think I could see its real products in my life because I thought it was so abstract that it existed somewhere else, rather than the bridges I walk across or the lamp I turn on. I only saw the manufacturing of it, the workers building the bridges and not beyond it. 

Then going to Cal Poly, where the word engineering carries weight, it MEANS something big and intelligent, that thing became scarier in my mind. As important as engineers are in this world we live in, they are not the only important part, everyone is important. Anything anyone contributes is important. That is not a value equally shared, and a sentiment I do not feel here, especially being an Ethnic Studies student.

For my research, I am excited to pursue the realm of often left out technologies and innovations that are invented by indigenous societies. Indigenous knowledge are important. Along this avenue, it is interesting to see what “the other” has imposed on the "lacking", on those “in need” because their economies are different or their societies are not the same as The West. It is not OK for someone to tell someone else what they need and what will solve all their problems. That is not their right or responsibility.

I understand, however, how the line of overbearing imposition is quite different than helping out a neighbor. It might be the process of introducing a new technology to a “different” society that truly exemplifies the rightness or wrongness. It is also important to understand how a product will affect the land and people, for these very reasons, a technology may not be innovative at all, or helpful in the least.

I would also like to find an invention or tool or piece of technology that does not exist in our “industrialized world”, but one that should be adopted to better our world. Such a thing exists and The West would most certainly benefit from different perspectives and ways of knowing than what has traditionally been done.

My research is in its beginning stages. I have been sifting through various ideas and settled on this topic as something I am extremely interested in.

For instance, I found this great article to work off of: “Designing Agricultural Technology for African Women Farmers: Lessons from 25 Years of Experience” by Cheryl R. Doss. This article clearly identifies the role gender plays in a social organization and how agriculture production is affected by social order. Thus any new technologies greatly affect production practices and culture.

In class, we have thus far reflected on the ways professional engineering has progressed in France and Britain. Reflecting on my own about American engineering, the formation has been crafted by efficiency and uniformity, Saving Money and Time! However, Doss asserts something quite different for Africa that would not fit into the American version of engineering: “Because of the heterogeneity across Africa, it is difficult to prescribe specific universal remedies or even appropriate remedies for a specific region or country . . . the factors that should be taken into consideration when developing technologies,so that women benefit rather than being disadvantaged. Although we cannot simply take lessons from one part of Africa and apply them directly to another place, we can identify the factors that encourage or limit the adoptions of new technology and affect how the benefits and costs will be distributed within households and communities” (2).

I will further be examining the role globalization has played in the process of the production of indigenous knowledge and how they are often shut out. For instance, this research was conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa regarding Rain Water Harvesting and expresses that although rain water harvesting has been around for thousands of years, indigenous knowledge are often disregarded. Potential is recognized but the authors of “Indigenous knowledge as support tool in rainwater harvesting” assert that indigenous knowledge “remains a neglected resource . . . for the lack of guidelines for recording and applying” the knowledge (2).

I am going to further pursue the research I have presented. Although limited, I am going to find ways indigenous societies around the world, most particular in Africa, have created technologies and perhaps some that should be adopted in the United States.