JHEA/RESA Vol. 19, No. 2, 2021, pp.

107-125
© Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, 2022
(ISSN 0851–7762)

African Culture and the Quest for

Sustainable and Improved
Indigenous Knowledge Production:
Nigeria and South Africa in Perspective

Harrison Adewale Idowu*

Abstract

Culture is the way of life of a people. But Western culture has deprived
Africa of most of its cultural practices and values. The jettisoning of the
African way of life for a Western one has affected indigenous knowledge
production. Beaming the light on South Africa and Nigeria, this article
interrogates the impact of culture/African ways of knowing on indigenous
knowledge production in Africa, and unravels how much Africa has been
able to incorporate its culture in knowledge production systems amid
the penetration and preponderance of alien culture. It relies on historical
perspective and document analysis. The article finds that African ways of
knowing have been largely eroded in Nigeria, and that South Africa fares
better but still faces some challenges. This has negatively affected the quest for
sustained and improved indigenous knowledge production, vis-à-vis finding
lasting solutions to the peculiar political, economic and social problems in
these countries. It concludes that if Nigeria and South Africa, and indeed
the African continent, are to attain sustainable and improved indigenous
knowledge production, they must preserve African ways of knowing, without
which indigenous knowledge production will remain in the abyss.

Résumé

La culture est le mode de vie d’un peuple. Mais la culture occidentale a privé
l’Afrique de la plupart de ses pratiques et valeurs culturelles. L’abandon du
mode de vie africain pour un mode de vie occidental a affecté la production de
connaissances indigènes. Mettant la lumière sur l’Afrique du Sud et le Nigéria,

* Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko; and Obafemi Awolowo University,

Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Email: idowuadewale88@[Link]
108 JHEA/RESA Vol. 19, No. 2, 2021

cet article interroge l’impact de la culture/modes de connaissance africains sur

la production de connaissances indigènes en Afrique, et révèle à quel point
l’Afrique a intégré sa culture dans les systèmes de production de connaissances
dans un contexte de pénétration et de prépondérance de cultures étrangères.
L’article s’appuie sur la perspective historique et l’analyse de documents. Il
constate des modes de connaissance africains largement érodés au Nigeria,
quand l’Afrique du Sud s’en sort mieux mais reste confrontée à des défis. Cela a
eu un impact négatif sur la recherche d’une production durable et améliorée de
connaissances endogènes, ainsi que sur la recherche de solutions durables aux
problèmes politiques, économiques et sociaux spécifiques à ces pays. L’article
conclut que si le Nigeria et l’Afrique du Sud, et même le continent africain,
veulent parvenir à une production de connaissances endogènes durable et
améliorée, ils doivent préserver les modes de connaissance africains, sans
lesquels la production de connaissances autochtones restera dans les abîmes.

Introduction
Culture as the way of life of a people depicts how a certain people within a
geographical location behave and react to both indigenous and global issues.
Hofstede (1984:21) defines culture as ‘the collective programming of the mind
which distinguishes the members of one human group from another.’ Cultural
experiences differ across the globe and are rarely exactly the same in any two
geographical locations, hence the notion that culture is unique. African cultural
experiences differ significantly from those of the West or Europe. Whereas
the likes of Europe and the ‘Asian Tiger’ states of Hong Kong, Singapore,
South Korea and Taiwan have preserved their cultures and inculcated them
into their knowledge production systems (Idowu 2020), Africans have
largely abandoned their cultural values in pursuit of Western culture which
is alien to the people of the continent. This has a significant effect on the
nature of knowledge produced on the continent. The embrace of Western
culture fosters Westernised ideas/knowledge production and has interrupted
the quest to improve the production of indigenous knowledge in Africa.
Culture is an important tool in the production of indigenous knowledge
(Thaman 2000; Asante 1990). It leads the way to other indigenous matters
of a people. Sadly, colonialism has stripped the continent of most of its
cultural values, and indigenous knowledge production continues to suffer
setbacks in Africa. It does this by replacing African pre-colonial knowledge
systems (learning through proverbs, songs and folklore, local language and
storytelling) with Western systems and Eurocentric curricula. Sustained
and improved indigenous knowledge production is not unachievable in
Africa (Higgs 2010), but it is only possible within the confines of the
continent’s culture.
Idowu: African Culture and Indigenous Knowledge Production 109

