AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHY: A RESEARCH INTO MY EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY OF

SELF DISCOVERY AND COMING TO KNOW THROUGH THE LENS OF AFRICAN

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE

By

Osholene Oshobugie

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements

for the degree of Master of Art

Graduate Department of Leadership, Higher, And Adult Education

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

University of Toronto

© Copyright by Osholene Oshobugie 2019

ii

Master of Art 2019

Osholene Oshobugie

Department of Leadership, Higher, and Adult Education

University of Toronto

Abstract

This is an autoethnographic study that examines the personal, professional and scholarly aspects

of my learning, unlearning and relearning, with the goal to find my African Indigenous cultural

roots. Beginning this study as a colonized African woman, I achieved this goal by considering

critically the ongoing challenges of how colonization, through western education inflicts spiritual

and mental injury upon African/Black people through imposing its alien systems; while

systematically endeavouring to annihilate and extinguish any traces of Indigenous education,

knowledge and collective ancestral memory. Working with a theoretical framework of African

Indigenous Knowledge, I articulate some of the knowledge gained from this autoethnographic

research, which was by way of undergoing the most challenging process of decolonizing the self.

Through the result of this process, I found my spiritual core – my centre - within my African

Indigenous cultural roots, which now grounds/intertwines my personal, professional and scholarly

practice, thus creating a holistic being.

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Acknowledgements

I dedicate this work to our African Creator, the Divine Supreme Being who is ALL

THINGS SEEN and UNSEEN. In our African classical and ancestral Kmty language, we refer to

this Divine Supreme Being as NTCHR / NTCHRW; and in our specific mother tongue of the

Afemai people of Etsako, we refer to this Supreme Divine Being as OSINEGBA or OGHENA. I

am thankful for my realization that I am a Divine reflection of our Divine Creator; hence, inheriting

this consciousness as a Co-Creator implies that I must adopt its affairs, which is MA’AT –

UBUNTU. It is in the spirit of MA’AT that in honouring our African Creator, I by extension

honour our African Cultures, Spirituality, Traditions, Ancestors, Elders, Mothers and Fathers, our

Children here now, and all those yet unborn. Asé.

I also give thanks to my Iyomah Nokhua (grandmother) Atitiegbe Otsemhobo, whose

sacrifices to care for us enabled us to live with her within our Indigenous cultural context. Thus,

creating for me these experiences that have given value and meaning to my life today, in honour

of the memories of our African Indigenous ways.

To my mother, Iyesomi Amiakhor, from whose nourishment of her womb were my bones

formed and spirit housed, I give my Divine thanks. While the nature of motherhood is that of

sacrifices, my mother lived beyond this nature, to give her life for her children. While single-

handedly she raised six biological children along with lots of extended family members, her

strength is to this day to us, incomprehensible, inconceivable; for the telling of it is like enacting

various old tales of heroic bravery. She is an epitome of Divinity, and no words will do justice to

tell of her gallant ways. May her righteousness yield unto her the greatest reward of motherhood,

whatever that optimum reward would be. OBEKHA IYOMAH – Meaning, To Our Mother, I Give

Thanks! You make good everything that you touch.

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To my siblings, you are the most significant siblings I could ever desired. With you all in

my life, I wish for no other. In Ubuntu, we represent and enjoy each other through our laughter,

challenges, and joys. I am nothing without you all.

To my teachers and elders, from my African Indigenous communities, who are working to

help our souls remember the greatness from whence we came, I thank you. Your teachings humble

me. It is your work that has advanced me today. For this, I say DuA Ntchr!

To my professors at OISE, Nana Dei, Nana Wane, professor Ann Lopez, professor Colleen

Stewart, and professor Mary Beattie, whose teachings encourages us to go beyond the mainstream

curricula; I acknowledge that this project would not have occurred without you. To Dr. Okeregbe

and Dr. Usifoh, I still remember your encouragement and urge to be my best self as your student

of philosophy; and for this I thank you. Your genuine positive care for my success from both of

you, to this day, still impacts my experiences. I must call out a special thanks to professor Ann

Lopez, who, under her supervision, I have experienced growth and enlightenment from her

teachings and honesty with which she cares for all her students. She always finds the time to share

and help us with directions on how to move forward to achieve our academic, scholarly, and

professional goals. I am indeed honoured to have you as my supervisor, THANK YOU.

I call my husband, my lottoMax and my lotto649. His support for me is enormous and

tireless. His love showers me in the comfort of his strength. He has given me great African

children, and while still recovering from my injuries and nursing an infant, only because of his

support could I complete this project. Yet, I have no words to thank him enough for the joys that I

have experienced since my meeting him. However, one thing I know I did well, and by a knowing

choice, was choosing to pursue him on that gentle evening when I found him, precisely eight years

ago. To my husband and my precious strong African sons, I love you all dearly, and I give thanks

– OBEKHA!

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While all my thanks, I cannot exhaust, I would like to acknowledge that I have dedicated

this research to our Black people of Africa and African descent. I share my thanks for the

possibilities of our prosperous collective futures within our cultural and ancestral jurisdictions,

using the eternal legacies that our ancestors left for us.

DuA, Obekha, Eséun, Asante Sana, Meda Ase (thank you).

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Table of Contents

Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii

Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... iii

Prologue ...................................................................................................................................... viii

THIS I CHOOSE ................................................................................................................... viii

The Story of My Ancestral Name ............................................................................................ ix

Chapter One: Introduction to the Project .................................................................................. 1

An Invitation to Free Our Minds, That the Centre, Again, Will Hold! .................................... 1

Background ............................................................................................................................... 3

Purpose and Focus of Study ...................................................................................................... 6

Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................................... 7

Rationale ................................................................................................................................. 14

Definitions............................................................................................................................... 15

Kmt and Kmtyw .......................................................................................................... 16

Africa/Black ................................................................................................................ 16

Finding my African Indigenous Cultural Roots.......................................................... 16

High-Culture ............................................................................................................... 17

Research Questions ................................................................................................................. 17

Theoretical Frameworks ......................................................................................................... 18

Scope and Limitations of the Study ........................................................................................ 18

Delimitations of the Study ...................................................................................................... 20

Outline of the Remainder of the Document ............................................................................ 22

Chapter Two: Review of Related Literature ............................................................................ 24

African Indigenous Knowledge Systems ................................................................................ 25

The Historicity of African Indigenous Knowledge System ........................................ 25

Mdw Ntchr: An Examination of African Indigenous Knowledge System ............................. 26

The Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge as a Language System ................... 27

The Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge as an Educational System ............. 31

Writing .................................................................................................................. 35

Mathematics .......................................................................................................... 36

Medicine ............................................................................................................... 37

African Indigenous Knowledge According to General Tradition ............................... 38

The Importance of The Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge ......................... 44

Why Learn the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge System ......................... 45

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The Goal of the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge System and Its

Relevance for an African-Centred Education Today .................................................. 47

Summary of Literature Review ............................................................................................... 55

Chapter Three: Autoethnography Research Methodology and Design ................................ 57

Forms of Autoethnography ..................................................................................................... 59

Personal Narrative ....................................................................................................... 59

Characteristics of Personal Narrative: Storyteller, Stories, and storytelling .......................... 60

Storyteller .................................................................................................................... 60

Stories, and storytelling .............................................................................................. 60

Autoethnographic Research Method....................................................................................... 61

Doing autoethnography – the Process......................................................................... 63

Writing autoethnography – the Product ...................................................................... 65

Data Collection and Analysis.................................................................................................. 67

Methodological Assumptions ................................................................................................. 69

Research Limitations: Reliability, Generalizability, and Validity .......................................... 69

Ethical Considerations ............................................................................................................ 74

Summary of Research Methodology ...................................................................................... 75

Chapter Four: The Examination and Analysis of My Experiences as An African

Indigenous Woman Colonized through Western Education .................................................. 77

Theme One: My Dream to Become White as Snow ............................................................... 78

Theme Two: Unlearning Became a Necessity ........................................................................ 90

Theme Three: The Flying Turtle in a Relearning Glow ......................................................... 96

Chapter Five: Insights Gained and Implication for Practice ............................................... 106

Insight Gained ....................................................................................................................... 106

Implication for Practice......................................................................................................... 109

Conclusion and New Beginnings .......................................................................................... 119

Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 119

New Beginnings ........................................................................................................ 122

Epilogue ..................................................................................................................................... 124

SHE SPEAKS CULTURE TO ME .......................................................................... 124

VISION OF BEAUTY .............................................................................................. 125

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AFRICA ........................................................................ 126

AFRICA ON MY MIND! ......................................................................................... 126

IN AFFIRMATION .................................................................................................. 126

References .................................................................................................................................. 127

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Prologue

Like A River, May It Gently Flow

THIS I CHOOSE1

Oh, give me not the strident, Demon wail

Of penny whistle and tea-chest guitar;

Nor give me tales of those who rode the trail

Deep in the West of far America!

Oh, not for me the songs and nonsense tales

That thrill the modern rabble rout

Who, leaving far behind her tribal vales

With traitor zest, ape “culture” from without!

Rather than the modern crooner’s foreign voice,

Or the loud howls of modern township jive,

I shall leave far behind that mad’ning noise

And hurry home where Tribal Elders live.

There I shall sit before Ubabamkulu

Who shall relate to me the tales of Yore.

There I shall kneel before the old Gegulu

And hear legends of Those-that-lived-Before.

There I shall live, in spirit, once again

In those great days now gone forever more;

And see again upon the timeless plain

The massed impi of so long ago!

The words of men long dead shall reach my soul

From the dark depths of all-consuming Time

Which, like a muti, shall inflame my whole-

And guide my life’s canoe to shores sublime!

I shall feel once again the searing heat

Of love in hearts that have long ceased to pulse

And with Mukanda shall captain the fleet

Of war canoes; and storm Zima-Mbje’s walls.

Here, in these stories still told by the old,

I feel the soul and heartbeat of my race,

Which I cannot, in tales by strangers told-

For these, within my heart I have no place!

1 Use of poem is limited for copyright purposes. For entire copy of poem please refer to the work of our elder, a living

national treasure of African culture, Umdala Vusa’mazulu Credo Mutwa. This precious poem is found in one of his

many great works, Idaba My Children.

