Literature Review- Marlena Bertram

Marlena Commented on Spencer Matheny and Tami Grandstaff-Chamberlian's Literature Reviews

Marlena B. Bertram

EDAC 364

Literature Review: African Indigenous Knowledge

February 14, 2016

Introduction

            My groups focus is on African Indigenous Knowledge and we are exploring how it could be applied to the programs of adult education. Before we can apply African Indigenous Knowledge to modern learning, we first need to provide a clear background on the topic. Once it is understood, it is our group’s goal to pull the effective education tools from African Indigenous Knowledge that can be applied to adult education while removing the aspects that may not work or apply to the modern-western education. Thus, at that point we can have a well-rounded knowledge base on our topic.

            The purpose of this literature review is to prepare ourselves to create a program design over African Indigenous Learning. Thus, this review will be focused on literature regarding the backgrounds and applications of the indigenous learning styles. It will be able to show the application along with both positive and negative outcomes along the way.

General Themes

The Definition of Ubuntu

The number one theme that speaks out amongst the textbook and other literary sources is importance of Ubuntu. This is the learning model that has a group of people  engaging in the activities together that involve problem solving, helping the community, and strengthening bonds that will be judged to create an idea of the individual’s success and character.

            Desmond Tutu is one of the most well-known figures of Unbuntu. Much of Unbuntu became known in the western world because of Desmond Tutu, who was a leader of the anti-apartheid movement and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. In one of his most famous works, No Future Without Forgiveness, Tutu (2000) tries to define Ubuntu in the English language; he explains “Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language…We belong in a bundle of life.” In other words, he is effectively stating that individuals are not themselves because of themselves, they are themselves because of their group, or their people. It is the most basic principle in African Indigenous Knowledge and Learning that must be understood for the learning model to be effective.

Concepts of Ubuntu

            One of the most difficult parts of using Ubuntu in our western classrooms is that the concepts of Ubuntu often involve familial and community ties that we do not have as much experience. Our textbook, Merriam (2008), shows the concepts of Ubuntu as encompassing the respect for human life, help, generosity, cooperation, respect for the elders and ancestors, and the preservation of those things sacred; it is that individuals lives are connected through ties of family, community, villiage, country, and their social groups that have mutual obligations that each person understands and acts upon. This would mean that strong bonds could not exist in classrooms alone, as many do in the western world, and the bonds go as deep as what we consider close familial ties in our culture.

The Traditional African View of Adult Learning

            According to Nafukho (2006), adult learning was viewed as holistic learning for life and work that was formed on the foundations of African societies. It was a process to break down barriers and have social inclusion as opposed to exclusion. This tells me that adult learning in these traditional African indigenous ways did not have a main purpose of educating to gain an education, get a better role in life, or to create a hierarchy as we utilize it in the United States. It was a way to combat that idea of hierarchy and create inclusive, holistic, communities where everyone worked together.

            Nafukho, also, states that the traditional views are changing over time and becoming more like our western culture. The reason this is mentioned, because it is important to keep this in mind when trying to use traditional views in our own society, because this points out that there must be flaws in their traditional values in the worlds ever changing cultures.

Applying African Indigenous Knowledge to Community Building

            It is important to remember that adult education is not simply classroom settings, but can also be things as simple as teaching something new to a community. Flippin, Jr. (2012) tries to make it a point to show that to build communities individuals must realize that one person cannot do everything; it takes a collective group, or as he put it “One finger cannot pick up a grain.” Ubuntu can be utilized in western communities by teaching that if we mirror humanity to one another, great things can be accomplished by working together.

            While this may seem like a simple statement, it actually makes a great amount of sense through application. The thoughts I derive from reading this are that you teach community building through modeling it yourself and showing others how to follow suit. In other words, it takes a leader, but many will follow and many will learn to create a community that is better for themselves.

The Journey of African Indigenous Education

            African indigenous education is a lifelong commitment that is carried through each stage of life and is never complete, according to Magogo (2012). The journey starts by the learning of ideas through other members of their group or society through various facets (such as stories) and ends with the sharing of one’s own experiences and life lessons to the younger generations. It is essentially the developing of young generations through the upbringing of older generations. Due to this method of learning and teaching, one never stops the education process, or the tradition and web of knowledge is broken.

            It is important to note this life-long commitment, because it characterizes the importance of this form of education to the societies that utilize it. Unlike the western-style of thinking that one should only have to learn or be in school for set periods of time, it is a never ending continuum of growth for the society as a whole. It is a model of what almost every culture began with, the basic passing of information from one generation to the next.

Implications

            The implications of the research of African Indigenous Knowledge are readily visible. In our westernized styles of teaching, it would be very difficult to utilize the African Indigenous Knowledge system due to its vast differences. In the western-world we tend to want self-gratification and credit for individuals, have set learning periods (the typical model being from age 5, kindergarten, through age 18, finishing of high school), individuals tend to be more introverted, and bonds are usually created with small numbers of people and not groups in society; all of this varies drastically with what is learned about African Indigenous Knowledge. It would require many individuals to be open minded to different learning styles to be successful.

            Due to this, I would like to suggest when trying to utilize this learning style to obtain a group of like-minded individuals to start. This way they have similar interests and will be more open to the type of commitment that needs to take place for African Indigenous learning to be successful. I, also, feel it would be beneficial to teach the individuals the basics of African Indigenous Learning, so that they know what to expect out of the learning style they will witness.

Reflection

Highlights

            The most significant part of my literature review is unique in that I felt it was important to point out the differences between African Indigenous Education and out contemporary-western style of education. I feel that the differences are where we are going to find where the flaws are in each of the systems, thus it would allow us to create a less-flawed system of education to model off of.

Process

            The process of writing this literature review required more group effort and collaboration than I originally anticipated. Finding that we were overlapping on some information, collaborating on what we were truly supposed to reflect on, and having blog difficulties caused us to collaborate more than I thought we would need to. It is not a bad thing though. I, also, used to layout as described in the syllabus a great amount to make sure I was including everything that needed included. It was all a great learning process and stepping stone in my education.

	Main Themes of Literature	Application of Themes
Theme #1	The Definition of Ubuntu	To utilize Ubuntu, one must understand completely what it is
Theme #2	Concepts of Ubuntu	Encouraging close bonds are an important aspect of the education syle
Theme #3	The Traditional African View of Adult Learning	Encouraging education as a way of life instead of as a way to get ahead of other individuals is a key component.
Theme #4	Applying African Indigenous Knowledge through Community Building	Teaching communities to become stronger by using each-others examples
Theme #5	The Journey of African Indigenous Education	Provide clear understanding of the life-long commitment to education

References

Flippin, W. E., Jr. (2012, February 5). Ubuntu: Applying African Philosophy in Building Community. Retrieved February 14, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/reverend-william-e-flipping-jr/ubuntu-applying-african-p_b_1243904.html

Magogo, D. T. (2012, February 08). What is African indigenous education? philosophical bases of African indigenous education.strengths and limitations of this education, AND relevant is it to the modern education today. Retrieved February 14, 2016, from

https://darisoanj.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/what-is-african-indigenous-education-philosophical-bases-of-african-indigenous-education-strengths-and-limitations-of-this-education-and-relevant-is-it-to-the-modern-education-today/

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers

Nafukho, F. M. (2006). Ubuntu Worldview: A Traditional African View of Adult Learning in the Workplace. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 8(3), 408-415. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

Tutu, D. (2000). No future without forgiveness. New York: Doubleday.