Questions continue to arise on what African or indigenous knowledge

entails. Scholars such as Mudimbe (1988), Walker and Hountondji (1985)
and Hountondji (1996) aver that knowledge is indigenous or African when
it originates from Africa, and is promoted by Africans, with the cultural
values embedded in Africa. Knowledge is African or indigenous when it
concerns itself with conceptual and theoretical issues concerning and
underpinning African culture. As Gyekye (1987) rightly says, knowledge
is a cultural phenomenon because it is grounded in cultural experiences.
As such, if a people wants to produce indigenous knowledge peculiar to
them, then such a people must necessarily stick to their culture. From the
foregoing, it is clear that culture and indigenous knowledge production
are intrinsically linked (Thaman 2000; Asante 1990) and as such, must
be taken together. According to Oladipo (1992:24), the challenge with
knowledge production in Africa has to do with ‘the extent to which African
philosophers [knowledge producers and knowledge seekers] have been able
to use whatever intellectual skills they possess to illuminate the various
dimensions of the African predicament’.
Higgs (2010) argues that the problem surrounding the production
of indigenous knowledge in Africa is not one of meeting the criteria for
knowledge being African, but a problem which has to do with the extent to
which African knowledge seekers/producers have been able to direct their
intellect in the struggle and destiny of Africans. What this suggests is that
African scholars, rather than focus attention on African culture and histories
in the quest for knowledge production for the advancement of the continent,
continue to shift their focus towards Western cultures and histories. This
has been to the detriment of African culture and a denial of a sustained and
improved indigenous knowledge production on the continent.
Knowledge production in Africa has been given a Eurocentric outlook,
largely reflecting Western cultures rather than the indigenous cultures of
learners (Agrawal 1995, 2002; Battiste 2002; Cassie 2009). This, largely
hampers the comprehension of learners as a result of cultural gaps between
the Westernised school curricula and those of the cultural environment
which learners are most used to (Abah, Mashebe & Denuga 2015). For
instance, the teaching and/or replacement of local/indigenous languages
with foreign languages like French, German, and English is emblematic of
the Eurocentric curricula now prevalent among African schools. There is no
gainsaying the fact that African indigenous knowledge has been in existence
from long before Western education and cultures were introduced to Africa.
As Thaman (2009) rightly states, the introduction of Western education/
knowledge meant that African learners faced conflicting demands from the
new knowledge and from the culture they had been used to. Rather than
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engage in the production of indigenous knowledge capable of resolving

African political and development crises, Africans have continued to
produce knowledge that is not particularly useful and applicable to the
peculiar challenges besetting the continent.
It is pertinent to interrogate the place of culture in indigenous knowledge
production in Africa, taking Nigeria and South Africa; as case studies.
The article seeks to unravel how much culture influences knowledge
production; how Africa has held onto or strayed from its culture; and how
all of these affect the quest for a sustained and improved production of
‘African indigenous knowledge’. The section following this introduction
provides conceptual clarification for culture, indigenous knowledge
and knowledge production. The subsequent section deals with theories
of decolonisation, while section four examines the state of culture and
indigenous knowledge production in Africa. Sections five and six examine
culture and indigenous knowledge production in Nigeria and South Africa
respectively, while section seven compares the countries’ experiences.
The final two sections present the way forward and concluding remarks.

