Dominant epistemology, African indigenous languages, culture and the discourse on the decolonisation of knowledge within the (African) university

Abstract

Knowledge is preserved in the language of its producers and developers, and as a carrier of culture, language is significant because it controls the way people (individually and collectively) perceive themselves in relation to others in the world. Language is also primarily responsible for initiating and sustaining creativity. Unfortunately, for European cultural hegemony language also became a mechanism for launching strategies of domination and alienation of the African personality and traditional knowledge. Ngugi wa Thiongo (1986) and Prah (2009) have observed that as part of the plan the processes of subjugation and domination did not only have to do with the colonised having to inherit alien syntax or lexicology, but also the ways in which they ultimately perceive self and the world, and how to relate with Europeans in their assumed superior status. Therefore, this article interrogates the socio-politics of the dominant epistemology and how it has impacted African indigenous languages and culture. It supports the case for the discourse regarding the decolonisation of knowledge within the (South) African university. The article argues for the retrieval and re-positioning of African indigenous languages and culture as part of the decolonisation project because the interface between indigenous knowledge and other knowledge systems is critical in generating new insights.

Key words: European cultural imperialism, epistemology, African indigenous languages, culture, traditional knowledge, subjugation and domination, decolonialisation