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The tree grows well and strong, Oh children mine,

That hath its roots deep in the native earth;

So honour always thy ancestral line

And traditions of thy land of birth!

(Mutwa, 1964, p. 1-2)

These are the stories that the elders tell to the younglings while they are seated in circles

around the sparked-wreaked fire in the compounds of their homes, or in the center of the villages,

or in the dark forests and on the aloe scented plains of Africa (Mutwa, 1964). Only a few of these

circles I experienced, yet, I remember the richness with which these stories were told and the

pondering gaze of us children eager to learn these amazing tales. “Suddenly, the old ones feel a

great burden on their shoulders – a heavy responsibility towards the young ones sitting so

expectantly around him” (Mutwa, 1964, p. xiii). The told stories are usually introduced in riddles,

parables, accompanied by songs, and infiltrate deeply into one’s imagination to stimulate and

challenge one’s senses in smelling, tasting, seeing and feeling (Githae, 2016). These stories and

the processes with which they are told are intentional; its educational values prepare children for

life, educating us about where we come from and the origin of our laws. The stories transform

instances such as embarrassing subjects and turn them into instructive tales (Githae, 2016).

The Story of My Ancestral Name

A nickname no matter how sweet is not a real name - African proverb (Idada, 2013)

I was swallowed by remorse one evening, lost in the vastness of my wondering gaze when

I tasted the saltiness of the sudden wetness that streamed down my face. The origin for this

remorse, while I could not isolate, was rooted in the sense of regret, an affinity for something I

lost. However, concurring with our Swahili proverb, ‘remorse never comes first.’ So, what has so

taken over me, that in this salty tear, my heart quietly sobs with a face that protruded a forced

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smile? The described feeling occurred over and over again. Albeit, after several times of this

repeated occurrence, my mind comprehended the reason why. You see, as a child, my dear mother,

Iyesomi Amiakhor, always adored my high sense of curiosity. I asked so many questions

simultaneously that she had to save me from myself sometimes; especially, when I began to annoy

people with my many questions. I remember, how she sometimes smiled at my difficult questions

and managed to discharge me without an answer, yet I received with grace whatever she instructed.

She was amazed at my abilities to pinpoint things that others overlooked most of the times. She

never cautioned my need to know, as this only gave her high hopes for me. It is this same curiosity

that is leading me to seek my way back home, where I belong in spirit, soul, and body – my

ancestral home – as a way to know myself within my cultural and ancestral jurisdiction. Hence,

the remorse for which I felt and shed the tear was based on the regret for the inability to know

myself. Finally realizing, that all this while, a stranger’s name I bear, a stranger’s tale I lived, for

my real name, and my real story, I forsook – but not by a knowing choice!

My experience in this short story, provides the setting for rest of the research that this

autoethnography has now produced.

****

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Chapter One: Introduction to the Project

“For you to be truly educated, you must know yourself” (Mazama, 2016) “in respect to the

world” (M. Jhutyms, personal communication, April 08, 2019). This is an autoethnographic

research into self to find and call me by my rightful name. Autoethnography is an approach to

research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyze personal experiences to

understand cultural experiences (Ellis, 2004). Thus, the following autoethnographic study

produces aesthetic and evocative thick descriptions of my personal and interpersonal experiences.

First, it discerns patterns of my cultural experience evidenced by my data collection through an

unpublished personal journal, notes, and artifacts (Bochner, 1997; Ellis, 1995; Ellis, Adams, &

Bochner, 2011; hooks, 1994). I then describe these patterns using facets of storytelling (precisely

African Indigenous storytelling pattern) and epiphanies to show and tell alterations of my authorial

voice (Bochner, 1997; Ellis, 1995; Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011; hooks, 1994). In essence, this

autoethnography allows me to make my personal experiences meaningful and culturally engaging;

produce accessible texts, reach a broader and more diverse audience usually disregarded by

traditional research (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011; Méndez, 2013). Most importantly, the

following autoethnography allows me to create an impact that could make personal and social

change possible for more people (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011; Méndez, 2013).

An Invitation to Free Our Minds, That the Centre, Again, Will Hold!

In this study, I research and document the personal, professional and scholarly aspects of

my learning, unlearning and relearning to find my African Indigenous cultural roots. The research

highlights how colonization through western education has inflicted spiritual and mental injury

upon African/Black people through imposing its alien systems, while systematically attempting to

annihilate and extinguish any traces of Indigenous education, knowledge and our collective

ancestral memory (Dei, 2000; Mucina, 2011; Wane, 2008). The ultimate goal of colonization by

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way of western education is to “create Black bodies which had no history, language, and cultural

identity, because such bodies by their Blackness were marked for enslavement” (Mucina, 2011, p.

163). As long as we are silent about our stories, the association that exists between our Blackness

and enslavement will continually hunt us (Mucina, 2011). This research is my way to find my

“centre” (Wane, 2008) through the most challenging process of decolonizing the self (Jhutyms,

2016, 2003; Wane, 2008). It is my hope that by sharing my story, I am reaching out further to our

broader African community, as we all share stories that connect us (Mucina, 2011). For like

Mucina (2011), I reckon the question: Could my story on a micro level be an example of how

western education has fragmented the African people’s Indigenous knowledge/educational

systems on a macro level? For instance, at the age of six, I came to know myself within my

Indigenous context, in ways that I had not known myself since after that. I have thus decided to

complete this autoethnographic research as a way of explaining the tensions that exist between the

ways I knew myself as a child within my Indigenous context, and the ways I am learning to

discover myself as an adult within the western context, especially now, as I am an educational

leader. Another reason is to present my experiences to myself and my readers in ways that connects

my autobiographical story to wider cultural, political, social meanings and understandings (Ellis,

2004; Maréchal, 2010). I use the personal narrative form of autoethnography as an attempt to

successfully demonstrate the fundamental aspect of my life as it intersects with my cultural context

(Ellis, 2004). I also use it as a way to give us, the colonized, strength in our efforts to decolonize

our western knowledge of selves (Dei, 2016, 2000; Wane, 2008), and as a starting point for healing

from the spiritual and mental injuries of colonization through western education (Hilliard-III,

2000; Mucina, 2011; Wane, 2008). Again, re-echoing the beautiful welcoming words of Mucina

(2011), I call to you, my African brothers and sisters the aspiration of this project: it is not to give

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us definitions of what we have been made into, but on the contrary, through each story, it is my

intention to reverberate the way forward for us as African Indigenous people.

Background

Since this project is constructed as an autoethnographic study, it is necessary to recognize

my personal, academic, and professional background explicitly, and demonstrate how my

subjectivity, including my own experiences and biases, might work to shape the source and scope

of this research. I was born and raised in African. I was born a storyteller. I tell stories, I write

stories, I dance stories, all within my African Indigenous cultural context. I wrote excellent cultural

scripts, and I directed cultural performances that evoked many emotions to the thrill of my talent,

my cast, and my audiences. All this happened in Africa! My use of speech to create stories, to

utilize the powers of our African proverbs, idioms, metaphors, and riddles as learning tools, calls

to my heart again. It is this calling that is now impacting my career as an African Indigenous

educator and African Indigenous storyteller for children. This means that I educate and tell stories

from the perspectives of African Indigeneity, rooted in African cultures, cosmology, ontology and

truth. It is the powers of my African Indigenous storytelling styles and its pedagogical abilities

(Chinyowa, 2001), that has drawn me to the use of the personal narrative form of autoethnography

and its ability to use storytelling to present data collected through field notes, journals, and

artifacts. Hence, the research has provided me with an opportunity to situate myself within my

cultural context and to do research that is meaningful on a personal level (Beattie, 2017; Ellis,

2004); and for this, I am grateful.

Before I decided to engage in this research, to begin the act of writing to make sense of my

world, to locate my particular biographical experiences in larger historical and sociological

contexts (Richardson & St. Pierre, 2000), I struggled with myself for a while. I wanted to research

and write about something that for me was less impactful. But then, I was beckoned upon by the

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consistent inquiries in one of my classes with emphatic questionings as to who am I? How did I

become this that I am? Why did I become this that I am? What is meaningful to me? What are the

threads in my story? What is the kind of research that only I can do? What gives me pleasure?

What excites me? What gives meaning and purpose to my existence? What is my purpose? While

all these questions got me thinking, the one that provoked my writing pen, was when the professor

asked the question, “in order to create conditions to encourage good learning in your life, what are

you going to do and what are you going to avoid?” (Beattie, 2017). I realized then that it gives me

pleasure to learn about myself and my history within my cultural and ancestral jurisdiction. Yet,

because I am still to heal, from the pain that I feel from being deprived this path of my ancestral

knowledge, I avoided doing this sort of research, for I feared the emotions that might swell up

during the inquiry and writing process. My response to these prompts, which I am thankful for

today, created in me, the need to write a story of my experiences narratively, using this

autoethnographic research method. The courage and roadmap to do this, however, came from one

of my other classes with professor Ann Lopez, when she introduced the class to critical theorizing

as ways of helping us create our praxis with which to approach social justice issues with regards

to our learning context and content (Theoharis, 2007). These classes exposed me partly to the

power of African Indigenous knowledge systems (Carruthers, 1999; Dei, 2002; Jhutyms, 2016;

Wane, 2008), which is the cornerstone for theorizing this research. African Indigenous Knowledge

(AIK) is the most ancient of systems (Jhutyms, 2016) that possesses Indigenous knowledge which,

according to Higgs, Higgs & Venter (2004) and Mah (2000) constitute the following distinct traits:

1) it is situated in a particular context that embodies the life experiences and natural settings of its

Indigenous people; not claiming universality, yet, not isolated from the rest of the world, but has

practical application for the survival and preservation of the community at large. 2) it constitutes

holistic knowledge that addresses all dimensions of human beings; 3) it derives from multiple

5

sources of Indigenous knowledge such as: the ancient and intergenerational knowledge systems in

the specific community like historical events, ancestral wisdoms and genealogies of the clan;

empirical knowledge that is learned through vigilant observations; and revealed knowledge that is

attained via spiritual institutions, dreams and visions. African Indigenous knowledge systems is

embedded in community practices, institutions, relationships and rituals. In its uniqueness to a

particular culture and society, it is the basis for their decision-making in agriculture, health, natural

resource management, education, economics, family relations, and other activities (Higgs, Higgs

& Venter, 2004).

