Rupturing the Frontiers between Indigenous and Western Knowledge
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Abstract
The focal points in the study of cultural knowledge are both indigenous and westernknowledge. Indigenous knowledge serves to raise the conscious of local people ofthe global south while the western knowledge aims at cementing epistemic salience ina given society of the north. The twin knowledge systems have to be treated as fluidmixture of experiences, values, contextual information, and insights. Theseknowledge systems provide a framework for constantly evaluating and incorporating the newly emerging epistemological stances. Both systems of knowledge are embedded not only in documents but also in social routines, processes, practices, andnorms in order to guide societies on a daily basis. The objective of this paper is toshow the importance of bridging and how to bond the boundaries between Indigenous and Western knowledge. Using qualitative approach, the paper used secondary data which has been derived from primary data that had been collected through survey,filed note and interview from the members of the Ethiopian Community in Toronto.This paper proposes that indigenous people and the western society can – and indeed,must –learn from each other as there is no isolated system of knowledge in the worldsince all knowledge are constantly evolving due to the newly emerging social realities. Denying indigenous people, the benefits of exposure to the western knowledge is unwise. Also, retaining their cultural knowledge for certain aspects of emotional refuelling is mandatory.