A paradigm shift in searching for knowledge

It has long been believed that knowledge acquisition is embedded only in modern system of education, which dominantly represents the western philosophy of education. Western view about the ‘West and the Rest’ made the former owner of all sources of knowledge while the latter has been represented as part of the world with no/little contribution to t he world civilization of what so ever aspect. T he western epistemological philosophy, together with their long domination over (control of) sources of knowledge, left indigenous knowledge of the ‘South’ or the ‘Rest’ at the periphery of the intellectual interest of the world until recently. On the other hand, indigenous peoples have rich knowledge, values, traditions and institutions, which altogether enable them to cope up with the challenges of this world over time. In contrast, modern technology alone failed to control challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation, inter- and intra-group conflicts and so on - those are grave dangers o f 21st century.

Apart from the research mission of the University, two fundamental issues make Dilla University an ideal Institution to launch this Institute. These are geographic al proximity of the university to centers of diversities and its location on the territory of one of those southern peoples who were rarely represented in Ethiopian historiography

Although Southern Ethiopia is particularly a home of diversities in culture, traditions, and ways of life, indigenous peoples in this part of the country – as common elsewhere in the world - suffered from:-

• Top-down approaches of Ethiopian historiography
• Economic, political and social marginalization by successive regimes
• Currently affected by winds of globalization and ‘modernization

In this regard, the initiative has also been taken as part of working to rectify the old tradition of Ethiopian historiography and to integrate the voices, knowledge and history of these peoples into Ethiopian history.

Visions and Missions of the Institute

Visions

Generally, the institute intends to promote studies on indigenous peoples and enhances the national and international understandings about the economic, cultural, political and social life of the people. Besides, it attempts to depict the unity and diversity of cultures, languages and other aspects of the socio-economic life of the people so as to strengthen peace and democracy in the region. In doing so, the institute opts to contribute to the betterment of the life of the traditional societies in South Ethiopia.

The Institute of Indigenous Studies (will be shortly written as IIS) is established with the following visions:

1. Realizing the promotion, preservation and investigation of indigenous knowledge of Nations and Nationalities, particularly those of peripheral societies.
2. Putting the invaluable traditional values, local knowledge, institutions and customs of our societies for development, peace and democracy.
3. Ensuring equality of nations and nationalities in terms of cultural and historical representation in academic as well as research arenas in the country.
4. Uncovering cultural heritages of the societies and promoting impartial tourism economy from which the subject peoples would become top most beneficiaries.

Missions

Generally, the institute intends to promote studies on indigenous people and enhances the national and international understandings about the economic, cultural, political and social life of the people. Besides, it attempts to depict the unity and diversity of cultures, languages and other aspects of the socio-economic life of the peoples so as to strengthen peace and democracy in the region. In doing so, the institute opts to contribute to the betterment of the life of the traditional societies of Southern Ethiopia,

The institute operates grounded on the following missions; it is to:

1. identify research priorities in the southern region of Ethiopia
2. design visible, cost-effective and practically useful research projects on the basis of the identified priority areas.
3. serve as a center for national and international research undertakings
4. Identify challenges facing indigenous people and will exert possible efforts of alleviation with close cooperation with governmental and non-governmental organizations working on the issues.
5. Persistently work towards promoting Ethiopia’s indigenous people to the level of continental and international recognition so that their cultural values and symbolic significance of their traditional land would be recognized and protected.
6. disseminate research outputs in the form of extension and publication
7. promote technological innovations
8. organize national and international research collaborations
9. focusing on the local social and natural environment, it opts for putting local knowledge in use for development

10. gives consultancy to government and non-government organizations
11. gives short term trainings for researchers
12. Support faculties by enriching the curriculums and training syllabuses with up to date academic information.

The Institute will have three major branches namely; academic, documentation and research wings. The academic wing, in the long run, will train graduate students with interdisciplinary Masters Program. The Masters program will constitute cultural Anthropology, History, Humanities, Geography, Ethno-Botany and other relevant disciplines. The graduates of the Institute will be researchers, social workers and teachers in fields related to the program. The detail of the academic wing’s plan will be designed in the future.
The documentation wing will be a museum where both concrete and abstract knowledge and heritages of the peoples will be preserved. The concrete knowledge includes materials of significant symbolic representation of indigenous peoples material cultures such as musical instruments, ornaments, household utensils, cultural symbols and so on. The collection and preservation of these materials will have the following significances:

1. It will serve to save the endangered traditions and cultural heritages from loss. As cultural symbols are remarkable reflections of a group’s identity, by implication, it is also an attempt to identity preservation.
2. As our peoples have rich cultural values and have skills of artistic innovations, the collection of these heritages would serve as instrument for tourist attraction from which both the groups concerned, the University and the country at large will be beneficiaries.
3. Under the current circumstances of globalized world, there is an urgent need to preserve the cultural heritages of our societies as an instrument for future studies and documentation.

On the other hand, the ‘invisible’ knowledge of our societies has been for long time ignored from the formal education, economic policy and legal as well as administrative systems. This potentially invaluable knowledge is embedded in the ways of life, thoughts, cultural practices and political organizations of indigenous peoples. For example, the indigenous knowledge of resource management and conflict resolutions are cases in point from which the current generation would benefit.

In the research wing, will emphasis on research activities on areas of culture, language, history, economy, education, environment and resource conservation among the societies under study. In addition, with the expansion of the Institute and development of its research staff this wing may develop into the following centers of specialization.

1. Centre for research on language, culture and history of Indigenous peoples.

2. Centre for research on natural resource and environment in the south with particular emphasis to indigenous peoples.

Centre for research on economy and education among Indigenous peoples. The institute of Indigenous Studies is new in the country in terms of its objectives and programs. It will encourage and facilitate the attention for cultural, historical and economic studies as a strategy for development, peaceful coexistence among groups and cultural preservation. The research programs planned under the institute will be devoted to promote solidarity, socio-economic developments and better life in the distant indigenous peoples in the southern part of Ethiopia. As this region inhabits the larger number of nationalities of the country, the establishment of this institute in the region will have a great advantage for maintenance of over all socio-cultural prosperity of the peoples and in strengthening their mutual coexistence.