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Hawks and baby chickens: cultivating the sources of indigenous science education

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Kome ya ke cikin aikin ɗan tsako, shaho ya daɗe da saninshi.

(Hausa proverb: Niger/Nigeria)

Whatever concerns the habits of baby chickens, you can be sure the hawk learned it long ago.

Abstract

In this response to Hewson and Ogunniyi’s paper on indigenous knowledge (IK) and science teaching in South Africa, I seek to broaden the debate by setting the enterprise of integrating IK into science education in its cultural and socio-political context. I begin by exploring the multiple meanings of indigenous knowledge in Africa, next consider the sources available for accurately apprehending those different varieties of IK and then raise three issues of procedure that the Hewson and Ogunniyi approach seems largely to overlook: the varying meanings and styles of argumentation in African culture; the relevance of more participatory and discovery-based modes of inquiry to their topic; and the critical importance of grasping the socio-political terrain on which IK must operate. I conclude that, while their initiative opens valuable new paths of inquiry and practice, the proposed methodology would benefit from more solid grounding in discovery learning, African styles of debate and a clear mapping of stakes and stakeholders.

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Notes

  1. The importance of collective decision-making is highlighted in another highly elliptical Hausa proverb that echoes this procedure for debate: Shawara ɗaukar ɗaki.—“[Making a] decision is like grappling [the heavy conical thatch roofing that must be posed on the circular adobe walls to construct] a hut.” It can only be handled if everyone bends down together and lifts at the same time.

  2. It is also, as things go, the name chosen for a computer operating system and a popular cola drink.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-4452, USA

    Peter B. Easton

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  1. Peter B. Easton
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Correspondence to Peter B. Easton.

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This review essay addresses issues raised in Mariana Hewson’s and Meschach Ogunniyi’s paper entitled: Argumentation-teaching as a method to introduce indigenous knowledge into science classrooms: opportunities and challenges, doi:10.1007/s11422-010-9303-5.

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Easton, P.B. Hawks and baby chickens: cultivating the sources of indigenous science education. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 6, 705–717 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-011-9344-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-011-9344-4

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