Towards Decolonizing African Development: The Place of Indigenous Knowledge

Geoffrey Nwaka
Abia State Universith, Uturu, Nigeria

Abstract

Short Abstract: The science and practice of development in Africa should integrate the traditional knowledge of local communities in the continent. Researchers and policy makers need to tap into the time-tested resource of indigenous knowledge in order to formulate locally appropriate policies and programs for development. Long Abstract: Global inequalities today derive largely from the unequal power relations in the way knowledge about development has historically been produced and applied. For a long time African knowledge systems were undervalued because of the dominance of eurocentric mindsets and ways of doing things. As a result, the current pattern of development in the continent looks like building a house from the roof down, as all the institutions of modernization appear to be suspended over societies that have no firm connection to them. Mamadou Dia of the World Bank blames state failure and the development crisis in Africa on “the structural disconnection between formal institutions transplanted from outside and indigenous institutions born of traditional African cultures”; and Marshall Sahlins has emphasized the need for all peoples “to indigenize the forces of global modernity, and turn them to their own ends”, as the real impact of globalization depends largely on the responses developed at the local level. How can Africa engage with globalization and modernization, and address the continent’s many development challenges by drawing on local human and material resources for greater self-reliance and sustainable development? We argue that Africa should search within its own knowledge systems for appropriate ideas and approaches to many of its development problems. We recognize that with growing global interdependence, Africa stands to gain from global science and international best practices, and that indigenous knowledge and global science should be made to complement and enrich each other. But the paper stresses that researchers, policy makers and practitioners should recognize the historical fact of epistemic diversity and injustice; appreciate the value of different knowledge systems, and tap into the vital resource of indigenous/local knowledge for locally appropriate ways to achieve more inclusive, participatory and sustainable development.

Presentation