Conceptualising Culture, Indigenous Knowledge and

Knowledge Production
Culture has been defined as the way of life of a people. It is the values and
norms people share which make it possible for them to live together in the
same community and in a particular way. Obioha (2010:2) defines culture
as ‘the sum total of all things that refer to religion, roots of people, symbols,
languages, songs, stories, celebrations, clothing and dressing, and all
expressions of our way of life’. Hence, culture covers all aspects of our lives,
from religion to politics, technology, and food production. Mimiko and
Afolabi (2012) argue that culture cuts across the processes of production,
distribution, exchange and consumption, and social relations. For Edewor
(2003:195), culture is ‘the way of life of the members of a society, the
collection of ideas and habits which they learn, share and transmit from
generation to generation’. It is worth noting that culture can be learned
and unlearned (Obioha 2010); this explains why people can jettison their
culture over time when they are introduced into another cultural setting.
Culture is intrinsically tied to the capacity/ability for indigenous knowledge
production (Thaman 2000). What this suggests is that once culture has been
punctured and cultural values lost, the prospects of indigenous knowledge
production are diminished. In providing a link between culture and
indigenous knowledge production, Goduka (2000:73) avers that cultural
learning (like learning about the nature of spirit and its relationship with
Idowu: African Culture and Indigenous Knowledge Production 111

the environment and community) paves the way to knowledge about life
itself. The incorporation of culture into knowledge production systems
allows people to learn and make meaning of their everyday lives (Mkabela
2005:181). This suggests that the culture of a people enables them to develop
indigenous knowledge peculiar to their environment and society. McCarthy
(1996:1) succinctly outlines the significant impact of culture on indigenous
knowledge production. According to him, ‘knowledge is best conceived and
studied as culture, and the various types of social knowledges communicate
and signal social meanings – such as meanings about power and pleasure,
beauty and death, goodness and danger. As powerful cultural forms,
knowledges also constitute meanings and create entirely new objects and social
practices’ (McCarthy 1996:1). This demonstrates that indigenous knowledge
production is practically impossible outside the confines of culture.
Furthermore, knowledge produced outside indigenous culture –
that is the everyday life of the people – and built upon external culture
would negatively influence indigenous knowledge production. For Akena
(2012:606), this imposition of external culture is both colonising and
disempowering, and undermines those norms, practices and values that
maintain harmony and morality. This aligns significantly with the position
of Smith (1999:59) that the production of ‘new knowledge’ based on external
culture to replace ‘old knowledge’ based on internal culture of the people is
akin to colonial exploitation. These arguments and positions demonstrate
the significance of culture in indigenous knowledge production.
Inculcating culture into human development approaches has been
found to ensure that learning is based on the everyday experiences of
the indigenous people (Botha 2010), which in turn implies indigenous
knowledge production. Nevertheless, while these various positions on
the important role of culture in indigenous knowledge production are
plausible, Goduka (2000) avers that this does not suggest a return to the
archaic and barbaric traditions of pre-colonial periods, but rather the need
to harness culture for the production of knowledge which is indigenous and
peculiar to the challenges facing the people. This will indeed create space
for combining both African indigenous culture and Western knowledge
systems, a situation which will ensure that African students are better
prepared for the greater world (Kante 2004).
Knowledge can be said to be indigenous when such knowledge is
produced within a certain community or locality, and used in the same
community for its advancement. According to the World Bank:
Indigenous knowledge is unique to a particular culture and society. It is
the basis for local decision making in agriculture, health, natural resources
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management and other activities. Indigenous knowledge is embedded in

community practices, institutions, relationships and rituals. It is essentially
tacit knowledge that is not easily codifiable (World Bank 1998:i).
Indigenous knowledge is local knowledge, unique to a particular culture or
society (Warren 1991). It is knowledge about a certain people, for the people
and by the people. Indigenous knowledge comprises the skills, experiences
and insights of people, applied to maintain or improve their livelihood in
their communities (Ilo n.d.:471).
Knowledge production is the act or process of generating knowledge.
When new knowledge/ideas are invented, we can say that knowledge has
been produced. The process of producing knowledge encompasses a cluster
of related activities.