As it became apparent to undertake this autoethnographic research, the words of Mazama

(2016), like a gentle breeze, reminded me of the critical importance of employing my praxis

through my life experiences. Ama Mazama, as indicated in the introduction of this project, gently

reminds us when she vehemently proclaimed that “for you to be truly educated, you must know

about yourself” (Mazama, 2016). It is on this note that I decided to get out of my comfort zone and

explore the very beginnings of the learning processes that informed the experiences of my

personal, professional and scholarly self. This learning processes, Dewey (1938) argued, cannot

be differentiated but intrinsically intertwined with our education, experience and life which

informs our practices as educators. In essence, I am an educator as a human being and I am a

human being as an educator; and keeping a sense of this experiential whole is part of the study of

my life story (Connelly & Clandinin, 1994) in this autoethnographic research. I will therefore

begin my research by acknowledging that my thoughts are shaped by my assumptions and

preconceived ideas and experiences which are responsible for informing my actions (Connelly &

Clandinin, 1994). In so doing, I can appreciate the opinions of others, notice how their assumptions

and preconceived ideas may have shaped their thoughts and experiences; as well the further impact

on these preconceived ideas that will be brought by the telling and re-telling of my life stories

6

through this autoethnography (Connelly & Clandinin, 1994; Dobson, 2007). This autoethnography

recounts and explores the experiences in stories and epiphanies that tell of my truncated perception

of self or my complete lack of knowledge of self as it devised my later childhood and a significant

part of my adulthood. The stories contained in this autoethnography influenced my eventual

decision in my early thirties to become an educator. These stories will be the introduction to “the

realities of [my] lived experience and [my] journey of professional learning” (Beattie, 2007, p.

172), which will hopefully lead me back to my African Indigenous cultural roots.

Purpose and Focus of Study

The purpose of this research, designed through the personal narrative form of

autoethnography, is to retroactively journey on my personal, professional, and scholarly aspect of

my learning, unlearning, and relearning, to find, explore, and be informed by my African

Indigenous cultural roots (Ellis, 2004; Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011). It is to provide for me, the

researcher, an opportunity for further reflection, interpretation, and application to practice (Beattie,

2007) a form of knowledge that contributes to the “continuing reinvention of self and reflection

and reframing of perspectives, beliefs, and practices” (Dobson, 2007, p. 24). Through

autoethnography, research processes as a form of inquiry become a “fundamental aspect of any

educational endeavor, because it is through inquiry that we look back, see new possibilities ahead,

and create change” (Lopez, 2016, p. xi). The individual significance of this form of research,

shown in the willingness to learn and understand one’s self, is in its inherent value as a form of

personal and professional development (Bullough & Pinnegar, 2001).

My goal, herein in this autoethnography, is to consciously investigate the interplay of the

introspective, personally engaged self with Indigenous cultural descriptions mediated through

language, history, and ethnographic explanations (Ellis & Bochner, 2000). By focusing exclusively

on my educational experiences within my African Indigenous context vis-à-vis the western

7

context, I hope to unravel “multiple layers of consciousness, connecting the personal to the

cultural” (Ellis & Bochner, 2000, p. 739). I do this as a way of understanding myself as an educator

in more profound ways; for with understanding the self comes understanding others which have

fundamental implications for how we practice as educators (Beattie, 2007; Chung, 2015; Ellis &

Bochner, 2000). Since the cornerstone of self-knowledge is within one’s cultural paradigm

(Chung, 2015; Ellis & Bochner, 2000; Jhutyms, 2016), and African Indigenous Knowledge

grounds my cultural paradigm, and provides the theoretical framework through which an analysis

of my experiences within my cultural and ancestral context is made possible; I wish, then, to

convey African Indigenous Knowledge, not as the answer, but as a means to better understand the

current discourse on the landscape of how we can begin to gain strength in our effort to decolonize

our western knowledge of selves (Wane, 2008). This implies that finding and embracing our roots

solidifies our identity questions in ways that are meaningful to our decolonizing research praxis

within our cultural and ancestral jurisdiction. Through the stories, I tell below in the remainder of

this thesis, I aim to demonstrate how the tenets of African Indigenous Knowledge can be applied

as a starting point for healing from the spiritual and mental injuries of colonization through western

education. Additionally, I attempt to highlight the way forward for us as African Indigenous

peoples (Hilliard-III, 2000; Mucina, 2011; Wane, 2008). The implication of this, therefore beyond

the self, is that it allows my readers to make a connection with the researchers’ feelings and

experiences in ways that may impact their learning (Méndez, 2013).

Statement of the Problem

I journeyed in my memory to September 2016, where I remembered my first class at the

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto (UofT). It was my

first course, and my first dialogue/argument with my colleagues over a piece of literature. It felt

so good to be back in school and to begin my early stages of scholarly work, at least so I thought.

8

My goal, in honouring the works that went on before me, was to have a profound impact on the

positive experiences of African/Black students’ education, starting here in Toronto. This dream,

this goal, for which I had successfully returned to school, lifted my spirits. I had an energetic high

maintained in my naïve world until I gained a critical consciousness about the existence of the

systematic anti-Black racism in education. As I sat in class and listened to my profoundly

knowledgeable professor, Dr. Coleen Stewart, my mind was marrying the information that she

shared with my research interest. In this lecture, it was impressed upon us the need to reflect on a

critical incident, a natural phenomenon that drives our being and research. I did not need to ponder

much to find my critical incident or phenomena, for I had it. It is what inspired me to OISE. In

this case, a critical incident is described as an event which makes a positive or negative significant

contribution to an activity or phenomenon (Gremler, 2015). Critical incidents are usually gathered

by asking individuals to tell a story about an experience they have had for the purpose of obtaining

a depth of knowledge, understanding, and manner of response to selected situations (Gremler,

2015).

Consequently, in response to the task, I reflected critically on a series of incidents that

occurred here in Toronto, Ontario when I arrived in 2010 for the first time. I encountered many

young Black people, children and adults, who did not like to be associated with Africa or to be

reminded that they were Black. For example, some stated, “I am not African, do not call me

African.” Some went further to say, “I was born here, and that is all I am.” I also witnessed my

friend’s child, whose parents are both dark skinned from the Caribbean, came home from school

and recounted a story to her mother in which she stated that her teacher told her class that in Africa,

children do not wear slippers or shoes and that they walk barefooted. On a different occasion,

another friend’s daughter, who is a grade eleven student, with dark skinned parents, one from the

east coast of Canada and the other, Caribbean, describe how her teacher discussed a trip to Kenya

9

with her class to help a community build houses and gain access to water. Nineteen students were

interested in this trip. However, after the teacher explained to the class about how unsafe Africa

was and that they would be guarded by soldiers all the time, the number of students interested

reduced to six.

The perception of Africa in the minds of these grade eight students appeared to be reduced

to two things: a community in need of help and a community that is not safe. Even I, an African

woman, born and raised, while astonished by these incidences, was also at the time struggling from

the burden of identifying as African, in exchange for the testimonies and promises of the dreams,

only the western world supposedly assured. Five years later, I experienced a fixed moment in time

as I became exposed to the truth of Africa and the western world. These incidences brought about

a realization about the lack of education or the miseducation of African/Black children here in my

new home, in the K-12 school system in Toronto, about their identity and my identity as

African/Black people. Works of literature on anti-racism education clearly indicates that this

miseducation of the African/Black child is not only limited here, to Toronto, but it is horribly a

global phenomenon, as I too was also miseducated about myself and ancestry even in Africa

(Asante, 2009, 2007, 2003; Caruthers, 1999; Dei, 2015, 2009, 1995, 1994; Noguera, 2008; Wilson,

2000).

I was now exposed to the works of Cheikh Anta Diop, where he revealed the role that

African people have played in history and their impact on the development of early societies;

including institutions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, dialectics, the theory of being, the exact

sciences, arithmetic, geometry, mechanical engineering, astronomy, medicine, literature (novel,

poetry, drama), architecture, and the arts have not been acknowledged (Diop, 1991). It astonished

me that instead of pride in who we are (I and others in the story) as African/Black people, we felt

shame. Through my western education about the continent of Africa, I was taught that we had no

10

form of education until the colonial invaders arrived on the continent. Racial incidences that I

experienced in Toronto coupled with inconsistencies in the many false stories that we were given

of ourselves by the colonizers, motivated me to begin a form of self-education within my African

culture, as I felt deeply lost and desperately needed to find my ground. Inspired by the works of

Cheikh Anta Diop, my self-education took the form of studying books and listening to online

lectures from many great African minds. Through my studies, I found that “Just as modern

technologies and sciences came from Europe, so did, in antiquity, universal knowledge stream

from the Nile Valley to the rest of the world, particularly to Greece, which would serve as a link”

(Diop, 1991, p. 3). Learning this encouraged me to study more, to address my concerns about the

shame expressed when the sense of my identity and those of the individuals mentioned herein were

enquired about. I began to wonder; does there exist an educational policy here in Toronto that

supports the creation of the African/Black studies curriculum in the K-12 school system? What

should be the structure and administration of this policy and curriculum? Who should create this

policy and curriculum? How should this policy and curriculum be implemented? What does or

should the content of an African/Black curriculum look like? What educational leadership style

will be most appropriate for implementing this change? At this time, my observation of the

African/Black communities and many works of literature revealed a high rate of school dropouts,

or most appropriately put school “push outs” (Dei, 2015; Dei, Holmes, Mazzuca, Melsaae &

Campbell, 1995), high rate of poverty, gang-related activities, violence and unhappiness. I became

of the opinion that contrary to popular belief, a lack of money is not the fundamental cause of the

unfortunate state of this community; however, it is the racist education and miseducation which

this community suffers that is the root cause of its malady. This sudden claim, based on my

observation, I soon realized was highlighted by our African ancestor, ben-Jochannan (2004) in his

work on the Cultural Genocide in the Black and African Studies Curriculum. Dei (2015, 2009,

11

1995, 1994) also centres this claim in all his works on anti-racism education. Henry, Enakshi,

James, Kobayashi, Li, Ramos, & Smith (2017) in their work on the equity myth, similarly

addresses the social injustices of the educational institutions on racialized and Indigenous bodies

and its implication to their societies. James & Turner (2017), in Towards Race Equity in

Education, focused on the schooling of Black students in the Greater Toronto Area to, again,

highlight my exact claims. Woodson’s (1990) classic works on the education and mis-education

of the Negro, also affirms my claim, as well as other works by James (2011), Solomon & Daniel

(2015), and Wilson (2000). As a result, I decided to change my career from the field of Mental

Health, Community and Social Services. I then returned to school to become an educator, that I

may learn and contribute my skills to the on-going efforts already in place to ameliorate these

identity problems for us, African/Black people. In my first assignment, in the educational

administration I: policy, leadership, and change class, I posited that a thriving African/Black

community in Toronto would be of benefit to the Canadian society at large, economically,

politically, and socially.

