Between rhetoric and reality : the state and use of Indigenous knowledge in post-colonial Africa / / edited by Munyaradzi Mawere & Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye

• Pubblicazione: Bamenda, [Cameroon] : , : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, , 2015; ©2015
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (330 p.)
• Disciplina: 960
• Soggetto topico: Indigenous peoples - Africa; Postcolonialism - Africa
• Persona (resp. second.): MawereMunyaradzi; Awuah-NyamekyeSamuel
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Title page; Copyright page; Dedication; List of Contributors; Contents; Chapter 1 - Rethinking African Indigenous Knowledges and World Civilisations: Pasts, presents and the Futures; Introduction; Background to Africa, world civilisations, and knowledge development; A guide through the book; References; Chapter 2 - Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Management in Africa: Some showcases from Zimbabwe; Introduction; Objectives and methodological issues: A brief overview; Understanding indigenous knowledge; The use of indigenous knowledge in Zimbabwe ; Showcases of indigenous knowledge for disaster risk prediction and mitigationWhy the hour hand is ticking towards modern science?; Recommendations; Conclusion; References; Chapter 3 - An Evaluation of African Traditional Scientific Knowledge and Technological Devices; Introduction; The Backwardness of Traditional Africa; A brief history of Africa's backwardness; African science and technology in the pre-colonial era; Conclusion; References; Chapter 4 - Indigenous Knowledge, Conflation and Post-colonial Translation: Lessons from Fieldwork in Contemporary Rural Zimbabwe; Introduction ; Overview on Indigenous knowledge, animism and translationThe worlds, entities and knowledge practices related to droughts and rains; Meteorological Sciences and Connections in the Indigenous Knowledge Systems: A Brief Note; Conclusion; References; Chapter 5 - Traditional Healers and Medicine in South Africa: A Quest for Legal and Scientific Recognition; Introduction; Background to the use of Traditional Medicine in South Africa; Challenges to the use of Traditional Medicine in South Africa; Traditional Medicine in post-Apartheid South Africa; Critique of the Act No. 22 of 2007 ; The prospects of traditional medicine and its practitioners in South AfricaConclusion; References; Chapter 6 - A History of Pre-colonial and Colonial Wildlife Conservation in Ghana; Introduction; Conservation; Wildlife Conservation in Pre-Colonial Times; Wildlife Preservation Laws and the creation of Game Reserves during the colonial era; The Appointment of a Game Warden and Establishment of a Wildlife Department; Conclusion; References; Chapter 7 - 'Sheep in Sheep's Clothing or Wolves in Sheep's Clothing?' Interventions by Non-state Actors in a Changing Climatic Environment in Rural Zimbabwe ; IntroductionUnderstanding Non-State Actors (NSAs); NSAs interventions in Zimbabwe's rural communities: A case of Zvishavane Rural; Conclusion; References; Chapter 8 - Religion and the Restoration of Health in Africa: A Case Study of the Traditional Akan People of Ghana; Introduction; Methodology; Who are the Akan?; Medicine among the Akan; Who is a traditional medical practitioner?; The nexus between Religion and Medicine; The Akan etiology of illness; The Akan medical practitioner and the 'Germ Theory'; The prospects of indigenous/traditional medicine in Ghana today; Conclusion; References ; Chapter 9 - Indigenous Knowledge and the Management of Ecological Resources for Africa's Development
• Sommario/riassunto: Since time immemorial, indigenous peoples around the world have developed knowledge systems to ensure their continued survival in their respective territories. These knowledge systems have always been dynamic such that they could meet new challenges. Yet, since the so-called enlightenment period, these knowledges have been supplanted by the Western enlightenment science or colonial science hegemony and arrogance such that in many cases they were relegated to the periphery. Some Euro-centric scholars even viewed indigenous knowledge as superstitious, irrational and anti-development. This erroneous view has, since the colonial period, spread like veld fire to the extent of being internalised by some political elites and Euro-centric academics of Africa and elsewhere. However, for some time now, the potential role that indigenous peoples and their knowledge can play in addressing some of the global problems haunting humanity across the world is increasingly emerging as part of international discourse. This book presents an interesting and insightful discourse on the state and role that indigenous knowledge can play in addressing a tapestry of problems of the world and the challenges connected with the application of indigenous knowledge in enlightenment science-dominated contexts. The book is not only useful to academics and students in the fields of indigenous studies and anthropology, but also those in other fields such as environmental science, social and political ecology, development studies, policy studies, economic history, and African studies.
• Titolo autorizzato: Between rhetoric and reality
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910815225903321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II