Epistemicide, epistemic deficit, sterile leadership and the Vicious Cycle of Africana Underdevelopment

By all the measuring standards of development, it seems clear that Africana societies have been victims of declines in social, economic, political and other forms of developmental capital over the last five decades. Asia, the Far East, Latin America (Brazil) and China have witnessed remarkable economic gains, appreciation in the quality of life and even political advancement. But on average, Africa and black dominated societies have witnessed declines in standard of living, quality of life and positive life realization expectations. What is responsible for this? I look at the works of Rodney, Fanon, Mazrui, CLR James and others, to provide tropes for accounting for the debilitating topologies of Africana socio-economic underdevelopment. I posit that the consequences of the epistemicide that was foisted on Africana intellect during plantation slavery and colonization cannot be absolved, but even more pernicious has been the leadership epistemic deficit that pervades various strata of Africana intellectual landscape, manifesting in sterile, retarded and debilitating leadership cadre. I argue that deliberate efforts must be made to recapture Africana epistemic confidence, develop intellectual capital and engender cohesive Africana commitment to corporate existence, which will translate into social, economic, infrastructural, political, cultural enrichment and development of Africana societies. I close by painting intellectual pragmatist scenarios of consequences of not doing this, and consequences of undertaking the efforts prescribed here

Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Education and Africa: the Challenge of Epistemicide and Excentric Educational System and Practice

Abstract Africa is blessed with an abundance of resources – human, natural and spiritual. The resources abound under the earth, above the earth and also in the human population. The variegated geography and climate ensures there is a floral and fauna variety which constitute a template on which Africans have traditionally survived and thrived to create civilizations and cultures. However, with the visitation of colonialism, slavery, cemented through concerted epistemicide, the resources of Africa – human and natural – were expropriated, appropriated and vandalized. A form of vandalism, destruction, denial and capturing of all spaces of being and existence of Africa and Africans took place over hundreds of years. It was this which denuded the African material and intellectual spaces of intrinsic validity. The effect has been the loss of indigenous knowledge systems to Africa and Africans who were the original creators and users of these. As we enter into a new phase of wealth creation and management, it is significant that knowledge, as knowledge for knowing sake and for doing and controlling reality, now looms large in the determination of prosperity of nations and societies. Countries with little or no natural resources have grown into international dominance and prosperity through the development of knowledge societies. It is argued in this paper that Africa and the African Diaspora has a duty to posterity to research, document and develop the indigenous knowledge systems as the foundations for sustainable wealth for global Africa and Africans. Keywords: Indigenous, knowledge, epistemicide, agriculture, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, architecture, toxicology, technology, health, educatio

Barry Chevannes, Myalism, Revivalism, Rastafari and Leadership

Abstract Humans have only been able to survive in association with other humans. For this reason, society has been the only logical, practical and pragmatic arrangement in which such survival has been maximally realized, both for the self in terms of the basic necessities and, where the former have been achieved, other luxuries of life; and for the group as communes for the clearest definition, realization and appreciation of worthwhile modes of existence and interaction. This is a basic datum of human existence which is incontrovertible, even by the most cynical conception of human existence in the form of extreme individualism and libertarianism championed, by the advocates of social contract such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Bewaji 1999). The next statement boldly posited in this discussion is this: Human societies have been able to develop socially, culturally, economically, technologically, scientifically, spiritually, aesthetically and make progress, or they have fallen into decay, dysfunction and committed communal and corporate suicide as a consequence of the kinds of leadership and leadership education that the societies have had. To this end, it is affirmed that the decisions that leadership makes determines the fortunes of society as a group and of individuals as atomic members of society. These are the banal hypotheses that guide this discussion. And they are banal hypotheses that have implications that a single disciplinary investigation cannot fully sustain, because they have so many ramifications that require multidisciplinary approaches for proper elucidation and harnessing. But they are ones that have become very persuasive to me, given my humble familiarity with some of the various elements of the academe and how they have studied societies and commented on human existence. In this discussion, therefore, I examine how Barry Chevannes’ research has evidenced these hypotheses, given the fact that he straddles so many disciplines (philosophy, sociology, anthropology and religion) which help us to focus attention on various elements of the social sciences. I am of the considered view that his signal research and life devotion to the Rastafarian and sibling religions of Jamaica, on the one hand, and his advocacy on matters of social issues such as fatherhood, children rights, gender justice, poverty eradication, etc., on the other hand, in Jamaica, clearly show these hypotheses as valid means of gaining a perspective to understand the implications of his research for leadership in Jamaica, the Caribbean and in Black societies generally. I argue then that the works of Barrington Chevannes, who is being celebrated here now (just like the seminal works of Rex Nettleford and Orlando Patterson, who are living intellectual legends and icons of knowledge and culture, in my judgment), all show this critical nature of leadership to and in human society. I concentrate the searchlight on Rastafarianism and kindred Jamaican religio-cultural and intellectual ideas treated by Chevannes here for practical reasons. Scratching the surface is all that can be done here, but just scratching the surface clearly show that the challenges that Rastafarians, Rastafarianism, Jamaica and, in deed, blacks universally, have faced and are facing, are directly and indirectly traceable to the paucity of leadership

Caribbean Society – toward a culturally sensitive Philosophy of Education in the 21st Century

Abstract Having claimed immunity from all possible errors of omission and commission, real and imaginary, I will now proceed to the task on hand – attempting to see if one can determine a “Philosophy of Education suitable for the Caribbean in the 21st Century” and beyond. My discussion will be in three sections. In section 1, I look at education and society. In section 2, I look at Caribbean society, using my very limited understanding, and the need for a culturally, socially, economically, technologically sensitive and comprehensively humanizing educational system. In Section 3, I examine the place of philosophy and philosophy of education in the dynamics of international system within which the Caribbean society must exist, survive and thrive. I conclude my discussion with some remarks about implications of the ideas we have raised, and how these must bear on our reflections, behaviour and attitude to reality and existence