Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK), folk knowledge, and local knowledge generally refer to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities.
Tribal Colleges preserve and pass on both general knowledge and, through employing community Elders, traditional Indigenous knowledge. (Leech Lake Tribal College, Minnesota)
The art of Diné weaving is part of the traditional knowledge of the Navajo people.
Indigenous lands are endangered by climate change. Many Indigenous Nations hold traditional knowledge about land management in their bioregions.
Buddhist monk Geshe Konchog Wangdu reads Mahayana sutras from an old woodblock copy of the Tibetan Kanjur.
Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for many aspects of life, such as plants as medicines, foods, intoxicants and clothing. Richard Evans Schultes, often referred to as the "father of ethnobotany", explained the discipline in this way:Ethnobotany simply means investigating plants used by primitive societies in various parts of the world.
The ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes at work in the Amazon (~1940s)
