Developments Towards Integrating African Indigenous Knowledge in South African Universities

Abstract

African Indigenous Knowledge (AIK) is local knowledge that is unique to a given culture in Africa and has developed because of members of a community’s interactions with the environment over time. Within the South African context, integrating AIK into higher education recognises African people’s knowledge that has been suppressed, regarded inferior, and deemed insufficient to be included in education. This study used desk research, such as documents and universities’ sites, to assess their progress in integrating AIK thus far. The study surveyed existing literature on the incorporation of AIK in post-apartheid higher education and suggestions that have been made for AIK implementation. North-West University (NWU), University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), University of the Free State (UFS), University of Venda (UNIVEN), University of Limpopo (UL), University of Johannesburg (UJ), and University of South Africa (UNISA) were selected due to their attempts to integrate AIK in their curricula. We contend that incorporating AIK into South African universities’ curricula is important not only for decolonisation and indigenisation but also for reclaiming AIK, which has been marginalised and dismissed in formal education. Revaluing AIK in education is part of a larger process of reclaiming true African cultural identity.