ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors explore the scope and limitations of promoting mutual learning through research feedback. They focus on two South Indian villages where they conducted development-oriented research for over two years. The authors aims to share the practical experience and lessons learnt from providing research feedback in the context of participatory field studies. The basic assumptions for fostering mutual learning in field research are straightforward. Mutual learning requires participation, turning away from data mining research to partnerships between research teams and rural communities. The indigenous knowledge identified with rural livelihoods and natural resource management has been to a large extent generated by experiential learning over generations, enriched and amalgamated over time with external knowledge. Assisting a community to make tacit individual and collective indigenous knowledge accessible for communication may initiate, or at least further dialogue on development issues.
