The following is an excerpt of a longer article from the Nairobi paper, The East African Standard, that was seen on AllAfrica.com at http://allafrica.com/stories/200702260760.html . It concerns a Nigerian philosopher, and the excerpt deals with her work in Yoruba language and African knowledge systems... DZO
Kenya: African Examples - Prof Sophia Bosede Oluwole: Philosopher par excellence The East African Standard (Nairobi) http://www.eastandard.net/ February 24, 2007 Posted to the web February 26, 2007 Jane Godia Nairobi Culture and philosophy are key in her life. She philosophises on sexuality and marriage. The first Nigerian to be awarded a PhD in philosophy by a Nigerian university, Prof Sophie Oluwole, is working with other African countries to have indigenous African knowledge systems included in the schools' curriculum, writes Jane Godia. ... Her PhD was titled, "Metha-ethics and the Golden Rule" but she swore after this that she would never write western philosophy. Yoruba oral traditions and philosophy In order to gain insight into philosophy, Oluwole started by first learning the Yoruba language. "Learning means getting a collection of oral tradition and reading Yoruba books," she says. It is during her research that she came across a big compendium of Yoruba oral tradition, myths and proverbs known as Ifa. Oluwole explains: "Ifa is a tradition that is regarded as religion and is committed to the memory just like the Koran." Africa 2007 By the time Oluwole had taken 12 years to learn Ifa it was like she had earned her first degree. This means that she was now a professional in Yoruba. "The beauty of it is that it is documented as 16 books each with 16 chapters," Oluwole explains. "There are 256 chapters and each book has a name." She adds: "From this you can integrate the chapters (mix them up to form other chapters) and you will end up with 4,096 chapters." Some Yoruba people had started to document Yoruba tradition in 1898, but since then about 15 people have been able to do some documentation. She has published on Yoruba oral traditions and philosophy, in particular the Ifa corpus, and on African perspectives on women and development. And for this she is credited with providing immeasurable contributions to the fields of knowledge and her commitment to the promotion of African cultural values. Oluwole says the Ifa is her Bible Oluwole says the Ifa is her Bible because it is from it that she gets to know about the people she is talking about. "The only problem is that the people who have been trying to translate the Ifa have not been faithful," Oluwole laments. "They have been giving literary translations and this makes it lose meaning." She advises that in trying to explain any custom, tradition or proverb, one needs to interpret and give it a meaningful language. "Language and conception in translation is different. If I want to tell you what my people say, I must give many explanations." Oluwole's work is a prototype for Africa. She argues that it is sad that "we are told we have no culture, no philosophy, no indigenous science and technology, no economic theory and no education". "Those who say this do not understand because we believe them and deny we do not have the named factors". For instance, Oluwole argues, "people say Africa has no democracy but we know that Africa has its way of organising politically. We have kings, chiefs who were key rulers and equivalent of a president". Oluwole does not limit her work to Nigeria. She works with Senegal, Kenya and South Africa. She regrets the death of Kenya's philosopher, Prof Henry Odera Oruka, who was a very close colleague in the field of philosophy. Other than teaching philosophy at the University of Lagos, where she has also been a dean, Oluwole is also President of the Nigerian Philosophical Association. She is the founder of ImÛdÚye: Journal of African Philosophy and editor of the African Philosophy Series published by Excel (Lagos). Indigenous African Knowledge System Her most famous book Witchcraft, Reincarnation and Go-Head, was published in 1992. It is in this book that Oluwole applies herself to two questions, which play an important part in everyday African life: the analysis of magic, the belief in God, and the principles of Yoruba morality. She emphasises that these phenomena are not to be approached from a rigid, scientific perspective, which excludes anything that does not fit within the system. Mysteries are phenomena, which are not yet understood. However, this does not mean that they can never be understood. Science should not simply ignore them or declare them not real, but should analyse and document them. Influenced by the theory of cognition, Oluwole attempts to ascertain the thought processes, principles underlying these approaches to the world and how they influence social structures. Currently Oluwole is the Executive Director, Centre for African Culture and Development (CEFACAD). She is also working on a programme known as the Indigenous African Knowledge System with philosophers from Eastern and Southern Africa where they are fighting to have their knowledge included in the school curriculum. "This will provide opportunity for Africans to know indigenous knowledge so it can be developed," she says. In her paper, Culture, Nationalism and Philosophy, Oluwole describes the term culture as an indigenous heritage of norms, values, beliefs and doctrines that determine the sum total of people's achievements in different realms of human endeavour. Culture in this popular sense finds expression in the artefacts, including language, physical structures as well as the social institutions put in place within a community of men. "You know just like technology can be developed, culture cannot be transferred but it can be developed to suit the times," Oluwole philosophies. Copyright © 2007 The East African Standard. All rights reserved. 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