Notably, to achieve a thriving African/Black community, some scholars, like Paulo Freire

would argue that those who have historically been oppressed, such as African/Black children, need

more than a banking education (Freire,1989), while Sernak (2006) strongly stated that they should

learn for liberation and freedom to take control of their own lives. A case study by Brooks, Jean-

Marie, Normore & Hodgins (2007) documented a teacher’s report stating that “These [African-

American] kids need to know their intellectual ancestry … and the traditions of genius and guts

that run through their people” (p. 391). It was within these contexts that I suggested that equipping

African/Black children with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of who they are through the

school system will help them live a peaceful, productive, purpose-driven life. In this way, they

become contributing citizens to their families, communities and the Canadian society at large.

12

I further discussed these issues in class, stating that since world history is presented in ways

that leave out Africa and the people of African descent, there is therefore an emergent need for an

equitable inclusion of African history in the K-12 school system curriculum, as it is essential for

all students to “understand that African history is central to the construction of European history”

(Dei, 2009, para. 4), as well as world history (Diop, 1991). In this way, the circle of racism that is

partly fueled by the view that Africans/Blacks have no valuable contribution to history will be

mitigated. The second question of the group inquired about other cultural groups asking for the

inclusion of their histories in the curriculum as well. To this question, I responded that current

world history and the history of all peoples are linked to African history. In other words, “to better

understand the history of Africa is to better understand the history of the world” (Gilbert, 2004, p.

368).

This is not to say that African history is above other histories, but it is to say that to seek

the objective knowledge of African history will mark enormous progress in our societies and, to

the problem of anti-Blackness that endangers our communities. It will mitigate against the

annihilation of African Indigenous Knowledge systems, and the effect of slavery where

African/Black people can hardly trace themselves to African culture and identity. The firm belief

for the need to teach African history, to me, meant that we would see ourselves in truth. It further

implies that the misinformation and subjective narratives that we have been fed would no longer

guide our judgments, especially if our goals as educational leaders is to create engaged thinkers

and ethical citizens. Subsequently, I devoted my first semester to my interest to explore how public

educational policies support the creation of an African history curriculum for the K-12 school

system in Toronto. I reviewed existing works of literature and accomplishments by scholars in this

field. These activities directed me to a productive and efficient outcome of knowledge. It revealed

that there exist policies, curriculum, and directives to accommodate the appropriate and accurate

13

teachings and learning of African history in the Toronto K-12 educational system. It does,

however, exist primarily in writings, brochures, and in policies, with little or no collective will for

execution, both by the policymakers and educational stakeholders, placing strain on the smaller

advocacy groups that are committed to the execution of these policies and curricula.

This led to my experienced moment of epiphany, that while I returned to the western

educational process to learn about myself and my history, alas, the unlearning of myself and history

was actually made possible through the same western educational process. In the words of

Woodson (1990), this means that “THE "educated Negroes" [referring to African/Black people]

have the attitude of contempt toward their own people because in their own as well as in their

mixed schools Negroes are taught to admire the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin and the Teuton and

to despise the African” (p. 1). This was the experience that I was beginning to be conscious of.

Most of the lectures and presentations that I attended reflected me and my African culture in such

a negative light. I was becoming more alienated from my being and felt distraught that I might not

be able to learn my correct history, accurately. However, through guidance, on the first day I met

professor Ann Lopez, in desperation for counsel, she reminded me of the possibilities of research

to make learning outside the embrace of the classrooms and the curriculum enriching. It is,

therefore, to the merit of research within my African Indigenous cultural context, that the problem

of unlearning myself within the western educational context will be resolved gradually, and the

relearning of myself within my truth will now occur. It is to this merit of research that I desire to

gain pride in knowing about my culture and my history, to find my Indigenous cultural roots

outside the deceit of colonization via western education. It is this merit of research that has

produced this personal narrative autoethnographic study. Hence, my wish is that through the data

explored, stories researched and reflected upon, my search for self-knowledge, which is a

14

continuous ongoing process of becoming (Lopez, 2017), will support my purpose of deeper

learning.

Rationale

The work of one of our most esteemed African ancestor, Hilliard-III (2000), who was a

brilliant psychologist that loved and fought for his people in very plain expression illustrated our

struggles, losses, and the first steps we must take to begin our journey for our identity, healing,

liberation, freedom, and self-mastery. Relating his work as best as he has shared it will be the most

suitable first point roadmap for whoever chooses to heal and find their Indigenous cultural roots

(Wane, 2008) to inform their personal, professional, and scholarly practice. Hilliard-III (2000)

made a clear list of what has befallen us as a collective of African people both at home and in the

diaspora; over five hundred years of disorientation, slavery, and colonization, facilitated through

the western educational system and other societal institutions. To this, he shared the following that

has happened to us:

we surrendered our names, our ways of lives (culture) and adapted those of others;

we lost our appetite because we lost our names and culture; we lost our memories

so that only a few of us can tell our stories without beginning it with the topic of

slavery; we created false memories of ourselves and the rest of the world that is

completely removed from the truth about world history, where Black people had a

major role to play in the creation of the world as we know it, populated the world

and presented it with its first recorded culture. We lost our land in Africa and in the

diaspora, thus losing the capacity to protect our possessions; we lost our

independent production capacity; we lost the capacity to perceive when people are

doing things which are detrimental to us and accept inaccurate perceptions without

criticism. And as a snowballing result of all of these things, we have lost our

solidarity and our unity which translates into a loss of political advantage, economic

advantage, and mental orientation. A sense of self and a clear sense of belonging is

lost, as well as a clear sense of wholeness, continuity, and purpose. (Hilliard-III,

2000, p. vii-viii)

He asserts that while the problems, as stated above, may be many, the critical first step

towards restoring who we are is to remember who we are, hence, this autoethnographic research.

“A large part of what we must do is to get our memories back intact and regain our orientation,

15

only then will other things be possible” (Hilliard-III, 2000, p. ix). Autoethnography research,

through storytelling my experience, is one of the ways that I have chosen to get back my memory

and regain my orientation. I do this so that moving forward, the personal, professional, and

scholarly aspects of my education and practice will be informed by my African Indigenous cultural

roots and worldview, which is governed by living harmoniously with all that is nature – which is

to live within the African context and concept of Ma’at!

Definitions

The use of our African Indigenous terms throughout this project speaks to our abilities as

African Indigenous peoples to practice Kujichagulia, a concept created by our African Indigenous

elder, Maulana Karenga in the mid-sixties. Kujichagulia in the Kiswahili language is a term that

speaks to our African principles of self-determination - to define ourselves, name ourselves, create

for ourselves and speak for ourselves (Karenga, 2008). I justify the use of my Indigenous terms as

it defines us with the work of Smith (1999); especially, given the nature of this research. Linda

Tuhiwai Smith is a Māori scholar, and in her seminal work on Decolonizing Methodologies, she

drew attention to the thousands of ways in which Indigenous languages, definitions of selves,

knowledge systems, and cultures have been silenced, misrepresented, ridiculed and condemned in

academic and popular discourses. To this, she judiciously articulates that, “Decolonization is a

process which engages with imperialism and colonialism at multiple levels. For researchers, one

of those levels is concerned with having a more critical understanding of the underlying

assumptions, motivations, and values which inform research practices” (Smith 1999, p. 20). This

means that we must focus on ourselves as indigenous peoples, and our own perspectives in order

to decolonize theories and use our own indigenous epistemology that cater to our needs. Based on

this understanding, this autoethnography is informed purposefully, within my Indigenous cultural

16

descriptions, mediated through language, history, and ethnographic explanation (Ellis & Bochner,

2000).

Kmt and Kmtyw

Throughout this project, I will be using Indigenous terms, such as Kmt (also spelled as

Kemet) and Kmtyw (pronounced Kemetiu). Williams (1992) reminds us of the importance of using

the ancient African names to describe our land now referred to by non-Africans as Mizrain,

Mize/Mizrair or Egypt (ben-Jochannan, 1970). Kmt is the Indigenous name that our Black Africa

people and ancestors of the Nile Valley called their land. Kmt means the land of Black People, the

Black community, the Black land, or the Black nation (Asante, 1994; Browder, 1992; Jhutyms,

2016, 2017). The term Kmtyw means the Black People of Kmt (Asante, 1990; Browder, 1992;

Jhutyms, 2016, 2017). This describes the original African inhabitants of the land of Kmt. The use

of the ancient countries and city names in this study, are the ancient Indigenous African names as

well, rather than the Greek, Roman, or Arab versions (Asante, 1994; Browder, 1992).

Africa/Black

I use the term Africa/Black as a representation for all Black people of African ancestry

globally; geographically located in Africa and the diaspora elsewhere, born of Black African

parents. Africa and Black could be used interchangeably.

Finding my African Indigenous Cultural Roots

‘Finding my African Indigenous cultural roots’ is my operational definition for the term

Identity. I have chosen to focus this research using the phrase: ‘finding my African Indigenous

cultural roots’ because it speaks specifically to the foundations of my identity – an African cultural

Identity. This foundation, I know, exist; but do not know how it exists, nor how to live it, nor how

to become it. Hence, I use the preferred phrase to contextualize the focus of this research. Yet, the

17

phrase, ‘finding my African Indigenous cultural roots’ and the term ‘identity’ possess similar

meaning, and I will use them interchangeably for this project.

