African Indigenous Education

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of African Indigenous knowledge and its centrality in transforming education. A discussion of African Indigenous knowledge (IK) as an educational project does not take place in a vacuum but rather within the context of a history of colonialism, imperialism, neo-colonial, post-colonial, and anti-colonial discursive frameworks. In this discussion, I acknowledge the ethnic and cultural diversity and the historical contingencies and specificities of African peoples. Often misrepresented, seldom understood, and frequently ignored, the land mass of 12 million square miles or 31 million square kilometers is one of the largest continents on planet Earth. Its peoples, comprising many hundred ethnic groups, speak more than 2000 languages and regional varieties of a language or dialect. One major conclusion of this work is the need to acknowledge and recognize the multiple and collective origins of knowledge. My research indicates that this conversation is critical, as it impacts on the forms of knowledge, which are legitimated within the academy. Therefore, for any meaningful learning and teaching to take place, it is necessary for educators to rethink or reimagine how indigeneity may be infused within the Eurocentric curriculum.