This chapter aims at revelation of the significance of odes of Tree of Life, especially when moulding the post-colonial curriculum in all social spheres including education sector in Africa and the world in general. Literature reveals the possibilities in the personal development in relation to various social developmental opportunities and curbing of threats to human life and specifically to tenants of indigenous knowledge systems. A review of various literature that included documents and related research reports from various sources—including journal articles, books, policy, and observation—on the significant aspects of African knowledge creation such as the Tree of Life is explored. In conclusion, this chapter argues that each knowledge system is embedded in its social order. Thus, the notion of a multicultural education system becomes a considerable intervention to put an end to the historical intellectual violence against Black African wisdom including indigenous African knowledge system practice in general.
Top1. Introduction
The demise of racist regimes in Afrika and the world tended to pronounce a new era to all previously undermined social groups via a promise of redressing the injustices of the past, especially in relation to issues pertaining to the revitalisation of cultural value systems such as the odes of the Tree of Life in the learning sphere (Amen, 2003). Thus, the notion of the indigenous knowledge systems tenets such as timeline, social order, lingua franca, relevant analytical framework, for instance, the incorporation of the Tehuti perspective in Afrikan-centred curriculum becomes more significant, specifically in relation to ontology and epistemology (Beckmann, 2016, p.300). Perhaps, the consideration of the concept of inclusion, in particular, incorporation of knowledge that was previously placed on the margin of knowledge, in particular the indigenous Afrikan knowledge system of which has recently become on top of the curriculum agenda (Collins & Millard, 2013, p.71). Current social settings in the education sphere reveal that Afrikan education system in relation to the curriculum, language, ethics, research methods and theoretical framework still clings to a highly contested narrow cultural perspective that is notorious for bias and injustice (Kincheloe, 2011). This chapter recommends a need for intervention to broaden the scope of analytical framework by considering the adoption of the Tehuti principles that are advocated for to ensure students are exposed to varied knowledges in the teaching and learning sphere, in particular the indigenous Afrikan knowledge systems (IAKS). Since there is a common understanding that the colonialism was unjust with regard to other cultural value systems, the relevance of the concept of transformation becomes a worthwhile pursuit. It’s worth highlighting that the theory proposed here is in “in its impracticable phase”, and that it can be confusing in some instances especially to those scholars who remain intellectually captured, meaning not will to think beyond what is known presently (Mthembu, 2020).
The discussion should start with an understanding of the terminology. The etymology of the word, transformation (noun), can be linked to late Latin, with origins in the Latin verb transformare. The prefix, trans, denotes “across”, “beyond”, “above” or “bridging” and this is joined with formare, which means “to form” (Du Preez, Simmonds & Verhoef, 2016, p.1). Furthermore, transformation can also refer to a “process of change”, as applied in the following instances: physics - alteration of one element into another; mathematics - translation of one figure into another of a similar value; linguistic - discussion of one syntactic formula into another; biology – change of a personality or change of character or appearance; and politics – philosophy driven change. While the Greek word for transformation, metaschimatismos, emphasises alteration in form, it also incorporates the idea of remodelling, modification and restructuring (Du Preez et al., 2016). In other words, the noun, “transformation”, is intricate and open-ended, but its principal meaning is “to undergo and/or cause a change of form”. It can be linked to change and constant remodelling, modification and restructuring that encompasses internal or external processes. The notion of transformation has become central in the thoughtful alterations made thus far in the collapse of the notorious narrow cultural perspective under the tutelage of global racial colonialism in the nations of the global “South” including Afrika in general. It’s worth mentioning that this term, transformation, has been used as a descriptor that is associated with almost any phenomenon related with social change.