Indigenous Intellectual Property
Indigenous Knowledge Systems And Community Ownership Vs Western Monoculturalism And Intellectual Property Rights
Indigenous knowledge systems are hot property in the global marketplace, heralding a new age of colonisation through the new "papal bull" of Intellectual Property Rights.
IK Systems
Indigenous Knowledge Systems are dynamic and innovative, with external knowledge constantly being internalised and adapted to find solutions to problems. These systems are becoming a valuable commodity in the global market place, with the United Nations utilising these knowledges and systems to find solutions to problems of sustainability, a skill that many Indigenous peoples have developed as a matter of survival. This ability to synthesise diverse systems of knowledge is our unique strength.
Billygoat Weed
For example, when billygoat weed was introduced into Australian gardens and spread as a noxious pest to the bush, our people quickly discovered through Indigenous scientific inquiry that it is a good medicine for bruises. Regular harvesting of this weed for medicine in one area can control the spread of the pest, and so this application of evolving Indigenous knowledge is beneficial on several levels. Opportunities such as these are often missed by the invading dominant culture scientists, who consider Aboriginal scientific expertise irrelevant.
Snowy Mountains Spiritual Tradition
The Kakkib Li Dthia Warrawee'a of the Yaidmidtung people in Victoria uses this approach to knowledge in the continual development of the Kirridth Yordtharrngba academic/spiritual tradition there. He regards this not as a new thing, but as a continuation of the ancient ways of exchanging knowledge and philosophy with other language groups, constantly adapting and enriching Kirridth Yordtharrngba with new knowledge and ways. The tradition continues to grow richer and evolve, now encompassing philosophical and medical knowledge from around the world, remaining strong and relevant in a time of increasingly complex social and ethical dilemmas.
Our Intellectual Advantage
Arguably, in terms of the skills involved in making sense of and applying knowledge from a number of sources, Indigenous thinkers should not be considered disadvantaged. Rather, we can be seen as having great social assets and intellectual capacity derived from our experiences at the interface of Indigenous and non-Indigenous worlds.
Can Knowledge Be Individually Owned?
However, conflict emerges when issues of knowedge ownership are raised. Indigenous ways of knowing cannot be owned by individuals, making communities of knowledge vulnerable to the ravages of corporate pirates. The rabid colonisation of nature knowledge through Intellectual Property Rights (IPR's) championed by the IMF and GATT have resulted in the plunder of Indigenous knowledges worldwide. (For more follow link to Vandana Shiva - pictured).
Western scientists once used to share knowledge across fields and disciplines in an interrelated, cooperative way, but since the advent of IPR's they have begun to jealously guard "discoveries" in order to patent them. As a result, scientific discoveries have decreased in the western world, resulting in further need to plunder reservoirs of Indigenous intellectual capital.
Intellectual Rape And Pillage
First our lands were colonised, and now our minds. Even our art is being stolen in this way, as there is no Western copyright for ancestral designs, only individual ones. So when enough time lapses after the death of an Aboriginal artist, all the ancestral designs used in their art are then up for grabs. Similarly the colonists continue to rape and pillage in the realm of communal Indigenous knowledge across the globe, using equally exploitative western laws regarding IPR's.
