Activity (Answer the following questions):
1. What is the role of indigenous knowledge in the development of indigenous science?
Indigenous knowledge has been the stepping stone and the foundation in understanding
different phenomena that happened in our world. It is known that indigenous knowledge are
all-encompassing and endowed upon the interconnectedness, mutuality, and ultimate respect
for nature. This indigenous knowledge is composed of different scientific areas which has been
the groundwork of indigenous science to further understand and relate situations with right and
confirmed laws of nature. Other than that, indigenous knowledge does not only teach the
objectiveness of science, but also it reminds people to be kind towards nature.
2. What is the role of indigenous science in the development of science and technology in the
Philippines?
Indigenous science had helped educate early Filipinos how to do things in their daily lives.
Examples of these are the way how they make up their agricultural practices by simply
observing the weather, time, and trial and error. In addition, it taught Filipinos how to cure
simple to complex health problems through the use of herbal medicine and often times, seeking
help from a “quack doctor”. All of these simple practices had been passed on from generations
to generations. Even though some of its practices does not have a clear and concrete scientific
explanation, Filipinos still practice their knowledge in Indigenous Science.
By this knowledge, Filipinos made development on its science and technology based on what it
fitted to the country. For example, Philippines is an agricultural country that copes us with the
globalization today. Many of its agricultural lands have been possessed by the government and
private entities. This lands had been converted to buildings, factories, and housing projects.
Even though there are positive and negative effects on the environment, the country does only
balance indigenous science and globalization. There are still agricultural lands left in order to
sustain the production of different crops. In relation to this, this has been a good interplay
between the society and the environment because it developed diverse structures and contents
based on the culture of the society.
3. How do society and culture influence the development of science and technology?
Society and culture highly influence the development of science and technology in the following
ways:
a. The people will help scientists to develop technologies according to the needs of the society.
b. The culture system of a society or the culture of the scientist itself guides what kind of
science and technology to create. Culture as defined, is a subjective view of different belief
systems, norms, practices, and goals. By that, the culture of a society depict what
technology is appropriate for them or not.
c. Scientists and organizations study the demographic profile of a society in order to know how
to distribute resources and implement projects.
4. Identify Filipino indigenous knowledge and describe it.
A specific Filipino Indigenous knowledge that I could identify is the knowledge on how to cure
“Kabuhi” or the gas that is present in the upper stomach of the person. Before, Filipinos believe
that the cause of Kabuhi is due to indigestion and eating too much spicy food. Today, as the
medicinal practice had developed, it was explained that this Kabuhi is also known as GERD or
gastroesophageal reflux disease with the most common symptom of heartburn. This happens
because of stress, not eating in the right time, too much acid in the stomach, low metabolism,
and indigestion.
It is astonishing to know that early Filipinos had already depicted this kind of disease even
though there are no paraphernalia, equipment, nor expert knowledge in medicine. What they
only rely is the sound and “feel” of the person’s upper stomach. One of the most obvious sign of
kabuhi is the feeling of being bloated and a sharp pain in the upper stomach. Elderlies cure this
problem through “hilot” or massage. The process of this massage starts by pushing from the
upper stomach down to the navel accompanied by a “haplas” or a home-made herbal liquid for
external consumption only. The explanation behind this massage is “to push down the gas
present in the upper stomach”, which in fact, by common sense, a reasonable action in order for
the person not to feel uncomfortable, and “drowned” because of the gas. In addition, if the
massage could not solve the kabuhi, elderlies will prepare a warm herbal tea for the person to
drink it. All in all, it is remarkable how early Filipinos help cure themselves by simply observing,
and utilizing their common sense.
5. Describe the connection of indigenous knowledge to science and technology.
Indigenous knowledge, and science and technology always go hand in hand. Even though there
are a lot of indigenous knowledge that were rejected because of the scientific findings and laws
of science, still, indigenous knowledge is recognized when there are experiments that challenges
the morality of the project, and if a specific phenomenon could not be explained by scientific
processes. We have always thought that science and technology present in our world today are
already excellent, and advanced. However, this is not absolute. In fact, renowned scientists and
scholars still have actual projects to different rural areas in order to gain knowledge and observe
things. This is because, people who have indigenous knowledge have this special connection to
nature that science sometimes ignore. Therefore, as science and technology in the world
advances, indigenous knowledge is always looked back.