Digital Preservation of Indigenous Knowledge in South African Rural Communities

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge is mainly preserved in the memories of elders, and most of this knowledge is slowly disappearing in rural communities due to various factors such as death, sickness, and memory loss. Digital preservation is regarded as one of the modern methods to preserve indigenous knowledge as it can be shared with others and be passed on to future generations. But how can indigenous knowledge be documented and preserved to benefit indigenous knowledge owners and accessible for future generations? The chapter thus looked into the policy, techniques, and technologies being employed to document and preserve indigenous knowledge in rural communities. Knowledge management frameworks were also used as underpinning theories to guide the study. The findings revealed that rural communities are still relying mostly on traditional methods such as oral tradition, storytelling, and community of practice in sharing their indigenous knowledge in this digital era.