What is Indigenous Knowledge

This chapter contributes to critical inquiry literature regarding various ways that indigenous knowledge intersects with technology, especially in regards to female knowledge systems. Using Lave and Wenger's community of practice framework, this chapter illustrates how animations assist women in knowledge sharing on best practices in shea butter processing. Making use of state of the art technology, “Scientific Animations Without Borders” (SAWBO) proposes a new approach to capture, preserve and share indigenous knowledge globally. This program creates short animations showing scientific best practices, while still incorporating indigenous knowledge. These animations can be viewed with video capable cell-phones or on portable projection systems. This approach has the potential to keep indigenous and local knowledge alive, and allow for its spread across geopolitical, cultural and linguistic borders. Through this case study of shea producers, the authors examine how video animations provide a mechanism that amplifies traditional knowledge sharing through new technologies.