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Abstract:
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"The relationship between indigenous knowledge (IK) and intellectual
property rights (IPR) is currently mired in violence and abuse. Whether the
marriage of two antithetical worldviews- the one of global capitalism and
therefore IPR, and that of the ‘commons’ and therefore the IK- is sustainable,
given the monolithic power of the former, is a critical question in many minds
today. Looking into the particular case of the Digital Community Archiving project
that chronicles the IK of the Nari Kuravar, allows an understanding of the global
knowledge dynamic created when oral, local knowledge is made available
publicly for the world on the internet. That this material is freely available without
copyright/patents etc., brings in the IPR dimension, and asks whether IPR is at
all relevant or necessary to protect this knowledge. In this paper, I try to
understand the global power dynamics that accompany the commercialization of
indigenous knowledge, the impact on the intellectual commons where IK is
produced, and further, whether such projects open up a new space for the
exploitation of IK while assuming a democratic, participatory stance."
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