High-Culture

The term, High-Culture, is the preferred term used by Africa Indigenous scholars as to the

equivalent of “civilization” without the racist connotation of anyone being “uncivilized” (ben-

Jochannan, 2005, p. viii). However, they may be used interchangeably when needed.

Additional phrases, theoretical and methodological terms will be defined throughout this project,

as required.

Research Questions

Though there is much to explore between time and space in the process of finding one’s

Indigenous cultural roots, this project, however, focuses on exploring three major themes to

investigate how I came to find my African Indigenous cultural roots. These major themes use my

own texts, experiences, memory and reflections as data to present interconnected stories through

the use of African proverbs, metaphors, and folklore, that is embedded in the Africa Indigenous

tradition of Oral storytelling (Achebe, 1994; Tuwe, 2016; Wane, 2008). The first theme focuses

on my learning experiences to explore the story that addresses the origins and reasons for my

dream to become ‘White as Snow’ which is largely based on my life’s narrative (Beattie, 1995b).

The second theme, titled: ‘To Get Lost Is to Learn the Way,’ addresses my chosen narrative

(Beattie, 1995b) of how and why Unlearning became a MUST for me. The third theme, titled:

‘The Flying Turtle in a Relearning Glow: In the Spark of African Indigenous Knowledge,’ also

addresses my chosen narrative (Beattie, 1995b) to help me understand how my African Indigenous

knowledge system is currently impacting my Relearning. I have used these themes to provide the

architecture for answers to my overarching research question, which is: how has the understanding

and development of my African Indigenous Knowledge, ontology, and the unlearning of western

18

educational epistemology impacted my growth as an educator? I seek answers to this fundamental

question through exploring these sub questions earlier asked in this project: (1) Who am I? (2)

How did I become this that I am? (3) Why did I become this that I am? I search to answer these

questions with respect to its impact on my practice as an educational leader.

Theoretical Frameworks

This research project draws from and is informed by African Indigenous knowledge.

Amongst other scholars, the works of Asante (2003, 2007), Carruthers (1999, 1995), Dei (2016,

2015, 2009, 2000, 1994), Fu-Kiau (2003), Hilliard-III (2000), Jhutyms (2017, 2016, 2003),

Kambon (2019), Nantambu (2011), Obenga (1992, 1995), Robinson (2018, 2009), Wane (2008),

and many others will support this work. Through the lens of African Indigenous knowledge, the

underlying objective of which, according to Hilliard-III (1986, 2000), Jhutyms (2016, 2017),

Obenga (1992, 1995), and Nantambu (2001), is to gain self-mastery; I will focalize the significance

of my Indigeneity to my educational journey as it is present and absent through all the themes to

express notions of identity loss and confusion, and an eventual identity gained, within my African

cultural and ancestral jurisdiction. The relevance of finding our African roots, and practicing our

African culture, for, Asante (2007, 2003, 1994), Amen (2017), Dei (2016, 2000, 1994) and

Jhutyms (2017, 2016), is pertinent in the process of informing a decolonizing research praxis,

African-centred education, culturally relevant pedagogy, and other anti-oppressive approaches

within the context of education for Africa/Black students.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

Since this project takes the form of an autoethnographic study that examines my own

experiences into the personal, professional and scholarly aspects of my learning, unlearning and

relearning, to find my African Indigenous cultural roots, it is limited strictly to my own ontology,

which includes reflections, journal notes, and memories of my educational experiences since

19

childhood. I must acknowledge, too, that all of these experiences have taken place within various

environments; first in Africa, Europe, Asia, and now in North America. This means that my

experiences with western education is robust. Future research may focus on the journey of finding

one’s African Indigenous cultural roots, in ways that impact our coming into being as educators,

as it may differ from one individual African educator to another in the different environments

mentioned above. My education was and is still conducted in English, and a small portion in

French. However, all the academic literature reviewed for this research is written and presented in

the English language.

Since I am in training as an educator, with a social justice and culturally relevant leadership

praxis, I have attempted to draw from literature, studies, and resources that provide both an Ontario

and global context on the outlook of western education for African Indigenous stakeholders in

education. In essence, the information presented in these texts could, theoretically, be applied to

different environments where colonization through western education presides over African

cultures. It is however necessary to note that this project reflects and interacts with my personal

experiences and perceptions of western education in contrast with my African Indigenous

education, in the hopes that my story on a micro level could be an example of how western

education has fragmented African people’s Indigenous educational systems on a macro level

(Mucina, 2011). Future research could investigate how these stories are experienced on a macro

level amongst African Indigenous peoples. I must also note that my roles as an educator have been

officially in the form of a teaching assistant (TA), student tutor, children dance teacher, facilitator

and student peer support, which, in the field of education, represents relatively little experience.

However, my perspective in this research is that of a learner and is mainly informed by my lived

experiences and observations.

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To preserve the integrity of this research, and the anonymity of the individuals or groups

described through my stories, I have, in every case, wholly omitted the names and academic

institutions integral to my experiences. This project is a collection of ideas and thoughts which I

have expressed, both in-person and in writing, over the course of five years as both an educator

and a graduate student. Within this context there are many experiences and moments of epiphanies

that I will draw on. This autoethnographic effort, in sum, does not possess grounds for widespread

and simple generalizability as in the traditional, social scientific meaning that stems from, and

applies to, large random samples of respondents (Agostinelli, 2016; Ellis & Ellingson, 2000). For,

unlike canonical research processes, the utility of the term reliability and validity are altered in an

autoethnographic study, and the study cannot be replicated to test for reliability and validity of its

findings (Agostinelli, 2016; Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011). But I, however, argue that its

theoretical framework could inspire other educators to reflect critically upon their journeys as

educational leaders. By using the same or related literature to that referenced in this study, they

can continue to investigate the process by which we can all find our centre, discover our African

Indigenous cultural roots, to help explore and hopefully ameliorate the identity crisis of African

peoples and peoples of African descent globally.

Delimitations of the Study

In this project, I have chosen to focus on my experiences as a learner, in my current context

as an African Indigenous educator, to situate my thoughts and ideas within a larger body of

research. I have not, therefore, interviewed or consulted others within this context. Future research

could, through interviews with willing participants, look at how other African Indigenous

educators perceive their roles in order to gain a greater understanding of how the personal,

professional and scholarly aspects of our learning, unlearning and relearning could impact the

discovery of our Indigenous cultural roots, both for ourselves and our students.

21

Although the design of my autoethnographic method provides readers with the opportunity

to learn more about my own thoughts, experiences, and practices, I reckon that some scholars still

find it somewhat challenging in the field of educational research. For example, Atkinson (1997)

and Coffey (1999) share criticism of the self-indulgent, narcissistic, introspective and

individualized nature of autoethnography. This criticism is at the core of the resistance to accepting

autoethnography as a valuable research method. Walford (2004), in response to Ellis & Bochner’s

(2000) conception of autoethnography as a narrative that “is always a story about the past and not

the past itself” (p. 745), criticizes the reality of the personal narratives that an autoethnography

represents when he asserted that “if people wish to write fiction, they have every right to do so,

but not every right to call it research” (p.411). For Walford (2004), his criticism addresses a

validity concern around the question of how much of the accounts presented are real or constructed

from imagination. I wish to acknowledge that, despite these academic criticisms regarding the

authenticity and credibility of the autoethnographic approach, I have deliberately chosen to use

this approach as the method to both explore and present my area of research. I am drawn to the

main goal of autoethnographic research as therapeutic rather than analytic, where narratively

recreating the past represents an “existential struggle to move life forward” (Ellis & Bochner,

2000, p. 746). For Ellis & Bochner (2000) and Méndez (2013), the subjectivity and credibility of

the researcher is assumed and accepted as the value of the autoethnographic research method.

Autoethnography provides the opportunity to “allow another person’s world of experience to

inspire critical reflection on (ones) own” (Bochner and Ellis, 1996, p. 22). This, Bochner & Ellis

(1996) assert is another useful aim of the personal stories that autoethnography research provides.

Some scholars also see no value in this form of research for the criticism that as a social

report, autoethnography lacks an organized, logical claim that is supported by empirical data, and

that the research objectivity is impaired by the closeness of the author to the phenomenon being

22

researched (Méndez, 2013). To this concerns, Denzin and Lincoln (2000) asserted, that “objective

reality can never be captured. We can know a thing only through its representations” (p. 5). This

implies that:

The richness of autoethnography is in those realities that emerge from the interaction

between the self and its own experiences that reflect the cultural and social context in which

those events took place. It is through this representation that understanding of a particular

phenomenon is accomplished. (Méndez, 2013, p. 284)

I have thus, earnestly endeavoured to develop my study in a manner that is consistent with

the academic expectations and severity, which several leading authorities on the subject demand.

Though my findings and opinions may not, by all readers, be perceived as empirical, they are not

intended to be interpreted as such.

Outline of the Remainder of the Document

In the following chapter, I conduct a review of related and contemporary literature on the

topics of African Indigenous knowledge to highlight the scholarship on emancipatory education

that led me to find my African Indigenous cultural roots. In the same chapter, I interact with

literature that explores a distinct context that informs the miseducation of Black/African people

which intersects well with my desire to find my African Indigenous cultural roots through this

research endeavour.

In the third chapter, I share with my readers the autoethnographic research methodology

and design, relational ethical considerations, along with procedures for data collection and

analysis. However, since this study is an autoethnographic research project, my experiences are

the body of data. This implies that the meaning of “data” infers a less traditional definition that

highlights empirical learning. I complete this chapter by connecting my decision to undertake an

autoethnographic approach to its appropriateness for the project.

The fourth chapter of this document offers insights into the learnings of my

autoethnography. In this section, I integrate my personal experiences in three interconnected

23

themes in the form of stories and epiphanies which capture the intersection of African Indigenous

knowledge and the use of African storytelling as a decolonizing research praxis. Each of my stories

offers what is, in essence, an educative snapshot of my journey to find my African Indigenous

cultural roots. In the same chapter, I also critically reflect upon my epiphanies and engage in a

close reading of sorts, which both draws from and connects to current literature. In my analyses, I

established the major themes and challenges for students and educators that emerge from my study.

