What are the primary intellectual achievements of contemporary African societies and cultures?


I must admit from the start that I have not research this subject a great deal and would like to hear what you guys have and think about it. So feel free to correct/advise me.

1) What are the great institutions of learning in Africa and what are the products of these institution?

2) Who are the great African scientists, philosophers, inventors, social innovators, economist, engineers etc of the 19th, 20th, 21st century? And what are they producing?

3) African societies consume a great deal of artifacts and knowledge generated from outside of Africa. How can we ensure that we participate fully in the universal goal of discovering knowledge?

4) What is education's primary goal? To enlighten the mind about the nature of reality or to equip the individual with the skills to get a job?

5) How long shall African societies carry on in this state of intellectual dependence as we seem to be doing little to address the pathological hatred for intellectual inquiry?

okokobi okoooooo!!
This one pass JAMB queshion.

interesting topics, wen do u have 2 submit it?

Huxley,

In an earlier feedback I shared with you to request a section just for your threads. You bring concise and thought provoking ideas and I'd love to share my opinion and insights on these things, but such responses require organization. Trust me I am not interested in contributing time consuming works to something that is disorganized and lack order.

In the way you are spreading these ideas around you will continue to get respondents like tekim.

WOW!  You're trying to tackle a very broad group of topics, Huxley!  Let's start small, shall we?

I'll take a look at question number 4.

huxley:

What is education's primary goal? To enlighten the mind about the nature of reality or to equip the individual with the skills to get a job?

To me, education is most definitely a concept that is directed towards a goal of enlightening one's mind about the nature of not only reality, but also abstraction.  That education does so is what makes it so important in providing skills that will assist one seeking employment in a given pursuit.  Of course, the very nature of equipping an individual with job skills is, itself, an educational process.  In the best of circumstances, an enlightened mind is the most desirable job skill, for it is the enlightened mind that is not only able, but more importantly, willing to consider that which needs to be thought about.

hahaha! Na real this one pass JAMB question!

2) Who are the great African scientists, philosophers, inventors, social innovators, economist, engineers etc of the 19th, 20th, 21st century? And what are they producing?

[b]
Scientists: This will require research. I know there are quite a few African scientists but most of them either fly under the radar or are not given as much credence and press as others. I remember there is a lady who around the 19--50s I want to say added a lot of advancements to the field of naturopathy and horticulture. There is also E. B. Alo a scientist and professor of Entomology and Parasitology. There is Bartholomew Nnaji a co-inventor of the E-Design concept. There are more but like I said---under the radar. Slowly but surely we will start getting more recognition as we enter the "global mainstream".

Philosophers: Most of our philosophers tend to be literature inclined. We have people like Chinua Achebe, Bukky Emechete, J P Clark Bekederemo, Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi, Chris Okigbo and so many more. Most of their literary works whether prose, poetry or plays take the form of philosophical and often political discourses and satires on society.

Inventors: The first person to prove the concept of the Internet was possible is Phillip Emeagwali a Nigerian. He is considered a Father of the Internet although hardly if ever mentioned. He is also a computer scientist/geologist and won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize for his use of the Connection Machine supercomputer – a machine featuring over 65,000 parallel processors – to help analyze petroleum fields.
There is M-o-h-a-m-m-e-d Bah Abba, inventor of the Zeer cooling system. There is the guy in Benin who invented the mechanical pounded-yam pounder. You'd put raw yam and water into the container then turn it on. It would boil and pound your yam for you and you'd get fluffy, delicious pounded-yam in about 30 minutes! Unfortunately his name escapes me.

Economists: Onyema Ugochukwu, Charles Soludo who is currently the chairman of the board of directors for the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who is now the current MD of the World Bank and was considered to replace Wolfowitz was a previous Foreign and Finance minister for the country of Nigeria (being the woman to have held possibly the highest role in the Nigerian cabinet so far) and mother of Uzodimma Iweala another Nigerian writer and part of the new school (read younger generation) of Nigerian authors and literary geniuses along with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chris Abani, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Helen Oyeyemi and so many more. [/b]

3) African societies consume a great deal of artifacts and knowledge generated from outside of Africa. How can we ensure that we participate fully in the universal goal of discovering knowledge?

