What role does Indigenous knowledge play in the lives of contemporary Africans? To investigate this question, we visited three communities in Ghana—rural, peri-urban, and urban—where we interviewed community members involved in communal education. Contrary to the literature on the decline of Indigenous knowledge, we find that Indigenous knowledge, practices, and institutions are resilient across all contexts. Traditional leaders continue to play a significant role as stewards of Indigenous knowledge despite the impact of colonization, rural–urban migration, and globalization. However, Indigenous knowledge does not exist in a vacuum. It coexists and competes with many knowledge systems, inculcating in Africans multiple identities and consciousness. We discuss the implication of our findings and explain why there is a need for Africans to better integrate their multiple consciousnesses and different lived realities.
African traditional education and soka approaches to education share a common vision of human education, which is key to transforming the education crisis facing Africa. We make this case in four steps. First, we explore the history of education in Africa to illustrate the roots of the crisis. Second, we introduce soka approaches to education, its history, and fundamental principles. Third, we analyze the convergence of African traditional education and soka approaches to education in terms of their underlying philosophies. Fourth, we investigate possible applications of both philosophies to improve schooling in Africa. The last section outlines how harnessing the insights of both philosophies will engender an African renaissance based on young people striving to live creative and contributive lives.
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