While I invite readers to draw their own conclusions from my creative pieces, I also concluded by

providing a critical discussion and an overall summary of my findings.

The fifth and final chapter of this study continues to discuss my experiences in a manner

that raises insights gained, implications for practice, recommendations, and conclusions. In other

words, this chapter follows Bochner (2002) and Ellis, Adam, & Bochner (2011), to conclude this

project by answering the most significant questions of autoethnographic research findings: how

useful is the story; and to what uses might the story be applicable? I generalize the conclusion of

my findings by inviting my readers to determine if the story speaks to them about their experience

or about the lives of others they know; or if unfamiliar cultural processes have been illuminated

(Ellis & Bochner, 2000; Ellis & Ellingson, 2000), thereby, creating possibilities for a personal or

social change (Ellis, Adam, & Bochner, 2011).

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Chapter Two: Review of Related Literature

In this section, I conduct a review of related and contemporary literature on the topics of

African Indigenous knowledge system to underscore what scholars are writing regarding topics of

African Indigenous Knowledge systems as the foundation for western education. My objective,

herein, is that of creating and establishing a historical context within which African Indigenous

Knowledge systems have existed. Dr. ben-Jochannan once raised an argument that asked a

powerful question: would whites or any other group agree to embrace a history or knowledge

system of themselves created and controlled by Blacks? While the answer is undoubtedly NO, we

then appreciate the circumstance that allowing or accepting the risk of being written into history

by others, is our act of giving others the permission to erase African people from history. For

“having given this permission, we become accomplices in our own cultural genocide” (ben-

Jochannan, 2004, synopsis). To support the above remark by our ancestor Dr. Ben as he is fondly

called is the popular teaching in the late ninety-twenties of Dr. Lerone Bennett Jr., a well-

appreciated scholar that was amongst us. He teaches us that “an educator in a system of oppression

is either a revolutionary or an oppressor” (Quotes, 2019). It is with great awareness for the

circumstances in which African Indigenous knowledge systems have been controlled by other

groups, that it becomes easier to understand the challenge, the potential, and the ongoing need for

criticality on the matter. What this literature review demands, then, is a reconceptualization of the

role that African Indigenous Knowledge plays in history through the creation of the seven liberal

arts, which is the foundation of the western educational system today (Asante, 1990, 1994;

Browder, 1992; Diop, 1991, 1974; James, 2009; Volney, 1802). As we read, I invite us to humbly

and kindly be aware of this fact, that: “To manipulate history is to manipulate consciousness; to

manipulate consciousness is to manipulate possibilities; and to manipulate possibilities is to

25

manipulate power” (Wilson, 1993, p. 2). Could all that we have been taught about ourselves, been

manipulated false history? Let’s see as this literature review will reveal.

African Indigenous Knowledge Systems

I begin this section with a preface of an invaluable eyewitness account to the origins of the

African magnificence. Africans are presented as the inventors of arts and sciences, the foundation

on which western civilizations exist today. Originally written in 1802, here are the words of

Constantin François de Chassebœuf, Comte de Volney, in Ruins of Empire:

There a people, now forgotten, discovered, while others were yet barbarians, the

elements of the arts and sciences. A race of men now rejected from society for their

sable skin and frizzled hair, founded on the study of the laws of nature, those civil

and religious systems which still govern the universe. (Volney, 2006, p. 521-525)

The above quote, and more details of the work of this prominent philosopher and historian,

is one of many recorded eyewitness accounts that solves the question as to the origin of all arts,

sciences, and world religions, now so highly revered by the different branches of both the Semitic

and Aryan worlds (Diop, 1974). Herodotus bears witness to this when he says that “The names of

nearly all our gods came from Egypt into Greece” (Asante, 1994, p. 33). This is my opening to

this section, to remind us, as in the words of Dr. Finch, that “The only thing that is new is that

which has been forgotten” (Asante, 1994, p. 95)

………………………………………………………………………….

The Historicity of African Indigenous Knowledge System

For Freire (2005), knowledge has historicity; and it is continually in the ongoing process

of being and becoming (Darder, Baltodano, & Torres, 2003). The importance of this history of

knowledge is one that “tells a people where they have been and what they have been, where they

are and what they are. Most importantly, an understanding of history tells a people where they still

must go and what they still must do” (Clarke, 1993, p. 11). For Clarke (1993), history is a clock

26

that we use to find our cultural time of day. Hence, following the historicity of African Indigenous

knowledge, I have chosen to begin the review of the history of this knowledge system from the

point at which it directly impacted western education. In order to do this, it becomes imperative to

have some comprehension of the Mdw Ntchr (pronounced Medew Netcher), the original name for

the pictorial language that is commonly now known as Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Amen,

2010).

Mdw Ntchr: An Examination of African Indigenous Knowledge System

The reason for a partial or complete comprehension of the Mdw Ntchr is because it

encompasses the African Indigenous Knowledge system, both as the African language and the

African educational system, that informed western education as we know it today (Amen, 2010;

Hilsa-III, 1986; Jhutyms, 2016, 2003, 2017; Obenga, 1992, 1995). Hence, in this literature, I will

review the Mdw Ntchr, first, as a language system, and second, as an educational system. As an

educational system, this literature will reveal that the current European educational disciplines

which stem from the seven liberal arts – grammar, dialectic (logic), rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry,

astronomy, and music - originated from the Mdw Ntchr. This information is relevant for the

African students/educators in Toronto, and globally because it disrupts the popular notions of a

lack of contribution of our African ancestors to world civilizations. It will also help inform the

process of African-centred education, imbedded in African Indigenous knowledge, that will be

culturally relevant to the African student/educator within or outside the Eurasian/western

educational context. In order to see the development of contextual analysis advanced by the authors

to better comprehend the nature of the Mdw Ntchr, I find it necessary to produce lengthy quotes

in this literature review. By probing the works of leading scholars in the field, such as Amen (2016,

2010), Asante (2009, 2007, 2003, 1994, 1990), Carruthers (1999, 1995), Clarke (1996, 1993,

27

1992), Diop (1991, 1974), Finch (2018, 1990), Hilliad-III (2000,1998, 1986), James (2009),

Jhutyms (2017, 2016, 2003), Kambon (2019, 2017), Nantambu (2001), Obenga (2016, 2004, 1999,

1995, 1992), Robinson ( 2018), Williams (1992, 1993), Woodson (1990), to mention a few; and

by referencing directly the works of scholars in antiquity, such as Plato, and indirectly the works

of Aristotle and Herodotus, it is the aim of this review that through its detailed analysis, the Mdw

Ntchr will be comprehended and its relevance in the current educational context will be seen as

crucial for educators and students alike to aid a decolonizing educational praxis. This literature

review will also address the relevance of the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge system

to today’s education, with conclusions and recommendations for further studies.

The Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge as a Language System

The more one learns the Mdw Ntchr, the more insight is gained into African Indigenous

Knowledge and its philosophy of education for the Kmtyw (Africans of the Nile Valley). This

insight is helpful to inform a successful African-centred educational process. The Mdw Ntchr,

according to Carruthers (1999), is a language defined by the owners of the language, as the Divine

speech that contains the totality of human knowledge. In today’s context, the Mdw Ntchr embodies

and goes beyond what is denoted as theology, epistemology, and ontology in the Greek use of

these words (Carruthers, 1999). As a language system, the Mdw Ntchr is the only original scripted

language on the planet earth from which all other scripts originated, hence, provided the world

with the most important invention of writing (Amen, 2010; Jhutyms, 2016, 2003; Kambon, 2019;

Obenga, 1999). As indicated by current research, there exists consensus in the definition of the

Mdw Ntchr as a highly developed language and writing system that was invented by the people of

Kmt, along with paper, ink and pen (Amen, 2010). Research shows that writing is one of the most

important contributions that African people gave to the world (Amen, 2010). According to

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Awakoaiye (2000), and Amen (2017), the Kmtyw were the first to create the first writing systems

in the world well over 10,000 years ago. They did this by drawing pictures to represent different

objects, such as a house or a table, and by using symbols to represent ideas, such as life or beauty.

Jhutyms (2016) illustrates that “the words Mdw Ntchr means Divine Words of the Ntchr or Divine

Words of the Creator” (Jhutyms, 2016, p. 326) or “Divine words of Wisdom” (Amen, 2019). The

Mdw Ntchr is written on different materials, including stone, wood and papyrus; Papyrus being

the first paper ever made by using reed leaves (a perennial grass) which were weaved together and

dried (Awakoaiye, 2000). Mdw Ntchr has over 2,000 symbols2; some represent a single letter,

others represent a word or an idea, and others represent numbers - including fractions (Awakoaiye,

2000). Amen (2010) also included another meaning of the Mdw Ntchr as the Divine Words of

Nature. Nature, meaning all the infinite forms of existence to reflect both the complexity, the

spiritual Nature, and the reverence with which the speakers held this language (Amen, 2010;

Carruthers, 1999; Jhutyms, 2016). “It is the oldest known language that has a large body of written

literature in Africa and the world” (Amen, 2010, p. vi). The Kmtyw complex writing system of

symbols or the Mdw Ntchr script, copied the natural occurrences in Nature, thus, replicating in a

written form the existence of all things in their Divine state as they observed them (Awakoaiye,

2000). For example, the symbol of a heart with its valves represents Nfr, and this means pleasant,

good, well, or beautiful, because to them the heart was the home of feelings and good intent (or

bad). Another example observed was that in places of worship when people pray and show

gratitude to the Creator, they would usually raise their hands in the air. Likewise, the symbol for

spirit, which is Ka, in the Mdw Ntchr, is a picture of someone raising their hands (Awakoaiye,

2000). Analysis of this experience of how the Mdw Ntchr script came into existence, means that

2 To see some of these Mdw Ntchr symbols, please refer to Amen (2013, 2010)

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African peoples cohabited harmoniously with Nature, seeing Nature as Divine and themselves the

expression of Nature (Hilliard-III, 1986; Jhutyms, 2017, 2016; Kerenga, 1984). The concept of

harmony with Nature, which for the African is entirely commonplace, is extraordinary only in the

European sense. It is very contradictory to the Greeks’ - the world’s first Europeans (Clarke, 1996,

1992; Egar, 2000) behaviour towards Nature that is seen in the western society and education

today, for which Carruthers (1999) in his trailblazing study called, the metaphysics of alienation.

