Colonialism and the Destruction of Indigenous Knowledge System: Reflection on African Arts, Science, and Technology

From time in memorial, Africa is bequeathed with a rich cultural tradition reflected in its unique mode of art, science and technology. The people searched inwardly for solution to basic human problems such as illnesses, material needs and tools which resulted in traditional practices that served as viable if not super-active instruments for manipulating nature. From its resource deposits such as salt in the Wadi el Natrun, ancient Africans learnt the art of mummification and food preservation as far back as 500 BC. Owing also to a rich deposit of orchard woods as the Bytyrospermum parkia, Senegalensa Africanesis, etc, as well as the availability of clay particularly around its tropical regions, its people produced masks and sculptures used as disguise for masquerades and as display or for guiding containers filled with sacred relics of ancestors. History of Africa is awash with tales of this diverse art-forms which also included the ingenuity of iron working from NOK (spanning 500 BC – AD 200) or Meroe, the ceramic vase of Sintiu-Bara of Senegal, and recent once like the 19th to 20th century reliquary head of the Fang of Gabon. Its history is further epitomized by the construction of such menacing architectural forms as the pyramids of Egypt and the rich stone culture at Gokomere in Zimbabwe. With a combination of native herbs, roots, barks, and pyrotechnics, health problems such as psychiatry, orthopedics and those requiring prophylaxis, therapeutics, and antibiotics were checked. In this study therefore, an intra-African cross regional assessment of the concept, forms and challenges that these native arts, science and technology encountered during the 20th century era of colonialism and globalization is provided, showing how the twin forces of colonialism and globalization threatened to stultify their growth if not diminishing or extricating their overall essence.