Theorising Decolonisation
This article adopts the decolonisation and anticolonial frameworks for
analysis. Decolonisation theory, as propounded by scholars like Fanon
(1963) and Thiophene (1995), posits that decolonisation takes some time,
and that it is a gradual process, rather than a spontaneous event. For Fanon
(1963), decolonisation is a process in history that operates to change the
social order left behind by acts of colonialism. Decolonisation refers to an
initial violent encounter of two forces which are ‘opposed to each other by
their very nature, which in fact results from and is nourished by the situation
in the colonies’ (Fanon 1963:36). It involves the questioning of colonialism
and its aftermath (Dei 2002:7). For Thiophene (1995:95), decolonisation
is a ‘process, not arrival; it invokes an ongoing dialectic between hegemonic
centrist systems and peripheral subversion of them; between European
discourses and their colonial dis/mantling.’ This theory raises the need for
the awareness that the act of decolonisation is not instantaneous but is a
gradual process. The theory is useful to understanding the fact that if Africa
is to regain its cultural values, most of which have been lost to colonialism,
it must be through gradual processes and must not be rushed. The theory
suggests that Africa must set the pace for the process of decolonising its
culture to enhance indigenous knowledge production. Decolonisation
theory helps to explain why, in spite of the fact that colonialism seems to
have long ‘come and gone’ in Africa, Africans are still entangled in the web
of European culture and knowledge.
Anticolonial framework, as put forward by scholars like Memmi (1969)
and Fanon (1963), reaffirms the reality of recolonisation processes through
the dictates of global capital and mainly through knowledge production.
The theory unravels the tussle in cultures, ideas, and histories of knowledge
Idowu: African Culture and Indigenous Knowledge Production 113

production and their use. It conceptualises ‘colonial’ not simply as ‘foreign’

or ‘alien’, but rather as ‘imposed and dominating’ (Dei 2002). Anticolonial
framework recognises the importance of locally produced knowledge, the
products of cultural histories of a people and the daily human experiences and
unique histories. The theory recognises the importance and potency in the
use of local languages and indigenous knowledge and culture to create social
understandings. It also advocates the combination of indigenous literature
with culture, history, politics, economics, and understandings of issues of
the spiritual realm. Anticolonial framework ‘offers a critique of the wholesale
degradation, disparagement and discard of “tradition and culture” in the
interest of so-called “modernity” and the “global space”’ (Dei 2002:8). The
theory will therefore be useful in explaining and understanding the need for
Africa (Nigeria and South Africa in particular) to sever links with Eurocentric
culture and embrace its own cultural values in its quest for indigenous
knowledge production. As the theory encourages parting ways with a foreign
way of life and the development of indigenous African knowledge, so is it
useful to explain the Nigerian and South African cases. This will help to
drive home an understanding of why these countries must return and hold
onto their cultural values if they are to attain the sustained and improved
indigenous knowledge production they so crave.

The State of Culture and Indigenous Knowledge Production

in Africa
The situation in Africa where culture (indigenous languages, proverbs,
folklore, and songs, among others) has been largely replaced by
Westernisation/modernity hampers the production of indigenous
knowledge, while encouraging the production of Western knowledge and
ideas. The prospect of the sustained and improved production of local
knowledge looks slimmer by the day. Like most of their counterparts across
the African continent, the prospects of both countries in this study for the
production of culturally unique knowledge (Warren 1991) have been dealt
a huge blow owing to abandonment of cultural values.
For Hountondji (1995; 2002), another major setback for indigenous
knowledge production in Africa is the fact that academic and research
activities are still carried out in colonial languages like French, English and
Portuguese. This is a cultural erosion and a hindrance to the development
of research and theory based on indigenous African conceptual frameworks
and paradigms. Kaya and Seleti (2013:32) posit that colonial and apartheid
education and research in Africa did not give room for indigenous
knowledge production, because they replaced the African way of life with
114 JHEA/RESA Vol. 19, No. 2, 2021

