ABSTRACT

Information is to social interaction, what blood is to the human body. This is because, at the root of anyrelationship lays the generation, exchange and utilization of information. Every human society, therefore, thrives on information. As existence and the activities that go with it continue in every human settlement, different forms of information are generated. Whilst some of the information-creating activities are deliberate, others are clearly products of happenstance and chance discovery. This information matures over time as it passes through refinement, validation and acceptance to become knowledge. Interestingly, every community has its own unique corpus of knowledge. The activities and forces of social interaction within such cultural setting determine the nature of the knowledge found therein. Knowledge that abounds within a locale influences the behavioural pattern of people from that area. The influence is so strong that it sometimes becomes difficult to dissociate peoples' actions from their ancestral background. Although such knowledge may not be understood or appreciated by those who do not belong to the setting in which it is created and utilized, the prevalent knowledge forms in a place is not easily discarded as it forms part of their history and heritage. This is the background to the concept of indigenous knowledge.