He describes Greeks behaviour towards Nature as “the profound belief that man is alone and that

man is confronted by hostility from the creator, nature, and from all other individual men and

women, especially women” (p. 293). Studying the Mdw Ntchr language and grammar reveals that

African people perceived themselves and their environment as one in which they lived

harmoniously together. Another example of this is seen in the symbol for water which is

represented by a ripple and pronounced with a sound that replicates the ripple-like movement of

water. All symbols and pictures of the language follow this pattern of harmoniously replicating

Nature.

An Analysis of this information juxtaposed with today’s educational context can be helpful

in creating an African-centred education that unites African students with the culture of

harmonious living with Nature and self. This form of education will help students begin to gain

mastery of themselves and their identity as it will inform their ability to see themselves beyond a

physical entity limited to classroom learning and writing tests.

An exploration into the etymology of the word Mdw Ntchr provides us with an in-depth

appreciation for the Mdw Ntchr as it is reflective of the “deep thought” of the Africa people who

created the language (Caruthers 1995, p. 39). Hence, the extent of reverence that is attached to a

word, is beyond the mere opening of the lips to make a sound. Caruthers (1995), illustrates that

30

Mdw (speech) originates from a root word which means staff or cane as in “staff of old age”

(Caruthers, 1995, p. 39) or “ancient words of wisdom” (Jhutyms, 2016, p. 326). This root word is

written with a staff in it which is corresponding to the idea of authority or authoritative utterance.

Accordingly, “writing the word for speech with the picture of an elder’s cane which is the symbol

of the staff of authority accords with the universal African association of the staff with the potent

word” (Caruthers, 1995, p. 39). Within the African context, an elder’s cane is likened to the biblical

conception of Shepard’s rod with which it guides and directs its sheep (Caruthers, 1995). It is

associated with respect and authority. Also, a word within the African context is a person’s bond;

the reverence with which African people attached to words, is still reflected in their ways of

communication today through the use of proverbs, idioms, metaphors, and parables to create

dialogue, counsel, and to teach (Carruthers, 1995; Hilliad-III, 1986). Hilliad-III (1986) supports

the above statement when he articulates that the use of proverbs and analogies to this day still

permeates the African and African diaspora culture. Comprehending the etymology of the root

word has helped scholars comprehend the culture that informed the language, and thus, better

appreciate its relevance and complexity as the language with which writing was invented. This

also means that educators and students can reverence the sacredness of how our forebears

connected with Nature to produce and invent the educational systems that exist today, as this

literature will show.

The etymology of the root word Ntchr (Divine) as illustrated by Jhutyms (2016), is written

with a picture of a flag. This symbolizes “Nature or the Existence of the all - the totality of life and

of all existence” (Jhutyms, 2016, p.326). This indicates that everything that the human mind can

conceive and everything that is incomprehensible, invisible, and even inconceivable is Ntchr. In

other words, we can learn from the Kmtyw, that creation is the mental manifestation which are

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emanations of the Ntchr. This means that the Ntchr is the plants, the air, the mountains, the cosmos,

the smallest microorganisms, the waters, the heartbeat, the thoughts and even our dreams (Jhutyms,

2016). Ntchr is all things; and the Mdw Ntchr, is the oldest language in the world having a vast

and varied literature which consist of medicine, mathematics, science, physics, metaphysics,

history, poetry, prose, tales, folklore, religions theology, cosmology texts, etc.; its literature

consisting of the study of the origins of things3 (Amen, 2016). Accordingly, the etymology of the

word Mdw: “Ancient Words of Wisdom” and Ntchr: “The Totality of Live and of All Existence;”

according to the Kmtyw, contains the totality of human knowledge (Jhutyms, 2016). Another

relevance to education today for understanding the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge

system is that it helps us connect to the language and culture of our ancestry – our African

Indigenous cultural roots – providing us with a strong sense of identity.

The Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge as an Educational System

The Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge as expressed previously goes beyond a

language system, it is also, in the words of Obenga (2016), a grandiose educational system.

Carruthers (1995) explained that:

In a narrow sense, the Medew Netcher is a Kemetic concept which is used to denote

the formal written language, especially the dramas written and depicted on the

temple and tomb walls. Thus, when the Greeks called the written language

hieroglyphs (sacred inscriptions), they were not only describing what they saw, they

were also translating the Kemetic term in the narrow sense. But this context does

not convey the essential meaning of the term. (p.39)

The above quote by Carruthers (1995) states clearly that the Mdw Ntchr is beyond a system

of speech, which is Divine and sacred; it is also beyond a language system used for communication

with all of Nature, including individuals. The statement likewise gives clarity to how the Mdw

3 For further reading, refer to Amen, 2010; Jhutyms, 2016; and Obenga, 1999, 1992.

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Ntchr is accorded reverence, that the Greeks, although limited in their understanding of the

meaning and culture of the language, still recognized that it is sacred writing.

To however justify the Mdw Ntchr as an educational system, the Kmtyw documents that:

The often repeated formula whereby the Creator in the form of one of the divine

aspects (e.g., Ptah) proclaims, “Words Spoken, I have given all Life, Power, and

Health,” implies that not only did the Creator give those particulars, but also the

words that convey the message, Medew Netcher or Divine Speech, thus

encompasses what the Europeans designate as metaphysics, the branch of

philosophy which deals with origins… It also subsumes other major divisions of

philosophy, especially ontology and epistemology or science in the broad context.

Thus, as will be argued, the disciplines, science, and mathematics were divine

speeches in the Kemetic context. Medew Netcher also includes wisdom in general

and any discipline will be a branch. Although wisdom about governance and ethics

was cultivated through Medew Nefer (Good Speech), such speech was subordinate

to and required to be in accordance with the Medew Netcher (Divine Speech).

(Carruthers, 1995, p. 40)

This quote illustrates the role of Divine speech in the experiences of the Kmtyw. It means

that Divine speech (or theology as designated by the Europeans) is the wisdom about the highest

things with an entire Divine order which the European philosophical framework calls metaphysics

and ontology. The quote also indicates that the ontology of the different western educational

disciplines that we study today, which stems from the seven liberal arts, is Divine Speech (Mdw

Ntchr), learned through the process of Good Speech - Mdw Nfr (Carruthers, 1995). Mdw Nfr is

the essence of human life, where speaking good, and speaking properly about an occurrence or a

project is the measure of the individual in accordance with Divine Speech. The Mdw Ntchr is

Divine Speech in the most sacred sense and the Mdw Nfr is subject to the Mdw Ntchr (Amen,

2010; Jhutyms, 2016). Correspondingly, “it is through the consistent practice of the Mdw Nefer,

that human beings finally attained Medew Netcher, Divine Speech” (Carruthers, 1995, p. 41).

At this point, putting on the lens of a social justice educator, critical questions about the

current ontology of the origins of philosophy, science, mathematics, grammar, e.t.c. that is

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currently taught in schools will have to be disturbed. Disruption of these discourses about the

origins of these educational disciplines will occur, and possibly alternate epistemology of these

ontologies will be explored. Questioning the true ontology and epistemology of these educational

disciplines becomes more relevant in the light of the Mdw Ntchr’s definition as “Words of

Existence or Nature - Nature being all the infinite forms of existence” (Amen, 2010, p. 2) according

to the people who invented and spoke the language – the Kmtyw. Indeed, Obenga (1992) adds

meaning to this when he said “Before the present-day comprehension of the word “philosophy”,

in the beginning, this term encompassed all of human knowledge, some elements of which little

by little, were formed in independent disciplines: mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry,

biology, history, geography, etc. philosophy was, therefore, the study of nature, in the broadest

sense of the word: natural Nature, social Nature, human Nature” (p. 25-27). These illustrations

make the connection that the different disciplines of education today is actually the Mdw Ntchr to

the Kmtyw (Carruthers, 1995; Jhutyms, 2016). Hence, it is the knowledge, for example, that

mathematics is the Divine Speech with which the Creator communicates the infinite forms of

existence in nature through numbers, weights, and measures (Carruthers, 1995; Jhutyms, 2017,

2016; Obenga, 1992).

On learning this, I came to realise how in relearning and practicing my African culture, it

appears to me that I am learning about all that is science in such holistic ways; where science to

our ancestors simply means, all knowledge or knowledge of all things in a fuller sense of the word,

beyond empirical research (Finch, 2018). In other words, the Divine Scriptures is Divine Science

to our ancients’ and even in our Indigenous cultures today (Browder, 1992; Obenga, 2004). This

shows how highly spiritual they were, hence building the only societies in the world today that

lasted thousands of years through their golden ages where they had stability, no wars, populated

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the earth, and created educational institutions of grandiose like no other here on earth today

(Asante, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2007; Diop, 1991, 1974; Hilliard-III, 2000; Jhutyms, 2016, 2003, 2017;

Obenga 2016). Browder (1992), in his work, Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization, puts it best

when he said, that “No nation in the history of civilization has had a greater influence on the arts

and sciences than Kemet and it is there where one can find the only remaining one of the “Seven

Wonders of the World”” (p. 71).

