Knowledge in Practice:
A vast array of human activities and practices sustain
social living and culture. Crafts such as weaving,
carpentry and pottery, and occupations such as farming
and shopkeeping, constitute alongwith and performing
and visual arts and spor ts a valuable form of
knowledge. These forms of knowledge are of a
practical nature, tacit and often only partially articulated.
Many of them involve abilities that are developed.
These include the ability to conceptualise and imagine
products that are useful or aesthetic, the knowledge of
and ability to work with materials to fashion a product,
knowledge of one’s own abilities, appreciation of team
work, and attitudes of persistence and discipline. This
is true whether it is an object being fashioned or
whether it is a play a to be presented to an audience.
Describing these activities as skills draws attention
to only the dexterities that are involved, but not to the
considerable understanding of the social and natural
world and the self that each of these forms of practice
involves. Like accepted academic disciplines, these crafts
and trades too have their traditions and expert
practitioners. The knowledge relevant to each of these
crafts, occupations and art forms is cumulatively
developed and is passed on through experience and
reflection to the next generation of practitioners.
Therefore, each one of them is a discipline of practical
knowledge. The Indian heritage of such forms of practical knowledge is vast, varied and rich. As
productive skills, they are an invaluable part of the
economy.
More reflection and research is needed in order to
understand the epistemological structure of these practical
disciplines. Understanding how they are practised and
learnt, and how to formalise their learning, are questions
of sociological importance as traditional occupations
are linked to caste groups and are gendered. It is necessary
to realise their curricular significance, not only as forms
of work but equally as forms of knowledge, and as
mediums for other learning. This important area of
human knowledge needs to become a substantial part
of the school curriculum
