Abstract
The debate on African Indigenous knowledge systems and their link with African cultural practices and belief systems has elicited serious debates. The colonial administrators and their Christian missionary associates viewed African traditional or Indigenous knowledge and educational systems as unscientific, illogical, anti-development, and ungodly. This jaundiced view of African knowledge systems must have informed the apparent neglect of research on African education and cultural belief systems. This is in spite of the fact that the 1997 Global Knowledge Conference in Toronto, Canada, urged people to urgently learn, preserve, and exchange Indigenous knowledge. In Africa, Indigenous education is culture based on the methods and means of instruction used by different societies to impart their values and mores with the aim of attaining their societal/culturally specific visions, goals, and aspirations. For the Igbo, the latter statement is very true as evident in some of the proverbs, witticisms, aphorisms, and adages about education and culture. These bodies of knowledge emphasize conscious and refined methods of acquisition, and dissemination of knowledge of societal values, philosophy, and hermeneutics. Given these merits, it would be germane for serious scholarly research to be conducted among the Igbo, who of all in current context appear to be more “Catholic than the Pope” among other ethnic groups of equal standing in Africa. Anchored on the qualitative method of research, and field investigations, the present study intends to interrogate the nexus between cultural practices, belief systems, and education in traditional African society using Igboland as a case study. Questions to be addressed include but are not limited to, how was knowledge transmitted in preliterate Igbo societies, are those strategies still relevant, if not what are the options available? If relevant, how do we incorporate them to suit present realities?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Afigbo, Adiele E. 1981. Ropes of Sand: Studies in Igbo Peoples and Culture. Ibadan: Oxford University Press.
Asaju, K. 2015. “Effective Educational Management: A Trend in the Nigerian Educational System.” Journal of Liberal Studies 16 (1 & 2): 133–144.
Asonye, F. 2013. “UNESCO Prediction of the Igbo Language Death: Facts and Fables.” Journal of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria 16 (1 & 2): 91–98. http://www.academix.ng/documents/papers/1463491669_1870.pdf.
Bussia, K. A. 1964. Purposeful Education for Africa. The Hague, The Netherlands: Monton & Co.
Chinweizu, 1978. The West and the Rest of Us. Lagos: Nok Publisher.
Chumbow, B. S. 1990. “The Place of the Mother Tongue in the National Policy on Education.” In Multilingualism, Minority Language and Language Policy in Nigeria, edited by E. N. Emenanjo, 61–72. Agbor: Central Books.
Ezedike, E. U. 2009. “The Individual in an African Communal Universe.” In From Footprints to Landmarks on African Philosophy. 2 ed., edited by A. F. Uduigwomen and Emele Mba Uka, 246–280. Calabar, Nigeria: Obaroh & Ogbinaka Publishers.
Fafunwa, A. Babs. 1974. History of Education in Nigeria. Ibadan: NPS Educational Publishers.
Faloyan, O. 1986. “Education and Manpower Planning in Nigeria.” In Manpower Development and Utilization in Nigeria: Problems and Policies, edited by O. Faloyan, A. Adeyemo, and F. Tayo, 73–98. Lagos: Lagos University Press.
Igwe, S. O. 1987. Education in Eastern Nigeria, 1847–1975: Development and Management (Church, State and Community). Ibadan, Nigeria: Evans Brothers.
Monye, Ambrose A. 1995. “The Use of Proverbs in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame.” Proverbium 12: 251–261.
Nasidi, A. A., and A. Iliya. 2016. “The Contribution of Scholars to the Development of Islamic Education in Nigeria: A Kaleidoscopic View of Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmud Adam in Kano, 1988– 2007.” Nsukka Journal of History 3: 59–70.
Njoku, O. N. 1989. “Agbaja Udi: Unsung Pioneers of Traditional Iron Working in Igboland.” Nsukka Journal of History 1 (1): 28–43.
Nwala, T. U. 2010. Igbo Philosophy: The Philosophy of the Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria. 2 ed. New York: Triatlantic Books.
Nwankwo, I. U. 2015. “Governance and Associated Social Roles of Masquerade Among the Igbo of Southeast Nigeria in an Era of Globalisation: A Critical Appraisal.” Mgbakoigba: Journal of African Studies 4: 1–12. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/mjas/article/download/118509/108038.
O’Connor, D. J. 1957. An Introduction to Philosophy of Education. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Okoro, S. I. 2016. “The Igbo and Western Education in Nigeria, 1900–2010.” In Studies in Igbo History, edited by Dan Chukwu, Sylvanus I. Okoro, Egodi Uchendu, and Justin G. Nkem-Onyekpe. Enugu: Nolik Educational Publications Nigeria.
Onah, Oliver, Hyginus Ezebuilo, and Theodora Ojiakor. 2016. “The Place of the Individual in the Traditional African Society: A Philosophical Appraisal.” International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Review 6 (3): 225–229.
Onumajuru, E. M. 2017. “The Role of Mother Tongue in Education: The Nigerian Example.” MỤRỤAKỌ: Journal of Igbo Language and Culture 1: 97–108.
Onwuka, U. 1992. “Indigenous African Education and Its Humanistic Functions.” In African Humanities, edited by J. O. Ijoma, 179–195. Awka: Mekslink Publishers.
Opata, C. C., and A. A. Apeh. 2012a. “Monuments as Evidence of Indigenous Knowledge in Africa: An Inquiry into Dunoka, Lejja Traditional Economy.” Ikenga: International Journal of the Institute of African Studies 12 (2): 32–45.
Opata, C. C., and A. A. Apeh. 2012b. “Proverbs as Knowledge Bearers: Towards a Reconstruction of the Knowledge of Traditional Medicine Among Preliterate Igbo Society of Nigeria.” Asian Journal of Natural & Applied Sciences 1 (2): 59–63.
Ozota, Osmond. April 25, 2018. Interview with Author. Linage head of Umuoyeru, Umuoda-Eze village, Lejja and expert in teaching young ones the game, age 73, at Maduja Njogo’s compound, Umungwoke quarters, Lejja, Nigeria.
Ranson, K. A. 1983. “Divination.” In Academic American Encyclopaedia, 202. USA: Grolier.
Ukaegbu, N. F. 2006. “Igbo Aesthetics: The Case of Proverbs as Key to Igbo Worldview and Culture.” Journal of Igbo Studies 1: 164–167.
Ukeje, B. O. 1966. Education and Social Reconstruction. Lagos, Nigeria: Macmillan and Company.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Opata, C.C. (2020). African Education and Cultural Belief Systems: Extrapolations from Igboland, Nigeria. In: Abidogun, J., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Education and Indigenous Knowledge. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38277-3_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38277-3_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-38276-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-38277-3
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)