Psychology Brewed in an African Pot: Indigenous Philosophies and the Quest for Relevance

Abstract

Higher education has often been targeted for criticism with regard to its lack of relevance when seeking to address the harsh realities of poor health, poverty and conflict in African countries. African universities have been seen as producing Western-influenced graduates who become an elite out of touch with their own indigenous worldview. In order to maintain the connection between higher education in Africa and the African worldview and philosophy, thus enhancing the relevance of university education, this paper argues that there is a need to promote the revisiting of our African identities in the courses on offer. By way of illustration, the paper examines an aspect of medical tertiary education at the University of Malawi, College of Medicine: in particular, how the course entitled ‘Social and Behavioral Dynamics’ has evolved over the past 10 years in an effort to embrace an African worldview and philosophy in the undergraduate medical program, with the goal of producing graduates sensitized to the worldviews of the indigenous populations they will serve, and able to enrich the global context by bringing to it uniquely African perspectives.