the Western way of life. Mimiko and Afolabi (2012:92) explain the effect
of such cultural neglect in Africa thus: ‘comprehensive social development,
the type that Africa desires today cannot be attained in the context of a
wholesale displacement of all facets and forms of the African culture…’
Knowledge production in Africa suffers from Eurocentric biases which
have pushed indigenous African knowledge to the backstage in the global
knowledge production system (Altbach 1987; Teferra & Altbach 2004:38–
40). Lowy (1995:728) posits that the Westernisation of knowledge in Africa
has imposed on both teachers and learners, a knowledge which does not
show a true reflection of their experience of the world, and this has forced
them to adhere to the imposed knowledge because they have little choice in
the colonial framework. In Africa, therefore, knowledge becomes Western
ideas and philosophies which are based on external cultures in Europe
and America. This near total neglect of African culture in the knowledge
production system on the continent has impeded Africa’s ability to
contribute to, and make significant impact in global knowledge production
system (Habib 2014). Le Grange (2007) attests to the fact that African local
cultural knowledge, which is tenable in various African knowledge genres,
has been dealt a blow in educational and knowledge production systems. This
is despite the fact that African culture provides a rich source for knowledge
production. Evidence shows that African culture was successfully used for
youth education in times past (Boateng 1990).
To drive home the point about the relegation of African culture in the
knowledge production system, Semali (1999) relates how efforts to integrate
indigenous literacy (poems, drama, proverbs, etc.) into the education system
in Tanzania met with various challenges. Challenges included over-reliance
on international assistance, lack of political will on the part of leaders, the
absence of teaching methods which are indigenous to Africans, and the
disconnect of African scholars from African culture (Semali 1994).
Owing to the neglect of African culture in knowledge production on
the continent, knowledge produced is consistently disconnected from
local realities, concerns and challenges. As a result, African intellectuals
are largely insensitive to the challenges in their local communities (Muya
2007). The reason for this is quite straightforward – as the Western and
Eurocentric knowledge which Africans now adopt was designed to suit
societal challenges in Europe and the West, it cannot be successful in
Africa. Kaya and Seleti (2013) provide evidence for the foregoing when
they aver that African intellectuals are yet to be able to design theoretical
and methodological approaches peculiar to the attainment of knowledge
production and sustainable development on the continent.
Idowu: African Culture and Indigenous Knowledge Production 115

According to Kaya and Seleti (2013:34), ‘there is little attention given

to African indigenous literary and philosophical traditions because they
tend to be viewed as primitive and unscientific, hence, not proper sources
of social theory and research development’. Today, Africans are compelled
to either stay at home away from formal education, or are introduced into
full-time formal education which completely separates them from African
traditional knowledge systems (Raymond 2011). Western education
inculcates in African youths the belief that their indigenous culture
and way of life can offer them nothing, and that African indigenous
knowledge and languages are obsolete and lack the capacity to solve
modern societal challenges (Kaya & Seleti 2013:36). This continues to
hamper the prospects of harnessing African culture for indigenous and
sustained knowledge production on the continent.
Akena (2010) provides the example of Uganda, where young Africans
were taken away from their homes, and were disconnected from their local
and indigenous knowledge and traditional education. The colonial masters
taught Ugandans and Africans the bible with the notion of liberating them
from poverty, disease and backwardness, but it eventually deprived Africans of
their indigenous knowledge, spirituality and tradition (Akena 2010, 2012).

Culture and Indigenous Knowledge Production in Nigeria

In Nigeria, the transmission of knowledge from elders to younger
generations via storytelling, songs, folklore, proverbs, norms, local languages,
observation and experiment (Ilo n.d.) has been largely abandoned. These
methods are, according to Ilo, the link to indigenous knowledge production.
With the distortion of these processes, indigenous knowledge production
suffers setbacks. Nigeria is a country with diverse ethnic groups, multiple
languages, and numerous cultural values and experiences, noticeable in
their beliefs, folklore, medicine, religion, marriage, and education, to
mention but few. Nevertheless, a many of these have been largely eroded
by a Western way of living. There is a Westernisation of the Nigerian way
of life which affects the country’s ability/capacity to produce sustained and
improved indigenous knowledge.
The use of the mother tongue in Nigeria has gradually reduced over
the years, replaced with English. As Iwara (2015:26) has demonstrated,
traditional languages in Africa, from Nigeria to Gambia, Ghana, Liberia,
and Sierra Leone, have been largely lost and replaced with English. This
is part of the process of cultural erosion in these countries. Nigeria is
also affected significantly by the challenge identified by Kaya and Seleti
(2013:32) that ‘despite decades of self-rule, African scholars have not
116 JHEA/RESA Vol. 19, No. 2, 2021

