---
title: "Traditional knowledge"
chunk: 1/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_knowledge"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:40:50.574157+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK), folk knowledge, and local knowledge generally refers to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities.
Traditional knowledge includes types of knowledge about traditional technologies of areas such as subsistence (e.g. tools and techniques for hunting or agriculture), midwifery, ethnobotany and ecological knowledge, traditional medicine, celestial navigation, craft skills, ethnoastronomy, climate, and others. These systems of knowledge are generally based on accumulations of empirical observation of and interaction with the environment, transmitted orally across generations. 
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the United Nations (UN) include traditional cultural expressions (TCE) in their respective definitions of indigenous knowledge. Traditional knowledge systems and cultural expressions exist in the forms of culture, stories, legends, folklore, rituals, songs, and laws, languages, songlines, dance, games, mythology, designs, visual art and architecture.

== Characteristics and related concepts ==

A report of the International Council for Science (ICSU) Study Group on Science and Traditional Knowledge characterises traditional knowledge as:

a cumulative body of knowledge, know-how, practices and representations maintained and developed by peoples with extended histories of interaction with the natural environment. These sophisticated sets of understandings, interpretations and meanings are part and parcel of a cultural complex that encompasses language, naming and classification systems, resource use practices, ritual, spirituality and worldview.

Traditional knowledge typically distinguishes one community from another. In some communities, traditional knowledge takes on personal and spiritual meanings. Traditional knowledge can also reflect a community's interests. Some communities depend on their traditional knowledge for survival. Traditional knowledge regarding the environment, such as taboos, proverbs and cosmological knowledge systems, may provide a conservation ethos for biodiversity preservation. This is particularly true of traditional environmental knowledge, which refers to a "particular form of place-based knowledge of the diversity and interactions among plant and animal species, landforms, watercourses, and other qualities of the biophysical environment in a given place". As an example of a society with a wealth of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), the South American Kayapo people, have developed an extensive classification system of ecological zones of the Amazonian tropical savannah (i.e., campo / cerrado) to better manage the land.
Some social scientists conceptualise knowledge within a naturalistic framework and emphasize the gradation of recent knowledge into knowledge acquired over many generations. These accounts use terms like adaptively acquired knowledge, socially constructed knowledge, and other terms that emphasize the social aspects of knowledge. Local knowledge and traditional knowledge may be thought of as distinguished by the length of time they have existed, from decades to centuries or millennia.
On the other hand, indigenous and local communities themselves may perceive traditional knowledge very differently. The knowledge of indigenous and local communities is often embedded in a cosmology, and any distinction between "intangible" knowledge and physical things can become blurred. Indigenous peoples often say that indigenous knowledge is holistic, and cannot be meaningfully separated from the lands and resources available to them. Chamberlin (2003) writes of a Gitksan elder from British Columbia confronted by a government land-claim: "If this is your land," he asked, "where are your stories?"
Indigenous and local communities often do not have strong traditions of ownership over knowledge that resemble the modern forms of private ownership. Many have clear traditions of custodianship over knowledge, and customary law may guide who may use different kinds of knowledge at particular times and places, and specify obligations that accompany the use of knowledge.  For example, a hunter might be permitted to kill an animal only to feed the community, and not to feed himself.  From an indigenous perspective, misappropriation and misuse of knowledge may be offensive to traditions, and may have spiritual and physical repercussions in indigenous cosmological systems. Consequently, indigenous and local communities argue that others' use of their traditional knowledge warrants respect and sensitivity. Critics of traditional knowledge, however, see such demands for "respect" as an attempt to prevent unsubstantiated beliefs from being subjected to the same scrutiny as other knowledge-claims. This has particular significance for environmental management because the spiritual component of "traditional knowledge" can justify any activity, including the unsustainable harvesting of resources.

=== Terminology ===

Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCE) are both types of Indigenous Knowledge (IK), according to the definitions and terminology used in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). While often used synonymously, the term "traditional knowledge (TK)" is most associated with traditional medicine and botany, while "indigenous  knowledge (IK)" is most associated with cultural issues and sustainable development, and "local knowledge (LK)" with environmental issues.
The phrase "traditional cultural expressions" is used by WIPO to refer to "any form of artistic and literary expression in which traditional culture and knowledge are embodied. They are transmitted from one generation to the next, and include handmade textiles, paintings, stories, legends, ceremonies, music, songs, rhythms and dance."
WIPO negotiates international legal protection of traditional cultural expressions through the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore (IGC). During the committee's sessions, representatives of indigenous and local communities host panels relating to the preservation of traditional knowledge.
Leading international authority on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property, Australian lawyer Terri Janke, says that within Australian Indigenous communities (comprising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples), "the use of the word 'traditional' tends not to be preferred as it implies that Indigenous culture is locked in time".

== Property rights ==