4. African Indigenous Perspectives on Technology

EDWARD SHIZHA

4. AFRICAN INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES ON TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

Contemporary African societies bear the imprint of the legacy of colonialism but they are also marked both by their pre-colonial heritage and their different postcolonial experiences. The way Africa is known today is a reflection of the political, economic and historical intrusions and constructions of its societies that resulted from colonial contact with Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries. Africa’s development, particularly in science and technology, is judged from the perspectives of its former colonizers. There is a tendency to look at Africa as if it never possessed any science and technology before Europeans set foot on the continent. Colonial thought on indigenous African communities and societies were eminently used to reconstruct indigenous peoples as homogenous and unchanging (Brownlie, 2005). Pre-colonial African societies were not homogenous. There were [are] marked contrasts between the Ethiopian empire and the hunting groups of the Mbuti in the Congo or between empires of the Western Sudan and the Khoisan hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari Desert. Indeed, there were striking contrasts within any given geographical area. The Ethiopian empire embraced literate feudal Amharic noblemen as well as Kaffa cultivators and Galla pastoralists. The empires of the Western Sudan had sophisticated, educated Mandinga townspeople, small communities of Bozo fishers and nomadic Fulani herders. Even among clans and lineages that appear roughly similar, there were considerable differences. These communities had their form of civilization and designed technology that was appropriate to their economic activities. What constitutes ‘civilization’ is cultural and political. Africa created its own indigenous technology using its own scientific knowledge. Each African society, from the East to the West and from the North to South, had its own scientific knowledge, which was put into practice and worked for the good of its people. The tools with which societies worked and the manner in which they organized their labour are both important indices of social and technological development. This chapter is based on arguments that support perspectives/propositions that pre-colonial Africa had scientific and technological tools that were designed and used to enhance the quality of lives of indigenous people in African communities. There were traditional skills and techniques that were used in the production of arts and crafts, blacksmithing, iron smelting, carding and weaving, and brewing, among others that summed up indigenous technology in Africa.

COLONIAL DISRUPTIONS OF PRE-COLONIAL AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT

Gennaioli and Rainer (2005) have observed that historians have documented that African pre-colonial institutions shaped modernization in Africa due to their continuity in the periphery, especially in rural areas and that such continuity dates back to the end of the 19th century, when the massive European colonization of Africa began. Citing historical accounts of White (1959) in Angola; Abubakar (1980) in Nigeria; Schapera (1970) in Botswana; Ashton (1967) in Lesotho; Boone (2003) in West Africa; and Mamdani (1996) in Sub-Saharan Africa, Gennaioli and Rainer (2005) conclude more generally that pre-colonial Africa was disrupted from its course of development but continued to do so in spite of the disruptions. The technology was relevant in organizing labour and in the production of goods, and it was appropriate to the needs of each African society. Communal labour was entered into by cross-sections of the community to make work more efficient. While the organization of labour might have increased production, the principal change in the productive forces was that which comprised new techniques—both tools and skills—in dealing with the environment and new plant and animal species. Unfortunately, European colonization interfered with and destroyed the social relationships of production and the development of indigenous technological advancement that were in place. Basil Davidson (1992) argues that colonialism prevented the potential for the natural maturing of pre-colonial African institutions. These postcolonial sentiments are also expressed by Onipede (2010) who states the following about the effects of colonialism in Nigeria: More importantly, the introduction of colonial rule and by extension ‘imperialism’ laid the foundation for Nigeria’s industrial underdevelopment. Because by nature imperialism is fortuitous, transferring to the metropolitan states the wealth of the underdeveloped nations, thereby undermining them through capital and human exploitation, colonialism and contemporary neo- colonialism. Indeed, the historical and current technology underdevelopment of the country could not be explained without reference to imperialism and European economic domination. The imperialist domination of Nigeria and its underdevelopment is a total process involving all facets of national life. (p. 86) While Onipede’s statement above focuses on the interruption of technological development in Nigeria, the impact of colonization on technological advancement and its effect on disrupting the economic lives of indigenous people was felt across and in all African societies. Post-colonial Africa suffered from the deskilling and disturbances in the course of development, heinously effected by colonial regimes. The consequences of colonialism and imperialism in corrupting indigenous development and technologies in Africa were previously discussed at length in Walter Rodney’s (1982) classic How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, which lucidly and critically analyzes the relationship between Europe’s economic development and Africa’s underdevelopment.