[b]As for this question, the reason for our seemingly everlasting obsession with knowledge generated from outside stems from the fact that like many other African countries - which by the way suffer a similar disease - we are recent products of colonialism and the conquest of Africa. It was only a little over 4 decades ago we became independent and had a chance to form a national identity out of a mishmash of cultures and traditions that had no business being lumped together in the first place (250 tribes that we know of not counting the dialects and the ones that are now extinct in Nigeria alone!). With time and a lot of inspired people we will form a national identity. That will in turn promote appreciating our own knowledge because for now there is still a lot of bickering and in-fighting between people of diverse tribes and traditions. As regards to artifacts, this is indeed a sore topic for many Nigerians. Our artifacts and as such our connections to our past were either stolen/duped from us or unknowingly given away. It is a shocking yet common example of an oppressive power exploiting a weaker or divided one for its own benefit. From the Rape of Benin and the Oba's palace during the "Punitive Expedition" to the excavation of the Nok terracotta heads, the artifacts of many other Nigerian tribes and the finds at Ile-Ife most of these artifacts are gone never to be seen or heard from again. Step into the British museum and tell me how many African artifacts you see. Let's not even go into the people that have African artifacts in their private collections. You get the picture? It is highly unlikely (and this is an understatement) we will ever see those treasures and artifacts on Nigerian soil again. [/b]

You don try ma sister, wish i had a free T-shirt for u

fntekim:

You don try ma sister, wish i had a free T-shirt for u

Uhhh---thanks I've got plenty. 'preciate ya tho.

Omoovie,

Thanks for your great effort. I shall follow up some of the people you cited.

Any takers?

omoovie:

hahaha! Na real this one pass JAMB question!

[b]
Scientists: This will require research. I know there are quite a few African scientists but most of them either fly under the radar or are not given as much credence and press as others. I remember there is a lady who around the 19--50s I want to say added a lot of advancements to the field of naturopathy and horticulture. There is also E. B. Alo a scientist and professor of Entomology and Parasitology. There is Bartholomew Nnaji a co-inventor of the E-Design concept. There are more but like I said---under the radar. Slowly but surely we will start getting more recognition as we enter the "global mainstream".

Philosophers: Most of our philosophers tend to be literature inclined. We have people like Chinua Achebe, Bukky Emechete, J P Clark Bekederemo, Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi, Chris Okigbo and so many more. Most of their literary works whether prose, poetry or plays take the form of philosophical and often political discourses and satires on society.

Inventors: The first person to prove the concept of the Internet was possible is Phillip Emeagwali a Nigerian. He is considered a Father of the Internet although hardly if ever mentioned. He is also a computer scientist/geologist and won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize for his use of the Connection Machine supercomputer – a machine featuring over 65,000 parallel processors – to help analyze petroleum fields.
There is M-o-h-a-m-m-e-d Bah Abba, inventor of the Zeer cooling system. There is the guy in Benin who invented the mechanical pounded-yam pounder. You'D put raw yam and water into the container then turn it on. It would boil and pound your yam for you and you'D get fluffy, delicious pounded-yam in about 30 minutes! Unfortunately his name escapes me.

Economists: Onyema Ugochukwu, Charles Soludo who is currently the chairman of the board of directors for the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who is now the current MD of the World Bank and was considered to replace Wolfowitz was a previous Foreign and Finance minister for the country of Nigeria (being the woman to have held possibly the highest role in the Nigerian cabinet so far) and mother of Uzodimma Iweala another Nigerian writer and part of the new school (read younger generation) of Nigerian authors and literary geniuses along with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chris Abani, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Helen Oyeyemi and so many more. [/b]



[b]As for this question, the reason for our seemingly everlasting obsession with knowledge generated from outside stems from the fact that like many other African countries - which by the way suffer a similar disease - we are recent products of colonialism and the conquest of Africa. It was only a little over 4 decades ago we became independent and had a chance to form a national identity out of a mishmash of cultures and traditions that had no business being lumped together in the first place (250 tribes that we know of not counting the dialects and the ones that are now extinct in Nigeria alone!). With time and a lot of inspired people we will form a national identity. That will in turn promote appreciating our own knowledge because for now there is still a lot of bickering and in-fighting between people of diverse tribes and traditions. As regards to artifacts, this is indeed a sore topic for many Nigerians. Our artifacts and as such our connections to our past were either stolen/duped from us or unknowingly given away. It is a shocking yet common example of an oppressive power exploiting a weaker or divided one for its own benefit. From the Rape of Benin and the Oba's palace during the "Punitive Expedition" to the excavation of the Nok terracotta heads, the artifacts of many other Nigerian tribes and the finds at Ile-Ife most of these artifacts are gone never to be seen or heard from again. Step into the British museum and tell me how many African artifacts you see. Let's not even go into the people that have African artifacts in their private collections. You get the picture? It is highly unlikely (and this is an understatement) we will ever see those treasures and artifacts on Nigerian soil again. [/b]

Are you sure about that?

to the poster, I have heard stories of the University of Timbuktu, being a learning center for kings and queens in ancient times. dunno how true it is.

You might want to take a look at http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/00.INDEXmad.html

Obviously skewed towards physical sciences,

Any new views?

Another take?

Any new ideas?

Some would argue that there are no new ideas.  Others contend that all ideas are new, inasmuch as they are considered by different minds and from different aspects.  What's your input on some of these topics, huxley/huxley2?

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