(Un)subjugating indigenous knowledge for sustainable development: considerations for community-based research in African higher education

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Johnson, A.T. and Mbah, M.F. ORCID: 0000-0002-4199-0819, 2021. (Un)subjugating indigenous knowledge for sustainable development: considerations for community-based research in African higher education. Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education. ISSN 2151-0393

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v13iSummer.3707

Abstract

The most recent incarnation of development goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), call for a more intentional integration of higher education in development. Research can provide an avenue by which this done, developing relevant solutions to social problems. But who benefits from research, and whose knowledge counts in this process? Formal engagement with Indigenous knowledge, honoring the voices, artifacts, histories, traditions, and knowledges of those Indigenous communities that buttress the university can potentially contribute to both the social and environmental justice at the heart of sustainable development. Our research was focused on how African academics at two public universities and community members in The Gambia and Zambia constructed the role of Indigenous knowledge within their community-based research activities. We highlight the specific epistemic strategies academic researchers used to engage Indigenous communities and knowledge, the dilemmas faced in the field, and the connections made through research relationships to sustainable development.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education

Creators:

Johnson, A.T. and Mbah, M.F.

Publisher:

University of Pittsburgh, Institute for International Studies in Education

Date:

1 July 2021

ISSN:

2151-0393