The Basotho Cultural Village : cultural tourism enterprise or custodian of indigenous knowledge systems?

Abstract

The extent to which the Basotho Cultural Village manages to conserve indigenous knowledge systems was investigated. The research was conducted making use of a knowledge audit. Structured interviews were administered to employees as well as to visitors to the Basotho Cultural Village. The investigation was inspired by the need to establish whether cultural villages can act as custodians of indigenous knowledge systems. The results have shown that although, at present, the extent to which indigenous knowledge systems are conserved at cultural villages is fairly poor, the potential exists to develop cultural villages into custodians of indigenous knowledge systems. Recommendations have been provided to improve the extent to which indigenous knowledge systems can be transferred and conserved at cultural villages. The theoretical approach used during the study could be applied to other cultural villages in South Africa. Keywords : Indigenous knowledge systems, cultural villages, knowledge audit, Basotho Cultural Village. Indilinga Vol. 6 (1) 2007 pp. 27-50