African Belief And Knowledge Systems

Author : Munyaradzi Mawere
Publisher : African Books Collective
Page : 138 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9789956726851

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African Belief and Knowledge Systems by Munyaradzi Mawere Pdf

The debate on the existence of African philosophy has taken central stage in academic circles, and academics and researchers have tussled with various aspects of this subject. This book notes that the debate on the existence of African philosophy is no longer necessary. Instead, it urges scholars to demonstrate the different philosophical genres embedded in African philosophy. As such, the book explores African metaphysical epistemology with the hope to redirect the debate on African philosophy. It articulates and systematizes metaphysical and epistemological issues in general and in particular on Africa. The book aptly shows how these issues intersect with the philosophy of life, traditional beliefs, knowledge systems and practices of ordinary Africans and the challenges they raise for scholarship in and on philosophy with relevance to Africa.

Author : Toyin Falola,Nicole Griffin
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 355 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2021-09-21
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781538150252

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Religious Beliefs and Knowledge Systems in Africa by Toyin Falola,Nicole Griffin Pdf

Key to African studies is understanding the knowledge systems of the continent and her diaspora. The representation and understanding of Africa are dependent on the observer’s definition of knowledge. Afrocentric knowledge is comprised of a collection of political, religious, and indigenous belief systems. Religious Beliefs and Knowledge Systems in Africa begins with deconstructing the Western philosophy of knowledge before defining and exploring the epistemic disciplines of Africa. It transcends postcolonial critique, through an Afrocentric approach to knowledge divided into three key themes. The first of these is the African worldview, exploring knowledge through eldership, witchcraft, and divination. This is followed up by kingship ideology and epistemologies, exploring discussing how politics, religion, and belief shape African society. Finally, the world religion chapter examines Christianity, Islam, and Pentecostalism in their impact on African ways of knowing. This book calls to action new fields of study in universities, encouraging a greater understanding of African ways of knowing through more nuanced disciplines.

Author : Nhemachena, Artwell,Hlabangane, Nokuthula,Matowanyika, Joseph Z. Z.
Publisher : Langaa RPCIG
Page : 351 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2020-03-02
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9789956551866

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Decolonising Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in an Age of Technocolonialism by Nhemachena, Artwell,Hlabangane, Nokuthula,Matowanyika, Joseph Z. Z. Pdf

Positing the notions of coloniality of ignorance and geopolitics of ignorance as central to coloniality and colonisation, this book examines how colonialists socially produced ignorance among colonised indigenous peoples so as to render them docile and manageable. Dismissing colonial descriptions of indigenous people as savages, illiterate, irrational, prelogical, mystical, primitive, barbaric and backward, the book argues that imperialists/colonialists contrived geopolitics of ignorance wherein indigenous regions were forced to become ignorant, hence containable and manageable in the imperial world. Questioning the provenance of modernist epistemologies, the book asks why Eurocentric scholars only contest the provenance of indigenous knowledges, artefacts and scientific collections. Interrogating why empire sponsors the decolonisation of universities/epistemologies in indigenous territories while resisting the repatriation/restitution of indigenous artefacts, the book also wonders why Westerners who still retain indigenous artefacts, skulls and skeletons in their museums, universities and private collections do not consider such artefacts and skulls to be colonising them as well. The book is valuable to scholars and activists in the fields of anthropology, museums and heritage studies, science and technology studies, decoloniality, policymaking, education, politics, sociology and development studies.

Author : Runette Kruger,Rudi de Lange,Ingrid Stevens
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2018-12-17
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781527523623

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The Arts and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in a Modernized Africa by Runette Kruger,Rudi de Lange,Ingrid Stevens Pdf

This collection derives from a conference held in Pretoria, South Africa, and discusses issues of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and the arts. It presents ideas about how to promote a deeper understanding of IKS within the arts, the development of IKS-arts research methodologies, and the protection and promotion of IKS in the arts. Knowledge, embedded in song, dance, folklore, design, architecture, theatre, and attire, and the visual arts can promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and it can improve communication. IKS, however, exists in a post-millennium, modernizing Africa. It is then the concept of post-Africanism that would induce one to think along the lines of a globalized, cosmopolitan and essentially modernized Africa. The book captures leading trends and ideas that could help to protect, promote, develop and affirm indigenous knowledge and systems, whilst also making room for ideas that do not necessarily oppose IKS, but encourage the modernization (not Westernization) of Africa.

