Centre in Indigenous Knowledge Systems
CIKS is a partnership of five higher education institutions in South Africa, with its hub at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa. The CIKS is a strategic instrument of implementing the National IKS Policy (2004) and facilitates the integration of IKS in higher education as a key component of human capital development and social transformation. It is through its mandated areas of research, postgraduate training, information brokerage, networking and community engagement that CIKS stimulates a paradigm shift in the advancement of the democracy of knowledge systems.
Essentially, CIKS promotes the recognition of multiplicity of knowledge systems in the global knowledge economy, which are culturally, place-based and complementary in order to mitigate against the dominance of western knowledge system in the global knowledge economy. As a knowledge systems on its own merit, Indigenous Knowledge (IK) has its own worldview, epistemology, research methodology and value systems. Therefore, its promotion enables South Africa and Africa as a whole, to enter the global knowledge economy on its own terms rather than those dictated by others.
The inclusion of IK holders and practitioners in knowledge production, management and protection, makes knowledge production, innovation, and human capital development more relevant to sustainable community livelihood and development. It breaks barriers between local communities, academia, industry, business, and government. It builds an active citizenry through mobilization of community based knowledge systems in the knowledge economy and sustainable development process. The CIKS welcomes your partnership to build an active citizenry through IKS for improved quality of life.
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