Chinhoyi University of Technology Centre For Indigenous Knowledge And Living Heritage

Centre For Indigenous Knowledge And Living Heritage

Overview

Under the effects of globalisation, some knowledge forms are dying while at the same time the interest in safeguarding of living heritage is growing. There is therefore the need to preserve, promote, innovate and renovate some local knowledge forms, as well as the intangible cultural heritage for the benefit of the host communities. This is what the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Living Heritage seeks to achieve. The Centre’s growth will be incremental, with initially the establishment of a core group that will be beefed up, where possible, by the re-deployment of members already in post in the Institute.

Mandate

The mandate of the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Living Heritage is built on the need to input local indigenous knowledge and living heritage or intangible cultural heritage within the national development agenda. In assuming this responsibility, the Centre notes that no country in the world has ever developed without tapping into its local knowledge and cultural goods.

Vision

To put CUT on the regional and international map in the area of research and development in IKS and Living Heritage (LH) to effectively and holistically contribute to development in Zimbabwe.

Mission

To become the epicentre for informative and applied research in the areas of indigenous knowledge and living heritage in a technologically receptive and innovative community anchored in the promotion of sustainable livelihoods, entrepreneurship and lifelong learning

Objectives

To foster collaborative research efforts between individuals and/or research teams within and outside the Centre in similar or complementary fields in the areas of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and Living Heritage or Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) informed by the development of appropriate tools for researching IKS and ICH in ethically accepted ways.
To enhance the Centre’s status through various publications and research presentations at different seminars and conferences locally, regionally and internationally.
To properly document the knowledge systems of Zimbabweans in the present and both the short and long term past, creating appropriate storage and archival systems amenable to long term security of this heritage.
To appreciate the role that gender-based outcomes of indigenous knowledge play in communities.
To provide quality IKS education and training for academics and the wider communities.
To validate IKS as well as to seek to technologize and scientificate it through the use of computers and related technologies.
To create a platform for intellectual and scientific debates and dialogue on African forms of episteme so as to create a more rounded approach to development and academia.
To engage local communities in meaningful research processes where they are accepted as joint researchers and joint authorities of research outcomes as well as to stimulate IKS research and innovation that is applicable locally and beyond.
To promote and research into activities that promotes and safeguards ICH in Zimbabwe.
To collaborate with the Centre for Language and Communication Studies in pooling data from field work as a resource in electronic form for language processing and other uses.

Research

Research priorities

These include but are not limited to the following:

Indigenous knowledge in agrarian rural economies
Empowering communities through forestry
Indigenous Environmental Knowledge and Management in Mashonaland West
Discourses on Nature, Landscape and hunting among hunters and fishermen of the Zambezi Valley and environs
IKS, Living Heritage and Intellectual Property Rights

Empowering local communities through participatory inventorying and description of ICH elements for the purposes of safeguarding and promotion