Leadership and Epistemological Responsibility 171learn from other societies the basis upon which an ecologically coded,
and human-centered development had been cultivated for centuries
(Odora Hoppers 2002).
A focus on IKS therefore implies the archeology and re-
appropriation of those knowledges that were not allowed to “be”, in
order to enhance our understanding of it, develop, protect, and promote
it. Most challenging in a context such as South Africa’s and the African
continent as a whole, is the challenge of developing appropriate
protocols, codes of conduct, and terms under which any integration and
dialogue should occur.
For scientists and academics, it also implies taking community
holders of knowledge as fellow experts and reorganizing research and
development strategies and ethics accordingly, including a serious
consideration of issues of the protection of Intellectual Property Rights,
economic benefit sharing, poverty alleviation, and employment creation.
For all the disciplines, it mandates a rethinking of the tenets and
limitations of existing disciplinary arrangements, while for sector
ministries, it implies broadening the operational parameters of existing
policies including the implementation strategies that accompany them.
While at a systems level, IKS demands the establishment of an
ethically sound and ecologically constituted way of thinking, the
affirmation of the multiplicity of worlds and forms of life, the creation
of a shared paradigm shift, self-reflexive praxis, becoming critical
explorers of human and societal possibilities, the establishment of new
evaluation and appraisal criteria, and the transformation to new futures
(Odora Hoppers 2001).
10.3 Implications for Policy and Institutions
for the IKS Initiative in South Africa
Soon after a call was made from the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Arts, Culture, Language, Science and Technology for the