**4. African relational epistemology**

In what sense is epistemology both African and relational? African relational epistemology, in this chapter, refers to a theory of knowledge that is both communalistic and informed by African culture. The combination of being communal and a basis on African culture is important because being communal in itself does not qualify knowledge as African since there is Western communitarian thought on the one hand and the existence of multiple non-African but global southern perspectives as found in Latin America and Asia on the other. African culture, in the context of epistemology, supplies the categories and concepts used to validate knowledge claims. African epistemology stands in a special relation to ontology because it starts by recognizing the being of the other. In the context of epistemology, the other is seen as a subject, capable of rational thought and capable of producing knowledge. The other is also important in the validation and evaluation of knowledge claims. African epistemology is relational in the sense that it is both dependent and interdependent. Dependency signifies the reliance on other people for the acquisition of knowledge. Interdependence is a mutual exercise that facilitates the exchange of knowledge between two or more people within the community.

African epistemology demands one to answer the question "what is African about epistemology?" African epistemology refers to a critical analysis of sources, nature, extent, and justification of knowledge using the African conceptual scheme. In the African sense, knowledge is not abstract, but it is related to the world. Knowledge is related to space and time in the sense that it is shaped by these categories. Beyond worldly connections, African epistemology rises above analytic atomistic epistemology through its stress on otherness. Knowledge is acquired through others, and it is validated through others. It recognizes and respects different perspectives. The African knowledge system recognizes the role of the community in the acquisition and preservation of knowledge. The cultural conceptual scheme becomes very important in the sense that it provides a platform for the description, analysis, validation, and evaluation of knowledge. The hierarchy of knowledge starts with the community at the top, followed by groups, and lastly the individual.

According to the Sotho proverb *Motho ke motho ka botho*, one's humanity is seen through others. In the context of knowledge, the proverb entails that knowledge is passed as such through others. The test of the community distinguishes between propositional knowledge and opinion. Without the community of other human beings, the criterion of knowledge cannot be established. In the context of knowledge, the proverb boils down to the fact that knowledge is acquired, validated, and evaluated through others. In this context, the transition is from the Cartesian "I" to the African "We." A quick objection that is often leveled against communalistic knowledge is that this view of knowledge eclipses the individual within the community. However, communalistic thought does not necessarily eclipse the individual for two reasons. First, thinking is done by the individual, and when thoughts are judged as significant by others, they qualify as knowledge, and secondly, individual points of view are acknowledged in the assessment of knowledge. The proverb

**147**

*An Epistemological Critique of the African University Education System*

**5. South-south cooperation in epistemological issues**

ways to conceive of reconciliation or to define the human [27].

The call for a struggle of "alternative" knowledges which need to vigorously challenge the conception of other knowledges as "merely" local or indigenous is an acknowledgment that they are the products of socially systematized practices consisting of the deployment of diverse types of material and intellectual resources attached to specific situations and contexts [24]. The subjection of epistemologies in universities to critique and change over the last three or so decades demanding a criteria of what counts as knowledge and its validation has become, for some, the last crisis of epistemology that occurs through a twin problem of naturalization and historicization. Naturalization of epistemology entails reducing knowledge to the demands of natural sciences such as physics and chemistry where observation and experimentation are key. This is reductionism since it strips knowledge of its normative dimensions. Historicization of knowledge means making the history of knowledge a priority, yet genuine knowledge should address both the present and the future in terms of knowledge validation [28]. The naturalization of knowledge takes the direction of natural sciences where epistemology is reduced to observation

calls for respectful and polite attitude toward other human beings. To care for one another therefore implies caring for knowledge concerns as well. Without epistemic care, the interdependence between human beings and knowledge would be undermined [22]. The recognition of others in knowledge production becomes important. There is dialog with other epistemic communities in the global south as shown in