Author : Toyin Falola
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 305 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2022-03-10
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781350271968

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African Spirituality, Politics, and Knowledge Systems by Toyin Falola Pdf

Focusing on the three leading religious traditions in Africa (African Traditional Religion, Islam, and Christianity), this book shows how belief in the supremacy of sacred words compels actions and influences practices in contemporary Africa. "Sacred words” are taken to mean holy texts as in divination, the Quran and the Bible. Toyin Falola evaluates how religious leaders engage with sacred words, both orals and texts, engendering practices that reveal the expression of religious beliefs, the impact of those beliefs, and the knowledge contained in them. Attention is given to the key ideas in the words chosen by religious leaders, and how they form a continuous knowledge system, impacting the politics of managing society and people.

Author : Toyin Falola
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:755250813

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Health Knowledge and Belief Systems in Africa by Toyin Falola Pdf

Author : Ibigbolade Aderibigbe,Alloy Ihuah,Felisters Kripono
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2015-09-04
Category : History
ISBN : 9781443881272

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Contextualizing Indigenous Knowledge in Africa and its Diaspora by Ibigbolade Aderibigbe,Alloy Ihuah,Felisters Kripono Pdf

This volume proposes a wholesale adoption of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS) as a paradigm for Africa's renewal and freedom from the whims of foreign interests. These systems, as argued here, involve balancing short-term thinking and immediate gratification with longer-term planning for future generations of Africans and the continent's diaspora. The book will be of interest to anyone concerned with development studies in Africa and its diaspora, as it offers plausible solutions to Africa's chronic developmental problems that can only be provided from within Africa, rather than through the intervention of external third parties. As such, it provides vital contributions to the ongoing search for viable answers to the challenges that Africa faces today.

Author : Nyoni, Bednicho
Publisher : University of Bamberg Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9783863096649

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Abundant Life and Basic Needs by Nyoni, Bednicho Pdf

"Western neglecting traditional religion is an important factor for the failure of many developmental strategies towards Africa. Therefore, religion(s) of the indigenous peoples must be given the neccesary attention. The book presents the example of the Shona religion playing a critical role in the life of the Zimbabweans. If incorporated, it will contribute to the better success of development initiatives." --back cover

Author : Toyin Falola,Matthew M. Heaton
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 576 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Africa, Sub-Saharan
ISBN : UOM:39015076125544

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Health Knowledge and Belief Systems in Africa by Toyin Falola,Matthew M. Heaton Pdf

Health care in sub-Saharan Africa is and will continue to be an issue of utmost importance in the twenty-first century. As the HIV/AIDS pandemic ravages the continent, the stakes heighten not only to provide effective and efficient health care to African communities, but also to disseminate knowledge about health-seeking behavior and to instill belief among people in the possibility of leading a healthy existence. Health Knowledge and Belief Systems in Africa raises questions and offers analysis on many issues related to how health and illness are understood by communities in Africa, as well as how health knowledge and beliefs are disseminated and utilized to provide health services to African populations. The chapters in this book derive from many different disciplinary approaches and cover regions across sub-Saharan Africa, thus offering a holistic glimpse at the knowledge and belief systems functioning in Africa and the ways that these systems contribute to health care access and delivery in the world's most endangered continent. "This edited book of thirty-three chapters is an impressive update of scholarship on health concerns in Africa, as the new century begins. Divided into five parts, it presents multidisciplinary analyses from the perspectives of individuals, professionals, non-profit organizations, communities, and governments... This is a volume that has much to offer anyone interested in Africa's evolving health care system." -- The International Journal of African Historical Studies

Author : Tenson M. Muyambo,Anniegrace M. Hlatywayo,Pindai M. Sithole,Munyaradzi Mawere
Publisher : African Books Collective
Page : 457 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2022-01-13
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789956553693

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Re-imagining Indigenous Knowledge and Practices in 21st Century Africa by Tenson M. Muyambo,Anniegrace M. Hlatywayo,Pindai M. Sithole,Munyaradzi Mawere Pdf

This book is on the re-imagination of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and practices in 21st century Africa. Framed from an anti-colonial perspective, the book critically interrogates epistemological erasures and injustices meted against African IKS and practices. It magnifies the different contexts where African IKS were and continue to be used effectively for collective and personal benefit. Beyond the legitimate frustration and disheartenment expressed by the contributors to this volume over the systematic colonial efforts to render inferior and delegitimate African systems of knowing and knowledge production, the book makes an important contribution to the quest to correct misconceptions and misrepresentations by Eurocentric thinkers and practitioners about African indigenous knowledges. The book makes an informed claim that the future and vibrancy of African indigenous knowledge and practices lie in how well scholars of knowledge studies and decoloniality in and on Africa are able to join hands in articulating, debating and fronting their vitality and relevance in varied real-life situations. More importantly, the book provides a re-invigorated overview and nuanced analyses of the important role and continued relevance of African IKS and practices in the understanding, interpreting and tackling of the social unfoldings of everyday life and dynamism. Without romanticising African IKS and practices, the book provides added insights and pointers on policy and trends. It is an important addition to critical debates on knowledge studies across fields.