succeeded in empowering the continent to develop its own educational

theoretical and methodological framework for knowledge production and
sustainable development’. This claim can be accounted for by the erosion of
the indigenous way of life in Nigeria, which makes indigenous knowledge
production difficult. In Nigeria, educational structures – which are the
vehicles for knowledge production – were inherited from colonial masters,
and are based on cultural practices and values different from the African
way of life and completely alien to the African indigenous societies (Kaya &
Seleti 2013). This is perpetuated by continuing ties with former colonising
masters, economically, socially and technologically. The marginalisation of,
and failure to integrate African cultural practices and values and indigenous
languages into the education system at all levels in Nigeria, continue to
hamper the potential of the country to produce knowledge indigenous to its
people and to its particular challenges (Mimiko & Afolabi 2012).
To demonstrate the extent to which culture has been lost in Nigeria,
Opata (1998) shows how a significant aspect of Igbo traditional culture,
which aligns significantly with Western knowledge and ideas, has not
been incorporated into the knowledge production system. According to
him, the breaking and exchange of kola nuts, signifying peace, goodwill
and reconciliation, aligns with Western and modern knowledge on the
importance of respect for others’ opinions, dialogue, deference to elders,
conflict negotiation, and tolerance and forgiveness. If Igbo culture was
incorporated into the knowledge production system, Opata (1998) is of
the view that parents could be involved in educational curricula in Nigeria,
and forge the perfect link between culture, schooling, and indigenous
knowledge production. The role of parents as the custodians of culture
would be re-ignited, harnessed, and they could inculcate traditional
culture in their children, which will complement the knowledge obtained
in schools. This would in turn, make room for indigenous knowledge
production in the country.
While indigenous and local languages were once used in Nigerian
primary and secondary schools, have been gradually replaced by foreign
languages like French, Spanish, and German, among others. Regarding
higher levels of education, no higher institution in Nigeria offers indigenous
knowledge system programme, whether at undergraduate or postgraduate
levels. The Nigerian government recognises the important place of culture
in indigenous knowledge production, but has paid lip service to the need
to incorporate indigenous culture into the learning and teaching processes.
This lack of commitment to incorporate culture into the knowledge
production system in the country continues to impede the potential for
indigenous knowledge production in Nigeria.
Idowu: African Culture and Indigenous Knowledge Production 117

Culture and Indigenous Knowledge Production in South Africa

Pietersen (2005) shows how South Africa has abandoned the indigenous
way of life and indigenous knowledge in the pursuit of Western knowledge.
Pietersen posits that though empirical research has greatly improved and
has become methodologically sophisticated in South Africa, knowledge
production is still largely based on Western paradigms, and the use of non-
local materials is rampant.
Smith (2002) and Walter (2002) argue that education remains one
means through which South Africa is being kept from its indigenous way
of life and the prospect of sustained and improved indigenous knowledge
production. This they attribute to the continuous marginalisation and lack
of integration of African cultural values and indigenous languages into the
education system at all levels.
There is no doubt that South Africa keeps looking for means to
culturally diversify its knowledge production system to propel national
development (Botha 2010). This has been driven mostly by three
prominent reforms in the education system, namely: the outcomes-based
education model, the Curriculum 2005 (C2005), and efforts to correct the
social inequality brought about by Western and Eurocentric knowledge
systems. Nevertheless, Botha (2010:223) argues that these have not been
sufficient to reverse the Western model of education and instill African
culture. For instance, the C2005 education reform has been criticised for
still adopting Eurocentric models (Cross, Mungadi & Rouhani 2002).
It still advocates for modernity to the detriment of local ways of life and
culture, and it jettisons and maligns African traditional values (Breidlid
2003). C2005 has also been criticised for adopting Eurocentric models
which are not able to create a link and balance between national and
ethnic/cultural identities which are relevant for citizens’ self-recognition
(Van Lieres 2005). Botha (2010:224) also traces the origin of C2005 to
debate which evolved in places like New Zealand, Canada, Australia,
Scotland and the United States. This reaffirms the fact that education in
South Africa and Africa in general is not rooted in the indigenous culture
of the people, but on Western ideas.
Derek Hanekom, the then incumbent South African Deputy Minister
of Science and Technology, noted in 2004 that ‘indigenous knowledge has
always been and continues to be the primary factor in the survival and
welfare of the majority of South Africans’ (IKS Policy 2004:4), but evidence
shows that, in practice, the country does not significantly demonstrate
the important place of indigenous culture in the education system (Botha
118 JHEA/RESA Vol. 19, No. 2, 2021