There is no need for African universities to continue to be replicas of Oxford and Cambridge. Knowledge that is generated from African universities should be linked to African experiences so that it is able to solve African problems. Syllabi that are designed to meet the needs of colonialism should not find its way in the postcolonial era [23]. The situation calls for an epistemological transformation of universities. Transformation of the world's epistemological diversity into an empowering and emancipatory mechanism against hegemonic globalization speaks to another kind of bottom-up cosmopolitanism vested in the dialog of humankind, applauding cordiality, solidarity, and living in contradiction of rationality of profit-oriented avarice and egoism [24]. The recognition of epistemic diversity is important for universities in the global south because it helps in dislodging the domination of the north. On the contemporary global arena, the upsurge of knowledge and information is admitted to be one of the key forces of change relative to higher education in Africa, yet modern science, as epistemologies from the north, lack the "capacity to capture the inexhaustible diversity of the world" [24], rendering it a perpetuation of a Western knowledge hegemony and the annihilation of African thinking even in the inquiries about Africa affairs [25]. The situation calls for a reinvention of social emancipation that transcends the critical theory produced in the north and the social and political praxis to which it has subscribed by "opening" of the canon of knowledge, to the ongoing debates and initiatives on diversity and recognition [24]. The opening up of the canon of knowledge facilitates a horizontal progression of knowledge in a manner that accommodates other forms of knowledge through dialog and respect for other epistemic perspectives. Hence there is a need for critical discourses on epistemologies in universities in Africa as part of the south that challenges the "hegemony, universality and violence" [26] ushered in by Eurocentric philosophies just as we might never know where the cures for tomorrow will come from or the new construal of our planet's ecology as whole systems rather than reductionist parts or new

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85879*

the section that follows.

*Education Systems Around the World*

**4. African relational epistemology**

observed is a result of lack of facts, while there is rashness predicated on prejudice. Given the context of colonialism, meaning has to undergo contestation, negotiation, and dialog. In the politics of knowledge, it is irresponsible to dismiss knowledge claims without their contribution taking into account. This thinking opens up

In what sense is epistemology both African and relational? African relational epistemology, in this chapter, refers to a theory of knowledge that is both communalistic and informed by African culture. The combination of being communal and a basis on African culture is important because being communal in itself does not qualify knowledge as African since there is Western communitarian thought on the one hand and the existence of multiple non-African but global southern perspectives as found in Latin America and Asia on the other. African culture, in the context of epistemology, supplies the categories and concepts used to validate knowledge claims. African epistemology stands in a special relation to ontology because it starts by recognizing the being of the other. In the context of epistemology, the other is seen as a subject, capable of rational thought and capable of producing knowledge. The other is also important in the validation and evaluation of knowledge claims. African epistemology is relational in the sense that it is both dependent and interdependent. Dependency signifies the reliance on other people for the acquisition of knowledge. Interdependence is a mutual exercise that facilitates the exchange of knowledge between two or more people within the

African epistemology demands one to answer the question "what is African about epistemology?" African epistemology refers to a critical analysis of sources, nature, extent, and justification of knowledge using the African conceptual scheme. In the African sense, knowledge is not abstract, but it is related to the world. Knowledge is related to space and time in the sense that it is shaped by these categories. Beyond worldly connections, African epistemology rises above analytic atomistic epistemology through its stress on otherness. Knowledge is acquired through others, and it is validated through others. It recognizes and respects different perspectives. The African knowledge system recognizes the role of the community in the acquisition and preservation of knowledge. The cultural conceptual scheme becomes very important in the sense that it provides a platform for the description, analysis, validation, and evaluation of knowledge. The hierarchy of knowledge starts with the community at the top, followed by groups, and lastly the

According to the Sotho proverb *Motho ke motho ka botho*, one's humanity is seen through others. In the context of knowledge, the proverb entails that knowledge is passed as such through others. The test of the community distinguishes between propositional knowledge and opinion. Without the community of other human beings, the criterion of knowledge cannot be established. In the context of knowledge, the proverb boils down to the fact that knowledge is acquired, validated, and evaluated through others. In this context, the transition is from the Cartesian "I" to the African "We." A quick objection that is often leveled against communalistic knowledge is that this view of knowledge eclipses the individual within the community. However, communalistic thought does not necessarily eclipse the individual for two reasons. First, thinking is done by the individual, and when thoughts are judged as significant by others, they qualify as knowledge, and secondly, individual points of view are acknowledged in the assessment of knowledge. The proverb

for the content of African epistemology as shown in the next section.

**146**

community.

individual.

calls for respectful and polite attitude toward other human beings. To care for one another therefore implies caring for knowledge concerns as well. Without epistemic care, the interdependence between human beings and knowledge would be undermined [22]. The recognition of others in knowledge production becomes important. There is dialog with other epistemic communities in the global south as shown in the section that follows.
