Essentialising African Indigenous Knowledge Systems in the Midst of Globalization and Modernity

In the emerging global knowledge economy, a country's capacity to build and mobilize knowledge capital, is equally essential for sustainable development as the availability of physical and financial capital according to the World Bank (World Bank, 1997). The basic component of any country's knowledge system is its indigenous knowledge. This knowledge encompasses the skills, experiences and insights of people, applied to maintain or improve their livelihood. The World Bank, which launched the Indigenous Knowledge for Development Programme in 1998, documented several cases to illustrate how IKS can play a crucial role in development. Significant contributions to global knowledge have originated from indigenous people, for instance in medicine and veterinary medicine with their intimate understanding of their environments. Indigenous knowledge is developed and adapted continuously to a gradually changing environment and passed down from generation to generation and closely interwoven with people's cultural values. Indigenous knowledge is also the social capital of the poor, their main asset to invest in the struggle for survival, to produce food, to provide for shelter or to achieve control of their own lives. However there are several threads to African indigenous knowledge systems. First, indigenous knowledge is always passed by word of mouth from one generation to another. Many of the bearers of indigenous knowledge are from the older generation and now find it difficult to communicate their beliefs and practices to the scientifically educated younger generation; once the older generation passes away, the knowledge disappears with them. Second, there is still resistance in the use of IKS, and considered unscientific in the development processes. The third is that IKS in Africa are being wiped out as a result of the rapid changes in the economic, cultural and development models through globalisation. Universities in Africa are the obvious institutions to undertake this important task. It is imperative therefore that, without delay, IKS in Africa be protected, documented, studied and be widely disseminated to promote development. Given this context, this purpose of this paper is to essentialise IKS in the global and modern world.