scholarly journals Implications of a technoscientific culture on personhood in Africa and in the West

2005 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornel Du Toit
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Community Life ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of Development ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
History Of ◽  
African Community ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich History

This paper endeavours to converge on present-day experiences of self. This is done against the backdrop of the interdependence between person (organism) and environment (physical and cultural). The rich history of development of personhood in the West is discussed with reference to the metaphor of mask for personhood. Cultural epochs are described as phonocentric (in front of the mask), logocentric (behind the mask) and virtuocentric (between non-present masks). The history of modernism led to the experience of the end of personhood in the West. The restoration of personhood (subjectivity) seems possible through the restoration of some form of communitarianism. This brings Africa in focus. In an enigmatic way Africa knows science and utilises technology, but simultaneously relativises it in favour of traditional customs which the Western mind may judge to be mythological and primitive. African personhood is discussed with reference to African science in the format of Indigenous knowledge systems, to African community life as ubuntu, and to the place of seriti in African metaphysics.

scholarly journals Sites and objects, indigenous library and the history of Laimbwe, Cameroon

Afrika Focus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Kam Kah
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Historical Objects ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Indigenous Methods ◽  
Rich History

This study focuses on the construction of the history of the Laimbwe people of Cameroon through indigenous methods of enquiry and/or epistemologies. These include analyses of surviving historical objects, sites and artefacts from the pre-colonial period to the reunfication of British Southern Cameroons with the Cameroun Republic in 1961. Some traditional items of the Laimbwe people of Cameroon and existing artefacts as well as sites reveal a very rich history with information that Western and conventional research have not vividly captured. In this paper, we reflect on the salience of these sources in understanding the rich socio-cultural and political history of the Laimbwe. There is a need to document this as an indigenous African library in this age of globali- sation so that indigenous knowledge systems are disseminated to a wider academic audience. A construction of Laimbwe history through these indigenous forms of the library present them as new perspectives of local epistemologies beyond the capture of the western library introduced into Africa during the colonial period and even before. It continues to shape the way African national and local histories are written based on Western interpretations and or epistemologies. Key words: sites, objects, history, Laimbwe, Cameroon 

scholarly journals Sites and objects, indigenous library and the history of Laimbwe, Cameroon

Afrika Focus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-73
Author(s):  
Henry Kam Kah
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Political History ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Historical Objects ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Indigenous Methods ◽  
Rich History

This study focuses on the construction of the history of the Laimbwe people of Cameroon through indigenous methods of enquiry and/or epistemologies. These include analyses of surviving historical objects, sites and artefacts from the pre-colonial period to the reunification of British Southern Cameroons with the Cameroun Republic in 1961. Some traditional items of the Laimbwe people of Cameroon and existing artefacts as well as sites reveal a very rich history with information that Western and conventional research have not vividly captured. In this paper, we reflect on the salience of these sources in understanding the rich socio-cultural and political history of the Laimbwe. There is a need to document this as an indigenous African library in this age of globalisation so that indigenous knowledge systems are disseminated to a wider academic audience. A construction of Laimbwe history through these indigenous forms of the library present them as new perspectives of local epistemologies beyond the capture of the western library introduced into Africa during the colonial period and even before. It continues to shape the way African national and local histories are written based on Western interpretations and or epistemologies.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems

2019 ◽  
pp. 344-355
Author(s):  
Osarumwense Iguisi ◽  
Osaro Rawlings Igbinomwanhia
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
The West ◽  
Management Philosophy ◽  
Building Models ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Management Theories

This chapter draws attention to the relevance of cultures to management philosophy with the purpose of contributing to a culturally viable practice of management in Africa. It has been shown that the different management theories in the form that they have been developed in the West may not fit culturally in Africa. However, in developing theories and building models of management theories in Africa, it is unlikely to pay Africans to throw away all that the West has to offer. Rather, the process of appropriate management theorizing should be to reflect on the assumptions of Western management theories, compare Western assumptions about social and cultural values with African cultural values, and rebuild the theories or models through experimentation. The use of anthropological and philosophical concepts in this context will help in development of appropriate management practice.

