REVIVING INDIGENOUS HISTORY, KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURE:THE CASE OF THE MPHEBATHO CULTURAL MUSEUM

Abstract

Unlike knowledge derived from applied natural sciences, Indigenous knowledgeis often treated as some footnote to historical knowledge. Historical studies, on theother hand, is thought of as lacking value beyond intellectual eagerness for the pastand is, therefore, scantily equipped for immediate applicability. As well, the criss-crossing Indigenous history, knowledge and culture are seldom viewed as intrinsicto Africa's deep past. To the disaffected audience, these processes promise fewor no practical solutions to Africa's developmental challenges. Such naïve claimsraise problematic epistemological issues rarely addressed in scholarship. Premisedon confronting these claims, this study argues for reviving antecedent histories, adecolonial philosophical shift, Afrocentrism, and for a case study method promisingan in-depth understanding of a past reality resonating with the region's pre-existingand present-day history-making. Afrocentric methodology, like ethnomethodology,typically orientates people's claim to knowledge and culture domains towardstheir antecedent histories. It is argued that these transhistorical fields are Africansociety's proximate, yet seemingly conflicting sense-making capacities forcomprehending the past. They have, in time, interwoven with today's living oralculture, natural sciences, and social-ecological spheres to nurture human life andknowledge worldwide