2010:232). Botha (2010) warned that as long as the country’s education

framework still significantly takes on Western approaches, local and
indigenous knowledge production will continue to face marginalisation and
the threat of extinction.
While the South African government realises and acknowledges the
important place of indigenous African culture in indigenous knowledge
production, implementation has been lacklustre, portraying a lack of
commitment to fully disconnect from the Eurocentric approaches of
learning, and a lack of faith in the indigenous models and approaches
(Botha 2010:235; Mangena 2008).
In an effort to integrate African culture in its knowledge production
systems, Kaya and Seleti (2013:38) note that various higher education
institutions in South Africa have put in place initiatives to achieve this.
Such initiatives include the use of local language (Setswana) for teaching at
the North-West University (Mmola 2010). This IKS initiative has recorded
some successes, but not without some challenges. The programme has
ensured that teaching is highly appreciated by students, who now feel a
sense of autonomy by learning in their local language. Students’ academic
performance has improved, and parents feel a sense of belonging as they are
being used as instructors of local culture (Kaya & Seleti 2013:39; Mmola
2010). Some of the challenges with the IKS programme are the difficulty
in implementation, shortage of qualified IKS staff, and the lack of relevant
materials (Kaya & Seleti 2013:40–41).
The implications of the similarities and contrasts between the Nigerian
and South African cases in terms of indigenous knowledge production are
that the prospects of Africa achieving sustainable and improved indigenous
knowledge production are abysmally poor. The comparison implies
that both Nigeria and South Africa have largely abandoned indigenous
African culture, and this impacts adversely on their quest for sustainable
and improved indigenous knowledge production. The comparisons also
indicate that South Africa has done much better than Nigeria in the quest
to integrate African culture in the knowledge production system in order to
achieve sustainable and improved indigenous knowledge production.
Idowu: African Culture and Indigenous Knowledge Production 119

Comparing Nigeria and South Africa

Table 1: Comparing Nigeria and South Africa in terms of the preservation of
African culture and the quest for sustained indigenous knowledge production

Differences Similarities
While South Africa has made frantic efforts
African culture has been eroded in
to break away from colonial methods,
both Nigeria and South Africa
Nigeria has not made similar efforts

While South Africa has at least three national Both countries have made efforts
policies to incorporate African culture in its to incorporate local indigenous
education system, Nigeria is yet to design culture at some levels of their
and adopt any educational system

Various higher institutions of learning in

South Africa have developed initiatives
Indigenous knowledge production
to incorporate indigenous knowledge
has been hampered by Western
production systems in various aspects of
culture in both countries
their education curricula, whereas this has
not been the case with Nigeria

The teaching of local languages keeps Both countries have recognised

depreciating in Nigeria with the replacement the important place of culture in
with foreign languages, but South Africa has indigenous knowledge production,
continued to teach its local languages in but have not taken the appropriate
schools or adequate steps to implement same

Although both Nigeria and South Africa’s

It appears both countries lack the
indigenous knowledge production
commitment to fully disconnect
capacities have been dealt a huge blow by
from Western and Eurocentric
Western and European approaches, South
education approaches, but also
Africa has fared better in terms of cultural
lack faith in the indigenous
preservation and indigenous knowledge
models and approaches
production

While South Africa has a university offe-

ring an accredited indigenous knowledge
system programme at both undergraduate
and postgraduate levels, Nigeria has none

