Culture, Indigenous Knowledge and Development in Africa: Reviving Interconnections for Sustainable Development

Chapter 2. Culture, indigenous knowledge and development in Africa since colonialism: The silenced narrative

23 Chapter 2 Culture, indigenous knowledge and development in Africa since colonialism: The silenced narrative Culture contains indigenous knowledge of a people: it is the springboard of all humanity. Yet in Africa, culture has been despised by European settlers and missionaries for a long time now. This has been perpetuated by Euro-centric scholars. Yet, it is now generally agreed by many African scholars (and other critical scholars beyond the African boundaries) that with the advent of colonialism in Africa, the African cultures and indigenous knowledges were unjustifiably and unfairly despised and relegated as superstitious, primitive, illegitimate, irrational and unscientific. Shizha (2013: 4), makes a similar point when he argues that “African culture has been invaded by Western belief systems, ways of knowing, and ways of experiencing the world thus reinforcing the colonisation of African indigenous knowledges”. And as Franzt Fanon (1967: 217) reminds us, “the lack of culture of the Negroes, as proclaimed by colonialism ought logically to lead to the exaltation of cultural manifestations which are not simply national but continental, and extremely racial”. Now, given that development of any society largely depends on the culture and indigenous knowledges imbedded therein, the development hopes of Africa were apparently shattered prompting scholars such as Walter Rodney to publish his famous book: “How Europe underdeveloped Africa”. It is this African story which I describe in this book as the silenced narrative: a narrative that was silenced by the European 24 hegemonic colonialists and continues to experience the same through works of Euro-centric scholars and neo-imperialists. Before interrogating this silenced narrative, let us explore how African cultures and indigenous knowledges were traditionally known to be like before colonial administration sets roots in Africa. Background to the African cultures and IKs before colonialism: Why culture and IKs matter? The worldview of any group of people is shaped by their culture and knowledge systems embedded therein. So is development. This understanding helps readers to appreciate that as long as Africa had its own culture before its contact with Europe, the latter had its own knowledge systems that helped to shape and promote its own civilisations and development, be it economic, social, or political. This, however, should not be interpreted to mean that African cultures were and are homogeneous except that they share, among themselves, a lot in common than they do with Western cultures. Conception of ubuntu – a philosophy of humanness that embrace unity, love and peace –, for example, is pervasive and ubiquitous in many African cultures, from the southern to the northern and from the eastern to the western parts of the continent. As Ikuenobe (1999) reminds us, while there are many cultures existent in Africa, it is of uttermost importance to note that whenever a ‘thought’ or ‘tradition’ is predicated of Africa it does not connote homogeneity of cultures though similarities and convergences can be noted across these cultures. Instead, it is only making reference to dominant themes on the continent in terms of common generative themes across [African] 25 cultures. It is in view of this understanding that, in this book, I talk of African culture(s). Granted, African cultures, indigenous knowledge and technologies before colonialism were not as diluted as they are today though they shared (or exchanged) with each other among themselves. This means that while there were differences between different groups of people or cultures, there were also many similarities between cultures across Africa. I confirm, for example, that there are inherent similarities between Bantu groups such as the Xhosa and Zulu of South Africa, the Ndau and Tsonga of Mozambique, the Shona and Ndebele of Zimbabwe, the Tswana of Botswana, and what Father Placide Tempels (1945), a Belgian missionary, noted about the Shaba Baluba of Congo in west Africa. Just to show the parallels between the aforementioned Bantu groups and the Shaba Baluba of West Africa, both talk of their spirit (mweya in Shona and Ndau of Zimbabwe and Mozambique) being happy, troubled, and low or having their spirit revived which is similar to what Tempels captures as force vitale, that is, vital force or soul. Also, important to note is that both the people of West Africa and sub-Saharan Africa had (and continue to have) their indigenous knowledges imbedded in their respective cultures. These knowledges were basically transmitted or passed on from one generation to the other through oral tradition, rites, ceremonies, and other such practices. Through these knowledges, innovations...