East Africa and indigenous knowledge: Its nature, contents, aims, contemporary structures, and vitality

Abstract

This chapter is about East Africa and Indigenous education. The purpose of this work is to examine the position Indigenous education thought patterns, praxis, and philosophies occupy within contemporary education and knowledge structures in East Africa. The unceasing battles of Indigenous education and knowledge against contemporary education systems are important parts of this chapter’s contents. It attempts to answer the questions: What is the vitality of East African Indigenous education in the contemporary education system? If Indigenous education continues to endure the modern challenges of formal education, what are its contemporary structures? To answer the above questions contents of this chapter are presented as follows as pertains to East African education: working definition of Indigenous education; nature of Indigenous education; aims and objectives; methods used in teaching and learning processes; curriculum contents; and the importance of Indigenous education in contemporary East African societies. The cross-cutting concern is to show how contemporary structures of Indigenous education in East African societies fit or struggle to fit within the modern education thought or philosophy and praxis. Methodologies the researcher used included primary and secondary sources. Primary sources were focus group discussion, oral and written questionnaires and interviews, participant observation, and telephone interviews. Secondary sources were used to provide a foundation for the study and to support analysis and findings. References were made to Jopadhola, Maasai, Acholi, Kikuyu, Bahima, Baganda, and Chagga societies in East Africa. This is important because the nature of Indigenous education, its aims, contents, purpose, and methods tend to vary among sedentary and pastoral communities. The goal of critical discussion of these findings was to expose the mutual collaborations, confluence, and contradictions found among the Indigenous education and contemporary systems under the focus of this study.