Whose knowledge? A review of local and traditional knowledge research in the North

Our paper presents the results of a systematic literature review that assesses whether academic literature on local and traditional knowledge (LTK) shows any biases in terms of whose knowledge is being represented.

LTK describes a body of knowledge, beliefs, traditions, practices, institutions, and worldviews developed and sustained over time by indigenous, peasant, and other local communities. Focusing on research in the circumpolar Arctic, where there is at least a 40-year history of scientists working with local knowledge holders, we found evidence that the literature disproportionately represents older male participants.

Read this open access paper on the FACETS website.

We also reviewed how individual research papers identified local experts to be included in their study and how they reported that participation. Researchers’ methods for recruiting research participants are rarely fully described. Likewise, demographic details such as age and gender are inconsistently reported for research participants.

On the one hand these features of the literature are understandable, because hunters and fishers in northern communities are usually (at least historically) men and they have extensive opportunities to observe animals and ecosystems.

However, women and youth in northern communities also have their own valid contexts for experiencing the environment. Indigenous women, for example, have knowledge of botanical resources (e.g., berries) and have extensive hands-on opportunity to observe animal conditions through butchering activities.

Other patterns we identified in the literature include an emphasis by researchers on knowledge about large mammals (as opposed to fish or plants) and several occurrences where knowledge claims do not clearly track back to individual knowledge holders’ contributions.

We also found interesting patterns in authorship: male authors outnumber female authors on these papers two to one, and we also found evidence of two possible “invisible colleges” in this body of literature.

An invisible college describes a set of researchers publishing in a specific research area who interact and collaborate amongst themselves and cite and support other college members in a disproportionate manner. Invisible colleges can be problematic if they serve to unequally favour specific academic discourses or specific authors’ reputations within the college, for example where people cite only the work of close colleagues, it can marginalize new scholars and diverse voices.

We discuss our findings through a concept from feminist theory known as “intersectionality”, which captures the nuanced ways that all people’s knowledge is intertwined within their lived experiences, deriving meaning and context from the roles, expectations, and power relations within which they experience the world (e.g., one person’s status as an elder, another’s experience with discrimination).

We discuss ways that LTK research on climatic and environmental change be more reflexive and transparent regarding the types of knowledge that are being privileged in research design and academic writing. The goal is to ensure that all people’s voices are being heard and that academic and other framings of expertise do not unnecessarily reproduce existing social inequities and prejudices.

Read the full paper — Hidden participants and unheard voices? A systematic review of gender, age, and other influences on local and traditional knowledge research in the North by Maaya K. Hitomi and Philip A. Loring.