Seduce the Scientist

Abstract

There is worldwide indifference among formal and institutional scientists about local knowledge and people’s ability to solve problems. This indifference has only increased by the use of short cut methods of learning, like Rapid Rural Appraisals, that have gained currency worldwide. This gave an easy legitimacy to scientists that they could learn about people’s needs and knowledge in a few hours or days only, through various rituals mostly irrelevant to the real concerns of knowledge rich but economically poor people.