Page 391 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

366 C.D. Stonebanks

for water, bananas, and peanuts and (the second guide) continues to explain his work in
educational tourism and his relationship with a university in the UK in the areas of Physical
Geography, Human Geography, and “old ways of knowing” (indigenous knowledge)
concerning heath science. He tells us that students from Europe are now coming to people
like him for education on not just the region, but in the areas of study itself. I’m exhausted,
but pleased to hear that such forays are being developed and hope the relationship is reciprocal;
we have so much to learn, but I’m not clear, beyond monetary compensation, on what he
is getting back. (Stonebanks personal log, June 1, 2009)
Our guides were, in many ways, engaged in an organic intellectual counter-
hegemonic educational activity, in the Gramscian “… conception, as intellectuals
who are organic to the ‘subaltern’ groups aspiring to power” (Mayo 2008, p. 427).
Recognizing that the economics, tourism, and way of life of pseudo-“Club Med/
Sandals like, often foreign owned, hotel tourist spots” on the lake were not entirely
beneficial to the community, a group of locals began the process of reclaiming
regional expertise, resources, and knowledge in a manner that was sustainable and
educational. Returning to the village of Makupo, we looked up to Mount Kasungu
and discussed whether the same pursuit of regional knowledge, economics, and
lifestyle could be reproduced here. However, Glasson captures the challenge of
reinvigorating the spirit of this notion:
Despite spending their whole lives in Malawi, most teacher educators had never visited a
wildlife park in their own country. (Glasson et al. 2006, p. 670)
Many of the villagers within Makupo had never been to Mount Kasungu, not
because they lacked interest or the desire to go, but rather because the hour-long
walk to the mountain itself was a luxury of time many villagers could not afford.
An earlier trip with villagers to the Kasungu National Park, a 20-min drive from
their village, offered a luxury few could afford but were willing to do. Sitting with
these villagers, we discussed what knowledge our guides from Cape MacLear were
able to share: animals to the uses of indigenous plant life for medicinal purposes
and the changing relationships of local people with the land. With these villagers,
we tried to reproduce the recreation knowledge from our previous guides up the
mountain, but discovered that it was quite a daunting task, not easily reproduced,
as if some kind of “quaint and primitive” understanding of a world is embedded
beyond local comprehension (Semali and Kincheloe 1999). In contrast, as Maurial
(1999) explains, this deeply embedded knowledge is a complex process:
Indigenous knowledge is peoples’ cognitive and wise legacy as a result of their interaction
with nature in a common territory. Indigenous peoples, with a common history of coloniza-
tion by western culture, constantly regenerate this knowledge. (p. 62)
Moreover, it is “not static; external sources or knowledge have an impact on it”
(George 1999, p. 82) and is subject to its own natural growth, as is any knowledge.
Given the depth of the kind of information we were seeking, no one thought or
suggested this first trip to the mountain would result in anything but an opportunity
to observe for the sake of generating questions for a later date, which is exactly
what we experienced on that day. The most interesting aspect of this excursion was
the conversations and preparations for these questions that I now want to focus on