Fight for Expertise: Indigenous Knowledge in the Scientific "Discovery" of Plant Medicine in Ethiopia

The purpose of this research is to examine the power dynamics that emerge as urban expertise asserts itself in indigenous communities. In order to explore this topic in depth, I asked the following questions: How do indigenous claims and expertise over a culturally valued object compete in Ethiopia? Where does “indigenous” knowledge fit into this competition? To analyze the interplay between urban and rural claims of expertise, I spent two months conducting interviews and participant observations in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia and Konso, a rural community five hundred kilometers from Addis Ababa. Specifically, I focused on different types of expertise claimed over a cabbage tree called Moringa stenopetala (native to Konso).

Four groups of people emerged as the principal actors claiming expertise over Moringa. The first set of actors is urban scientists who claim an expertise based on institutional, laboratory research of the components of Moringa. The second set of actors is business people in Ethiopia who claim economic expertise based on their knowledge of the market. The third set of actors is the urban consumer community, which claims expertise based on subjective knowledge as consumers of the plant for medicinal reasons. Finally, the rural Konso communities claim expertise based on their use of Moringa as a staple food for centuries.

The findings of this research indicate that a hierarchy of expertise is established surrounding Moringa stenopetala in which the expertise of the Konso communities are subordinated to the expertise of the urban community in Ethiopia. As Moringa becomes a valuable commodity, the landscape and food source of the Konso communities is at risk of being compromised. To avoid the exploitation of the resources of Moringa and the people of Konso by urban scientists, consumers and business people, there needs to be an equal exchange of knowledge and benefits between the urban interests and the communities of Konso.