Decolonizing African Development Education Through Indigenous Knowledge

Abstract

Any worthy system of education must extol cultural worldviews. However, this seemingly modest mission has eluded Ghana, Africa, and its diaspora owing to Arabian and European imperialist disruptions. In Ghana, Eurocentric perspectives have usurped and placed African knowledge systems in servitude. Conversations to redress this anomaly in African higher education have gained some traction owing to the importance African worldviews to the development of Africa and Africans. Notwithstanding the destruction of ancient African literature and historical artefacts, the continent still wields, among others, its rich oral arts. Proverbs make up one of these arts and have served both as a medium and knowledge system in inter-generational education. In this chapter, I employ African proverbs to advocate for African higher education [with a focus on Ghana] to serve a public purpose. The need to analyse these proverbs is important because of the cultural significance and foundation it provides towards meaningful education. It offers an opportunity to strengthen the mainstreaming of African worldviews in schooling [education]. Overall, this endeavour contributes to the broader deliberations on decolonizing knowledge and African education.