학술논문

'African Magic' or 'African Science': Issues of Technology in African Higher Education
Document Type
Journal Articles
Reports - Evaluative
Author
Amuzu, Delali (ORCID 0000-0003-3904-3334)
Source
British Journal of Educational Technology. Nov 2023 54(6):1505-1519.
Subject
Africa
Language
English
ISSN
0007-1013
1467-8535
Abstract
African ideas, science, technology, scholarship and worldviews have been disproportionately displaced and marginalized in relevant global dialogues. In academic circles, African methods of knowing have been questioned, undervalued, mocked, misconstrued, and disregarded, causing apprehension. These negative attitudes are internalized via the educational system, stifling agency and conditioning African learners to rely on technology from outside sources, resulting in the exteriorization of innovation and creativity. African inventiveness becomes "African magic" with no real desire to interrogate, explain, or grasp its basic mechanics. This article contends that technology and creative imaginations exist in African societies. The task, however, remains the exploration and integration of African knowledge systems into higher education. The study aims to demonstrate how the interaction of two components of traditional African education--a sense of community and informal learning--could assist in the embrace, facilitation, and mainstreaming of marginalized African technologies. Although the paper may appear eclectic, it is intended to conscientiously push the paradigm that technology has been integral to African education. Regardless of Africa's technical challenges, salvation does not lie in excessive external reliance but rather in investing and building on Indigenous African knowledges/practices in order to establish an African technological identity.