Author : Michael C. Kirwen
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Africa
ISBN : IND:30000107653978

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African Cultural Knowledge by Michael C. Kirwen Pdf

"Based on field research data collected and analyzed over the past seventeen years, the Maryknoll Institute of African Studies has categorized cultural knowledge into fifteen themes and thirty-five domains. The themes are the major values, symbols and ideas that bring wholeness and coherence to a culture. The themes explain the nature of life, the nature of creation, the nature of evil, etc. Underneath and within these themes are thirty-five cultural domains, that is, specific activities, rituals, attitudes and happenings that make up the ordinary events in the lives of human beings, from birth to death and beyond ... The book is divided into fifteen chapters, one for each foundational theme"--Intro., p. [1].

Author : Mawere, Munyaradzi,Awuah-Nyamekye, Samuel
Publisher : Langaa RPCIG
Page : 330 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2015-04-02
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789956792696

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Between Rhetoric and Reality by Mawere, Munyaradzi,Awuah-Nyamekye, Samuel Pdf

Since time immemorial, indigenous peoples around the world have developed knowledge systems to ensure their continued survival in their respective territories. These knowledge systems have always been dynamic such that they could meet new challenges. Yet, since the so-called enlightenment period, these knowledges have been supplanted by the Western enlightenment science or colonial science hegemony and arrogance such that in many cases they were relegated to the periphery. Some Euro-centric scholars even viewed indigenous knowledge as superstitious, irrational and anti-development. This erroneous view has, since the colonial period, spread like veld fire to the extent of being internalised by some political elites and Euro-centric academics of Africa and elsewhere. However, for some time now, the potential role that indigenous peoples and their knowledge can play in addressing some of the global problems haunting humanity across the world is increasingly emerging as part of international discourse. This book presents an interesting and insightful discourse on the state and role that indigenous knowledge can play in addressing a tapestry of problems of the world and the challenges connected with the application of indigenous knowledge in enlightenment science-dominated contexts. The book is not only useful to academics and students in the fields of indigenous studies and anthropology, but also those in other fields such as environmental science, social and political ecology, development studies, policy studies, economic history, and African studies.

Author : Catherine Alum Odora Hoppers
Publisher : New Africa Books
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : Law
ISBN : 1919876588

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Indigenous Knowledge and the Integration of Knowledge Systems by Catherine Alum Odora Hoppers Pdf

This book explores the role of the social and natural sciences in supporting the development of indigenous knowledge systems. It looks at how indigenous knowledge systems can impact on the transformation of knowledge generating institutions such as scientific and higher education institutions on the one hand, and the policy domain on the other.

Author : Jamaine M. Abidogun,Toyin Falola
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 829 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2020-06-02
Category : Education
ISBN : 9783030382773

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The Palgrave Handbook of African Education and Indigenous Knowledge by Jamaine M. Abidogun,Toyin Falola Pdf

This handbook explores the evolution of African education in historical perspectives as well as the development within its three systems–Indigenous, Islamic, and Western education models—and how African societies have maintained and changed their approaches to education within and across these systems. African education continues to find itself at once preserving its knowledge, while integrating Islamic and Western aspects in order to compete within this global reality. Contributors take up issues and themes of the positioning, resistance, accommodation, and transformations of indigenous education in relationship to the introduction of Islamic and later Western education. Issues and themes raised acknowledge the contemporary development and positioning of indigenous education within African societies and provide understanding of how indigenous education works within individual societies and national frameworks as an essential part of African contemporary society.

Author : Mawere, Munyaradzi,Awuah-Nyamekye, Samuel
Publisher : Langaa RPCIG
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2015-06-20
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789956762507

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Harnessing Cultural Capital for Sustainability by Mawere, Munyaradzi,Awuah-Nyamekye, Samuel Pdf

This book argues that the basic component of any society's social security and sustainability is cultural capital and its ability to fully recognise diversity in knowledge production and advancement. However, with regard to African societies, since the dawn of racial slavery and colonialism, cultural capital ñ indigenous knowledge in particular ñ has iniquitously and acrimoniously suffered marginalisation and pejorative ragtags. Increasingly since the 1990s, cultural capital informed by African knowledge systems has taken central stage in discussions of sustainability and development. This is not unrelated with the recognition by America and Europe in particular of the central role that cultural capital could and should assume in the logic of development and sustainability at a global level. Unfortunately, action has often failed to match words with regard to the situation in Africa. The current book seeks to make a difference by exploring the role that African cultural capital could and should assume to guarantee development and sustainability on the continent and globally. It argues that lofty pan-African ideals of collective self-reliance, self-sustaining development and economic growth would come to naught unless determined and decisive steps are taken towards full recognition of indigenous cultural capital on the continent.