The SKA project: A model for dialogue between historical astronomical archives, local memory and modern science

A recent study highlights the importance of dialoguing between historical astronomical knowledge, local memory, and modern science. The research, conducted by South African researcher Anton Binneman, focuses on the SKA project, a set of radio telescopes in the South African Karoo. The study involves meetings with Indigenous communities, particularly those of the San people, to understand how their traditional knowledge of the sky is evolving. The research reveals that traditional knowledge is not static but continuously adapts to contemporary contexts, including scientific research. The project includes workshops to assess the environmental and social impact of the telescopes, involving about 52 elders and knowledge holders. The Bleek and Lloyd archive, which records many of these narratives from the late 19th century, is used as a starting point for dialogue with the communities. The findings show that traditional knowledge remains vivid in everyday contexts, such as the memory of Venus as "the farmer's clock," while more complex cosmological narratives have faded. The study emphasizes that the first astronomers were not those who built the telescopes, but the local communities who have long observed the sky. The Dialogical Knowledge Renewal Model, developed from this experience, aims to bring historical archives, community memory, and modern science into dialogue. The project has contributed to training local astronomy guides and the development of astrotourism. The SKA is seen as a new chapter in the region's history of sky observation, helping communities recognize it as part of their own heritage rather than as an outsider's arrival. The research underscores the value of preserving and adapting traditional knowledge in the face of modernization and colonialism.

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