Abstract
Until today, an externally imposed epistemological paradigm is dominant in most educational curricula at universities in Africa. Despite ongoing Eurocentrism and Western hegemony in mainstream agricultural trainings in Africa, Indigenous knowledge on agriculture still exists: it has been preserved for generations by farmers and wise elders in rural communities who often are knowledge authorities on African agrarian Indigenous knowledge, values and practices. An imposed epistemological paradigm on the African continent reinforces epistemic injustice by dominating and ignoring Indigenous African ways of doing and knowing, which is deeply dehumanizing. Inspired by Paulo Freire’s ‘humanising pedagogy’ and Mogobe Ramose’s call for mothofatso in human relations, we explore a re-humanising pedagogy for African agrarian philosophy, which addresses the following questions: Can African agrarian philosophy contribute to re-humanization by reviving and restoring Indigenous agricultural knowledge, values and practices? If so, what pedagogy and educational methods are appropriate? In search for answers to these questions, we reflect on a two-week educational program on an endogenous approach to community resilience in Ghana, as a pedagogy that is emerging. In doing so, the chapter is firmly rooted in African soil, both practically—through trainings in Ghana—and theoretically—through African agrarian philosophy. By connecting educational experiences with insights from theory, seven themes for a pedagogy for African agrarian philosophy come to the front: an African agrarian philosophy with memory; a dialogical student–teacher relation; the value of lived experiences; intergenerational and spiritual methods of education; relationality of human beings and Mother Earth; unity between theory and practice; critical consciousness about people’s rights. The thesis defended is that African agrarian philosophy is without relevance if it remains a theoretical exercise that is not developed and put to use with farmers, wise elders and youth in the communities. Instead, when combined with a re-humanising pedagogy, African agrarian philosophy can contribute to reconnecting and reviving African agricultural knowledge, values and practices, which subsequently contributes to transforming African food systems that heals the environment and produces enough food to feed communities.
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Notes
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As mentioned elsewhere (Boogaard 2021), there are organisations and participatory trainings that actively try to move away from Eurocentrism and take farmers’ knowledge as a starting point. Prolinnova is such an example (Promoting Local Innovation, https://www.prolinnova.net/).
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South African Journal of Philosophy, Volume 35, 2016—Issue 4: Special Issue: Africanising the philosophy curriculum in universities in Africa.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the Christensen Fund for their financial contribution to the project and to the participants of the COMPAS Africa Network for contributing to the ALI training in 2016. We also like to thank Mogobe Ramose for providing valuable feedback on this chapter.
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Appendix
Appendix
Participating organisations in the two-week ALI training in Techiman, Ghana (2016):
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National Coalition of Farmers Associations (NACOFAG), The Gambia.
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Jinukun, Benin.
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Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD), Ghana.
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WaterAid, Ghana.
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Rural Women’s Farmers Association (RUWFAG), Ghana.
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Sirigu Women Potters Association (SWOPA), Ghana.
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Widows and Orphans Movement (WOM), Ghana.
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Abrono Organic Farmers Project (ABOFAP), Ghana.
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MELCA, Ethiopia.
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Institute for Culture and Ecology, Kenya.
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Kivulini Trust, Kenya.
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PROMETRA, Uganda.
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Southern Africa Endogenous Development Program (SAEDP), South Africa/Lesotho/Zimbabwe.
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Muonde Trust, Zimbabwe.
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Women for Change, Zambia.
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Boogaard, B., Guri, B.Y., Banuoku, D., Ludwig, D., Fletcher, D. (2023). The Emergence of a Re-humanizing Pedagogy for African Agrarian Philosophy. In: Tosam, M.J., Masitera, E. (eds) African Agrarian Philosophy. The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics, vol 35. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43040-4_15
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