of Textile Products

In recent years, much attention has been devoted to the study of indigenous knowledge, or the local knowledge of a community (Wolff & Wahab, 1995). This interest has been due in part to the integral role that indigenous knowl-edge plays in the socialization process and in the creation and preservation of cultural identity (Katar, 1993). Early indigenous knowledge research focused largely on agricul-tural and medical practices (Wolff & Wahab, 1995). More recently, indigenous business practices have received atten-tion as related to the expansion of global trade and to the role of handicraft industries in the informal sector of devel-oping economies. In this vein, Katar (1993) used interview and observa-tional methods to conduct an exploratory study examining indigenous knowledge and learning by craftspeople in north-ern Thailand. This study focused upon the learning of craft processes, such as weaving, embroidery, silverwork, and metalwork, adapted for export and tourist markets. Among his conclusions was the recommendation that future schol-ars use observational rather than interview methods to study indigenous knowledge and learning. According to Katar, observational methods yield a richer and more accurate picture of indigenous processes used in craft production. Often, such indigenous practices are “so much a matter of course ” that those who use them have a difficult time ver-balizing them (1993, p. 22). More recently, Wolff and Wahab (1995) developed a craft taxonomy for textile products indigenous to the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria. These authors used interviews to elicit from master weavers the terms applied to various forms of cloth and the criteria used to differentiate and assess these forms of cloth. Such a craft taxonomy, they argued, is “in-valuable ” because it (a) illustrates the history of the craft by delineating linkages between old and new production tech-niques and (b) captures the “know-how ” used in the pro-duction of the given craft (1995, p. 12)