Prof a U Adamu BUK 07Th Inaugural Lecture 2004
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Sunset at Dawn, Darkness at Noon: Reconstructing the Mechanisms of Literacy in Indigenous Communities Abdalla Uba Adamu, D.Phil Professor of Science Education and Curriculum Development Department of Education Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria Professorial Inaugural Lecture Inaugural Lecture No. 7 Published for Bayero University, Kano, NIGERIA By the Public Lecture Series Committee ISBN: 978-2035-97-1 VII Bayero University, Kano Inaugural Lecture Series Saturday 24th April, 2004 No. 7 This Inaugural Lecture is dedicated to Uthman b. Muhammad Fodiye b. The Post-colonially oppressed Uthman b. Salih al-Fallati al-Ashri Al-Muhajirun, wherever they are al-Maliki (1755 to 1817) For reigniting scholastic revolution in the Caliphate Contents PART I Overture to the Soapbox Symphony .............................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................. 1 Negotiating the Meaning of Literacy............................................................................................................................. 1 School-based literacy ............................................................................................................................................... 2 Non-curricular literacy ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Community knowledge/learning ............................................................................................................................... 2 PART II Sunset at Dawn: The Colonially Scripturalized Mind ................................................................................................... 8 From Scripturality to Literacy ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Muslim Asia ............................................................................................................................................................ 11 Muslim Soviet ......................................................................................................................................................... 11 Islam and Scholarship in Northern Nigeria ................................................................................................................. 13 From Scripturality to Literacy—Origins of Ajami in Pre-Caliphate Nigeria ........................................................... 14 Origins of Universal Basic Education (UBE) in Medieval Kano ..................................................................................... 17 The Three Stages of Rumfa’s Policy on Education ..................................................................................................... 18 Babbaku ................................................................................................................................................................. 18 Farfaru ................................................................................................................................................................... 19 Haddatu ................................................................................................................................................................. 20 PART III Darkness At Noon: The Colonial Interregnum ........................................................................................................... 22 “Dan Hausa” and the Destruction of Muslim Education in Nigeria ............................................................................. 26 PART IV Back to the Future: Writing the Rites to Right the Wrongs .......................................................................................... 29 Internal Barriers ................................................................................................................................................................. 32 Strategies for Achieving the Empowerment Objective ................................................................................................ 34 References ............................................................................................................................................................... 39 Summary of the Presenter’s Bio-data Personal Data Name Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu Date of Birth April 25, 1956 Marital Status Married with Children Place of Birth Daneji Ward, Kano City, Kano Academic Qualifications Sussex University, Falmer, Brighton, England, 1985-1988 D.Phil University of London Chelsea College, 1982-1983 M.A. (Science Education) University of London Chelsea College, 1981-1982 PGD (Science Education) Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, 1976-1979 B.Sc. (Education/Biology/Physiology) Kano College of Advanced Studies, 1973-1976 IJMB Cert (Bio/Chem/Geog) Gwale Secondary School, 1968-1973 WASC Dandago & Tudun Madatai Primary Schools, 1960-1967 School Leaving Certificate Working Experience Since First Graduation Head, Department of Science and Technology Education 2010-2013 Professor of Science Education and Curriculum Studies 1997 Reader in Science Education and International Comparative Higher Education 1994-1997 Head, Department of Education, BUK 1995-1998, 1999-2001 Director, Management Information Systems Unit, BUK 1999-2005 Rockefeller Foundation Visiting Resident Scholar, Bellagio, Italy 1993 Fulbright African Senior Research Scholar as Visiting Associate, UC Berkeley, US 1991-1992 Senior Lecturer, Science Education, BUK 1991-1993 Sub-Dean, Faculty of Education, BUK 1989-1990 Lecturer I, Science Education, BUK 1988-1991 Lecturer II, Science Education, BUK 1984-1988 Assistant Lecturer, Science Education, BUK 1981-1984 Graduate Assistant, Science Education, BUK 1980-1981 NYSC Biology Teacher, Ekwerazu Girls Secondary School, Umoarkrika 1979-1980 Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu has a wide-ranging experience in the academic circles. He was first elected as a Sub-Dean of the Faculty of Education (BUK) in 1989 and became the Head of the Education Department (BUK) in 1995. At the end of the experience, he was appointed as the Director, Management Information Systems (MIS) in BUK in 1999. Outside the University, he was appointed Country consultant for World Bank’s Nigeria Primary Education Project. In 1996 he served as a consultant to the National Open University on Information Technology and was elected to the Chairman of the Center for Hausa Cultural Studies in 2002. Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu is a man of many ‘firsts’ in the Kano academic circle. He was the first Kano indigene to win the Fulbright Senior African Scholar Award (1991-1992); first Kano indigene to win the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship (1993), and the first and only Kano indigene so far to be cited in Who’s Who in Science Education Around the World. Professor A. U. Adamu is also a prolific researcher and writer that has been published in at least six countries besides Nigeria. He is credited with two full books, 29 research monographs, over 35 refereed articles in reputable journals and 30 Technical Reports as well as other publication on the Internet where he is renowned web-designer that has made valuable contributions to the development of Hausa cultural studies. This marked his increasing research diversification into the areas of cultural studies. In recognition of his tremendous contributions to Education he was admitted in 2002 as a member of the Nigerian Academy of Education (mnae) making him the youngest Professor to be so honored at that time. Part I Overture to the Soapbox Symphony Introduction The learning capacity of a society shapes, to a large degree, its economic, political, and cultural destiny. This is the case because learning is a central element in the reception, interpretation, transformation and sharing of experience. A society’s learning processes are the nerve centers of its adaptive capability, and allow it to learn from the past, engage the present, and imagine the future. Whether one is talking about economic growth, the preservation of cultural heritage, social problems, citizenship, the acquisition of new knowledge, the degradation of the environment or about rights and responsibilities, one is ultimately talking about learning. The use of the term “learning”, in contrast, to words such as schooling or education, for example, is in this context, deliberate. It is meant to convey the notion that learning occurs whenever and wherever people encounter experience, and engage in its reception, interpretation, transformation, and communication (Morrison 2001). The central core of learning is literacy which, viewed in a narrow sense, is the ability to comprehend and produce natural language in its written form. A broader definition of literacy encompasses functional notions of literacy as tied to the ability to use both written and spoken language to accomplish specific problem-solving and communicative tasks arising in the workplace or in conducting transactions within everyday institutions of the community (Venezky, Wagner & Ciliberti, 1990). Negotiating the Meaning of Literacy In the literacy domain, there is a long tradition of statistics gathering by scholars; however, because of changing definitions of literacy, and the dearth of accurate data in the educational measurement field, the data