Culture Indigenous Knowledge and Development in Africa. Reviving Interconnections for Sustainable Development

The continent of Africa is richly endowed with diverse cultures a body of indigenous knowledge and technologies. These bodies of knowledge and technologies that are indeed embodied in the diverse African cultures are as old as humankind. From time immemorial they have been used to solve socio-economic political health and environmental problems and to respond to the development needs of Africans. Yet with the advent of colonialism and Western scientism these African cultures knowledges and technologies have been despised and relegated to the periphery to the detriment of the self-reliant development of Africans. It is out of this observation and realisation that this book was born. The book is an exploration of the practical problems resulting from Africas encounter with Euro-colonialism a reflection of the nexus between indigenous knowledge culture and development and indeed a call for the revival and reinstitution of indigenous knowledge not as a challenge to Western science but a complementary form of knowledge necessary to steer and promote sustainable development in Africa and beyond. This is a valuable book for policy makers institutional planners practitioners and students of social anthropology education political and social ecology and development African and heritage studies.