The Struggle of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems in an Age of Globalization: A Case for Children�s Traditional Games in S

Chapter One: Beneath African Traditional Culture

1 Chapter One Beneath African Traditional Culture After many years of contact with the Shona people of Southeastern Zimbabwe, the Swazi of Swaziland, the Tswana of Botswana, the Basotho of Lesotho, the Changani of south Mozambique, the Ndau of central Mozambique, the Zulu and Xhosa of South Africa, there are many things I shall always remember especially in their moral and spiritual living. The culture of these people as with those of other many Africans I am familiar with (through reading and contact), emphasize beliefs and values which are often deeply rooted in a group’s history, customs and traditions. Their culture include the custom of people including language and religion.1 In fact while ‘Europe is rich in material culture, Africa is rich in its moral and spiritual living, for its people believe in a way of life that provide their individual with peace.’2 Morality and spirituality are therefore an African people’s way of life - it is their culture. Hollins cited in Antony views culture as a man’s medium when he asserts that: There is not one aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture. This means personality, how people express themselves (including shows of emotion), the way they think, how they move, how problems are solved….. Culture is …the essence of who we are and how we exist in the world. It is derived from understandings acquired by people through experience and observation…about how to interact with the physical environment and knowledge or beliefs about their relationships or positions within the universe.3 2 A critical reflection on Hollins’ definition of culture above shows that culture has tremendous effects on how a group of people live, think, learn and solve problems in their daily lives. Taking an example of the African culture, this entails that the culture of the African people always have an influence on how they live with others, think of themselves and about the world around them, learn and solve problems that befall them. While I can safely say this characteristic is pervasive in the Africans of the places I have mentioned earlier in this section, this quality is not peculiar to them alone but to other African cultures as well. This aspect seems to be a result of the way Africans mingle with nature. Africans naturally love their nature and everything around them so long they are at peace with them. Elsewhere, I neatly captured this aspect of the African people and culture when I say: African traditional culture originates from the interaction of the Africans with nature and everything around them. One more thing to note is that beneath the African traditional culture is the African traditional religion which in itself inspires African philosophy. The trio (African traditional religion, African traditional culture and African philosophy) are closely intertwined.4 From this understanding of Africans and their traditional culture, it can be noted that the latter is a system in itself. The logical qualification of African traditional culture as a ‘system’ is a result of its network of relations and processes with different components, such as knowledge, belief, religion, technology and even metaphysics. For example, a close examination of the relationship of the trio (African traditional religion, African traditional culture and African philosophy) with each other shows that they are all interconnected through the ‘umbilical cord’ of metaphysics. In general terms, 3 metaphysics deals with first principles and seeks to explain the nature of ‘being’, reality and ontology or existence. Taking into consideration that many religions, African traditional religions included, deal with explanations and beliefs about reality and ontology, religions qualify as metaphysics. That said, religious issues such as beliefs are considered metaphysical, but of course, as religious metaphysics, hence the relationship between African traditional culture, African traditional religion and African philosophy. By the latter I simply mean Africans’ way of life. The epoxy resin between African traditional religions, culture and philosophy is supported by John Mbiti’s observation that ‘Africans are notoriously religious and religion is part and parcel of the African heritage which goes back many thousands of years’.5 If one is to critically analyse the above assertion by Mbiti s/he can notice that it suggests Africans are notoriously metaphysical though not in a purely philosophical sense of spectators and speculators, but as practitioners. No wonder why traditionalists in the African continent, especially the black Africans are opposed to globalization...