Survival of the Fittest Protection of Indigenous Knowledge

2022 ◽  
pp. 294-316
Author(s):  
Stewart Lee Kugara ◽  
Tsetselelani Decide Mdhluli ◽  
Pfarelo Eva Matshidze
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Qualitative Design ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Legal Methodology ◽  
Survival Of The Fittest

This chapter reflects on numerous protections that are available for indigenous knowledge from those who misappropriate it for personal aggrandizement without regard of the holders of the knowledge. The chapter is underpinned on the Afrocentricity and Sankofa theories. A socio-legal methodology was adopted to ground the work to enable students studying indigenous knowledge systems to have a foundation and be able to follow the interdisciplinarity in the writing. As such, a doctrinal approach and qualitative design were engaged to buttress the philosophical reasoning and capture the rich and unrecorded knowledge of inorganic intellectuals. The chapter's standpoint is that the protection of indigenous knowledge requires African-tailored legislation that resonates with indigenous communities' beliefs and are pragmatic yet innovative to bring benefit sharing. In pursuing this, a normative legal framework that could be utilised in the protection of indigenous knowledge is explored.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems

2018 ◽  
pp. 5036-5045
Author(s):  
Osarumwense Iguisi ◽  
Osaro Rawlings Igbinomwanhia
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
The West ◽  
Management Philosophy ◽  
Building Models ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Management Theories

This conceptual paper draws attention to the relevance of cultures to management philosophy with the purpose of contributing to a culturally viable practice of management in Africa. It has been shown that the different management theories in the form that they have been developed in the West may not fit culturally in Africa. However, in developing theories and building models of management theories in Africa, it is unlikely to pay Africans to throw away all that the West has to offer. Rather, the process of appropriate management theorizing should be to reflect on the assumptions of Western management theories, compare Western assumptions about social and cultural values with African cultural values and rebuild the theories or models through experimentation. The use of anthropological and philosophical concepts in this context will help in development of appropriate management practice.

scholarly journals New Research Perspectives on Native American Students in Higher Education

JCSCORE ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-80
Author(s):  
Stephanie J. Waterman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Native American ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous Methodology ◽  
Native American Students ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research

This chapter begins with a brief history of higher education’s role in assimilation, oppression, and removal of Indigenous people. A short literature review outlines the progression of higher education literature from deficit focused ideologies to current research that decolonizes and centers of Indigenous Knowledge Systems. “Sharing circles” as an Indigenous methodology is described. Centering Indigenous experiences in higher education and Indigenous knowledge systems focus on ways that Western forms of education can be used as tools to strengthen Native nations.

Binarism as a Recipe for Lukewarm Research into Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Zimbabwe

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Jacob Mapara
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Innovation Policy ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
The West ◽  
Good Science ◽  
Technology And Innovation ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Lack Of Commitment ◽  
Science Technology And Innovation ◽  
Meaningful Research

The thesis of this chapter is that there is need for vigorous and robust research into Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in Zimbabwe. It argues that such research is afflicted by binarism, an affliction that permeates the Zimbabwean academic psyche. It notes that the major stumbling block to meaningful research emanates from the effects of western forms of epistemology that have affected some Zimbabwean scholars who have come to believe that all good science comes from the west. The researcher further argues that what makes the Zimbabwean situation so gloomy is the fact that the country does not have an IKS policy, but a science, technology and innovation policy that makes reference to IKS in passing. It is this lack of commitment, the paper further asserts, that afflicts academia because there are areas where government is expected to take a lead, but in the case of Zimbabwe, this leadership is lacking.

A Decolonial Curriculum Is Everything

2021 ◽  
pp. 59-81
Author(s):  
Zingisa Nkosinkulu
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Scientific Explanation ◽  
Knowledge System ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

This chapter seeks to map how indigenous people and their indigenous knowledge systems are the most researched and written about in the world, yet they are the least understood. The curriculum of the empire and its scientific explanation justified how indigenous knowledge systems should be approached and viewed as well as who has the authority to justify; hence, indigenous knowledge systems were justified as inferior and not worthy of the standard of European knowledge system. In this chapter, Frantz Fanon's thought will be deployed to illustrate how this division of knowledge justifies the perpetuating dehumanisation of indigenous people under the mask of modernisation and globalisation. By deploying decoloniality, Afrocentricity, and Fanonian thought, this chapter seeks to challenge this curriculum that is based on the history of the conquest of Africa that positioned Africa only as a cradle of slaves and the black bodied as created by God only for the benefit of the Europeans.

Colonizing Innovation:

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhinav CHATURVEDI ◽  
Alf REHN
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Frugal Innovation ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Management Literature

Innovation is one of the most popular concepts and desired phenomena of contemporary Western capitalism. As such, there is a perennial drive to capture said phenomena, and particularly to find new ways to incite and drive the same. In this text, we analyze one specific tactic through which this is done, namely by the culturally colonial appropriation of indigenous knowledge systems. By looking to how jugaad, a system   of   frugal   innovation   in   India,   has been   made   into   fodder   for   Western management literature, we argue for the need of a more developed innovation critique, e.g., by looking to postcolonial theory.

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