Source: The author, 2021

120 JHEA/RESA Vol. 19, No. 2, 2021

Way Forward
To catalyse indigenous knowledge production on the continent, Africa
must seek knowledge indigenous to its own ecological and cultural make
up, towards the political, economic, ethical, social and general upliftment
and development of its people. Higgs (2010) submits that knowledge
production in Africa must be pragmatic and be able to render a ‘service’ to
its people, rather than servicing Western cultures and history. Knowledge
production in Africa must be directed towards African culture; that way,
it can contribute effectively towards the amelioration of conditions on
the continent. Wiredu (as cited in Anyanwu 1989:127) submits that ‘we
[Africans] will only solve our problems if we see them as human problems
arising out of a special situation [unique culture and history]’. Anyanwu
(1989:127) averred that indigenous knowledge ‘invites people to take a
stand on the issue of reality as experienced by Africans’. The earlier Africa
realises all of these realities, the better for its quest for sustainable and
improved indigenous knowledge production.
Indigenous knowledge must be pursued to address the continent’s
peculiar challenges. Africa cannot continue to attempt to adopt or apply
Western knowledge and ways of life to resolve its peculiar challenges;
actions must be taken to preserve its cultural values and rescue it from an
imminent extinction so as to attain a sustainable and improved indigenous
knowledge production on the continent. This is the only way that Africa
can successfully address its political, economic and social challenges. This is
the way that Europe and the Asian Tigers have gone, with positive results in
terms of indigenous knowledge production, and educational, and all-round
development (Idowu 2020).

Conclusion
The article finds that culture enables the development of a type of knowledge
indigenous to the local people. When indigenous ways of life are abandoned
in favour of Western cultures, this fosters the development of ‘Westernised’
knowledge which indigenous people are not used to. Such alien knowledge
is not able to solve indigenous political, economic and social problems.
As the anticolonial framework posits, the production of indigenous
knowledge can only be achieved by strict adherence to indigenous cultural
practices. Nigeria, South Africa and indeed Africa must recognise this if
they are to improve on the production of indigenous knowledge on the
continent. These countries must make attempts to decolonise their cultures
and strive to produce knowledge that is based on their local way of life.
Idowu: African Culture and Indigenous Knowledge Production 121

However, caution must be taken in a bid to decolonise African culture.

Decolonisation theory has pointed out that decolonisation is a process and
is not to be rushed. Nigeria, South Africa and Africa at large must know that
decolonisation is gradual and must be so treated.
A decolonised way of life and efforts to produce knowledge strictly
based on the indigenous African way of life will aid Africa in its quest for
sustainable and improved indigenous knowledge production. Africa must
go back to its culture and begin to appreciate its culture of storytelling,
rituals, beliefs, marriages, folklore, norms, songs, proverbs, and local
languages, and base its knowledge on these, rather than on Western cultures.
African culture must, as a matter of urgency, be reintroduced into school
curricula at all levels. When indigenous knowledge production is improved
in Africa, then the prospect of achieving development can be revived on
the continent. This is true to the extent that indigenous knowledge, which
people are familiar with, is better put into use for political, economic and
social development than those entirely alien to them. An improvement on
indigenous knowledge production through the reinstatement of Africa’s
cultural values, will also mean sustainable development for the continent.
While some cultural values on the continent were barbaric – like the killing
of twin children, the slave trade and human sacrifices – the non-barbaric
and progressive cultural values must be brought back.
The study finds that Nigeria and South Africa have to a large extent
neglected their respective cultures. There is low level of indigenous
knowledge production. In both countries, younger generations are acquiring
values and lifestyles alien to African culture as a result of exposure to global
and Western cultures. This implies that elders, who are the custodians of
culture, are dying without passing their knowledge on to the children. This
could result in the extinction of African culture and indigenous knowledge
production on the continent. Nevertheless, South Africa has done better
in the quest to preserve African culture and integrate it into the education
system than Nigeria.
Indigenous games, dances, initiation schools, agricultural systems,
proverbs, storytelling, and songs, which are indigenous institutions of
knowledge in Africa, remain the bedrock of the indigenous African
knowledge system, and must be preserved. African researchers must turn
to indigenous knowledge holders and elders in African communities to
improve on and ensure a sustained production of indigenous knowledge on
the continent.
122 JHEA/RESA Vol. 19, No. 2, 2021

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