Los Saberes tradicionales y los desafíos para el Diálogo de conocimientos

Abstract

The systems of knowledge of the indigenous peoples of Latin America or traditional knowledge have been denominated as: popular wisdom, local knowledge, folklore, indigenous science (De Gortari, 1963), science of the concrete (Lévi-Strauss, 1972), indigenous science and sciences natives (Cardona, 1979), popular knowledge, science of the people (Fals Borda, 1981; 1988); peasant knowledge (Toledo, 1994) ethno-knowledge, systems of indigenous and peasant knowledge (Lef et al., 2002); traditional ecological knowledge (Johnson 1992), and local and indigenous knowledge systems (LINKS, 2005), among other ways. In all cases, their nomination has been associated with the asymmetric interaction between these knowledge and the hegemonic, political, legal and academic spheres that identify and categorize them. At present, this interaction takes place under multiple tensions, among which the following stand out: 1) The recognition of indigenous peoples and their knowledge systems in the legal frameworks of the Latin American nation states; 2) The recognition of traditional knowledge in international instruments and 3) The acceptance, appropriation or rejection of these knowledge systems by research groups of companies, universities and research centers. The objective of this work is to present these tensions and in that context refect on the dialogue of knowledge, as a possible option to generate an interaction of respect and symmetry between actors with diferent knowledge systems. Understanding the dialogue of knowledge, as a refective praxis that aims to build respectful and non-asymmetric scenarios for such interaction. These knowledges and practices have been conserved, reproduced and innovated by the indigenous, afro-descendant and peasant peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, through multiple methods and procedures, as we have emphasized in previous publications (Argueta Villamar, 2010; 2011; 2012; Pérez Ruiz, 1983; 2018; Pérez Ruiz & Argueta Villamar, 2011).