The ways by which the Mdw Ntchr was created, tells of the culture of the people and the

ways by which they communicated with Nature. The Kmtyw, through the Mdw Ntchr, created and

recorded grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy (Asante, 1990,

1994, 2007, 2003; Amen, 2016; Browder, 1992; Diop, 1999; Diop, 1991, 1974; Hilliard-III, 2000;

James, 2009; Jhutyms, 2016, 2003, 2017; Obenga 2016). These disciplines are known to comprise

of the seven liberal arts4 that are subdivided into Quadrivium and Trivium, which is the foundation

for classical western education then, in Greece, and now globally (James, 2009). According to

Asante (2009, 1994), Diop (1991, 1974), Obenga (1992), and some more scholars, the ancient

Greeks traced all human inventions to the Kmtyw, from calculus, geometry, astronomy, dice

games to writing; for it was to them the oldest country of human beings they knew at the time. The

Kmtyw, as afore mentioned, just like we do today, wrote about history, spiritual writings, rituals,

astronomy, calendars, medicine, surgical, herbal, natural sciences, mathematical treaties, stories,

epic tales, poetry, biographies, family histories, letters, accounting, law, e.t.c. (Amen, 2019, 2016,

2013, 2010; Obenga, 1992). Well-documented historical facts indicate that since the time of

Homer, Egyptian antiquity (Kemet) functioned strictly as a highly memorialized component of

Greek history with Herodotus asserting it, Plato confirming it, and Aristotle never denying it

4 For more information about the seven liberal arts, refer to James (2009) in his work, Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy

is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy, where he clearly analysis the Seven Liberal Arts as originating from the Kmtyw.

35

(Obenga,1992). The historical context of some of these inventions will be elaborated upon in order

to give meaning to these claims.

Writing

As earlier stated, the Mdw Ntchr is the world’s oldest and original writing system that was

originated by ancient Africans in Ta Sty - referred to as Nubia by the Romans (Browder, 1992) –

then developed and perfected in Kmt (Amen, 2010; Ayelah, 2013; Diop, 1999; Jhutyms, 2016;

Kambon, 2019, Obenga, 1999). Other African writing systems include the Giguyu writing system,

the Meroetic, the Mande, the Vai, the Loma, the Kpelle, the Nsibidi, the Gicandi, the Njoya, the

Bassa, the Ge’ez, and the Bamum scripts; with the Dogon and Bambara having elaborate

iconographic/symbolic writing systems (Ayelah, 2013; Diop, 1991; Kambon, 2019; Obenga,

1999). Indeed, the Hebrew, Arabic, Greek and Latin scripts are all bastardised extractions of the

Mdw Ntchr ancient African writing system (Browder, 1992; Diop, 1991; Kambon, 2019; Obenga

2016, 1999). All western – Eurasian - writing systems have no writing script, not one; the Sumerian

and Cuneiform scripts which were born in Mesopotamia also died in Mesopotamia and were never

used outside it or the near East (Obenga, 1999). Historical records elaborated in the works of Amen

(2016, 2010), Browder (1992), Diop (1991, 1974), Obenga (1999), show that the Mdw Ntchr is

the foundation from which the rest of the Eurasian world have copied their alphabets; where yet

without a script, it is only a letter or a sound and means nothing. An interview with Dr. Edward

Robinson asserts the following: “forty-four thousand years ago, we [Africans] had civilizations,

iron and steels manufacturing, cities and universities 44,000 years ago… Well, the first European

book was written 2,800 years ago, forty-two thousand [years] later… by a man named Homer”

(Robinson, 2018). Undeniably, Africans were writing before what the Eurasians call “the historical

period” (Kambon, 2019). The Teaching of Ptahhotep written around 2350 BCE, that is, 4,400 years

36

ago, is not the oldest book, but it is the oldest complete book that has been found in human history

while the first European book was only written around 700 BCE by Homer (Kambon, 2019;

Robinson, 2018). As some prominent scholars fervently asserts, that we were documenting and

recording before Eurasians knew that there was such a thing as history or its documentation

(Kambon, 2019; Obenga, 2016, 1999, 1992), for “The history of African was already old when

Europe was born” (Clake, 1993, p. 17). The relevance of this knowledge to education today

confirms the assertion by Dr. Robert Robinson for the “Territorial Imperative [as] an absolute

necessity for man to relate positively to the land of his ancestry” (Robinson, 2009). This implies

that the role of African-centred education today is to ground African children within the Mdw

Ntchr African Indigenous knowledge that they may learn of their greatness and the greatness of

their ancestral land of birth as the cradle of writing.

Mathematics

The world’s oldest mathematical instruments is the Ishango bone (CNN, 2013), estimated

to be over 42,200 to 43,000 years (Kambon, 2019). The Ishango bone is estimated to be of over

15,000 years predating the civilization of Kmt (CNN, 2013). Darling (2004) in his book, The

Universal Book of Mathematics, illustrated that the Ishango bone speaks of sophisticated

mathematical knowledge. The world’s oldest treatise on Mathematics is the Papyrus of Ahmes

(1550 BCE.) that was copied by a Kmty priest from an original that dates to about 1900 BCE

(Browder, 1992; Kambon, 2019). The text contained more than 80 mathematical problems and

their solutions (Browder, 1992; Kambon, 2019). However, this mathematical treatise, following

the Eurasian and western tradition of co-opting the invention of others, has been ascribed the name,

Rhind papyrus, after a European. If this information is taught to our children today, it will make

possible the Territorial Imperative positive relationship with our African land of ancestry. This

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relationship will provide for them three things: stimulation, security, and race esteem, with race

esteem being the foundation for self esteem (Robinson, 2009).

Medicine

The oldest medical institution in the history of the world, known as Per Ankh ‘House of

Life,’ was established in Kmt dating back to the foundation of the nation in Africa (Browder, 1992;

Gardiner, 1938; Gordon & Schwabe, 2004; UCL, 2019). The oldest medical treatise in existence,

showing significant, accurate and scientific medical examinations, diagnoses, treatments,

prognoses, and detailed anatomical observations, was transcribed in 1600 BCE from its original

form dating back to as early as 4200 BCE (Browder, 1992; Kambon, 2019). It is authored by

ImAxw Imhotep, a Kmtyw, the most profound medical text in the world now currently called the

Edwin Smith Papyrus, again following the usual tradition of the Eurasians to co-opt the work or

another. “Of the thousands of medical papyri originally written, less than a dozen have been

discovered, and of that number, the Ebers Papyrus and the Edwin Smith Papyrus are deemed the

most profound” (Browder, 1992, p. 125). ImAxwt Merit-Ptah, from Kmt, Africa, was also the

earliest known woman physician and earliest known woman scientist in the history of the world

who held the title ‘Chief Physician’ 2700 BCE (Browder, 1992; Klenke, 2011). Other women held

positions with such titles that imply: “Lady Director of the Lady Physicians” (Nunn, 2002). Kmt

is also credited for the earliest known male physician whose name was ImAxw Hesy-Ra, who held

the title “Chief of Dentists and Physicians” for Nswt Bity Neterikhet Djoser in 2700 BCE

(Kambon, 2019). ImAxw Hesy-Ra was a contemporary of ImAxw Imhotep and ImAxw Imhotep

was one of the most prominent personalities in medicine in ancient Kmt (Browder, 1992; Kambon,

2019). There exists another ancient medical text, dated to 1800 BCE known as The Kahun

Gynecological Papyrus which deals with various aspects of women’s health including fertility,

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pregnancy, contraception, gynecological issues and more (Finch, 1990; Kambon, 2019). The craft

of medicine in ancient Africa as agreed by most scholars was highly advanced and specialized

(Browder, 1992; Diop, 1991; Finch 1990; Obenga, 1992; Rogers, 1995).

While this list is only a scratch on the surface, further study will impress upon the depth of

our great and wealthy African heritage, therefore, our potential. The whole of this project seeks to

give a glimpse of our remarkable anteriority. Therefore, we could add to this list the African origins

of Mineralogy, Shipbuilding, Aeronautical Engineering, the world’s first map, the first calendar,

the oldest mine, but the list will be well and truly endless. This brings to memory the teachings of

our ancestor, Nana John Henrik Clarke when he affirms that “We are tomorrow’s people. But, of

course, we were yesterday’s people, too. With an understanding of our new importance, we can

change the world, if first, we change ourselves” (Africana, 1997). We are not a people and culture

of yesterday, yet, we must allow our souls to remember, that we may again see and become our

best selves as we once were.

African Indigenous Knowledge According to General Tradition

Nantambu (2001), in his work, Ancient Egypt's Role in European History, assertively

referenced Aristotle’s words positioning Kmt as “the most ancient archaeological reserve in the

world” (para. 10). He also echoed Nana Théophile Obenga’s work, in A Lost Tradition: African

Philosophy in World History, to enact Aristotle’s words as referenced saying: “that is how the

Egyptians, whom we (Greeks) considered as the most ancient of the human race” (Nantambu

(2001, para. 10) are the first creators of civilization (Browder, 1992; Diop, 1991, 1974; James,

2009; Nantambu, 2001; Obenga, 1992). Obenga (1992) in Ancient Egypt & Black Africa

referenced the eyewitness accounts of Greek philosophers: “for Isocrates, Egypt is the cradle of

philosophy, that is to say, the research of the nature of things… for Aristotle, Egypt is the cradle

39

of mathematical arts, that is arithmetic, the theory of numbers, the art of calculus, (cradle of)

geometry, that is, measuring land, measuring areas and volumes, and finally (the cradle of)

astronomy” (p. 56). Nantambu (2001), supports this assertion when he underscores that “Aristotle

(384-322 B.C.) himself, writing in Metaphysics, …confesses in Greek Hellenic language that:

“Thus the mathematical sciences first … originated in Egypt. Egypt is the cradle of mathematics-

that is, the country of origin for Greek mathematics” (para. 6). A translation of Aristotle’s words

from the Greek language expressed that “the mathematical arts had never before been formed,

constituted or elaborated anywhere else originating in Egypt only” (Obenga, 1992, p. 51-66). This

reveals that Aristotle as a primary source of reference, in his own words, acknowledges the origins

of Mathematics as being from Kmt.

With regards to geometry, one of the seven liberal arts, Obenga (1992) recorded a preamble

of Eudemus, a disciple of Aristotle. This preamble stated that: “we must now talk about the history

of geometry in the present time… We shall say that, according to general tradition, the Egyptians

were the first to invent geometry… Thales, the first Greek having been to Egypt, brought back this

theory” (p. 77). In this quote, I took note of the phrase, ‘according to general tradition.’ This

creates a clear perspective that within the context of the ontology of epistemologies, the tradition

has been created and followed where Kmt has been the source of knowledge and education for the

Greeks (Asante, 1990, Bernal, 1987). The works of ben- Jochannan (1991), Browder (1992),

Carruthers (1999), Diop (1991, 1974), Kamalu (1998), Kambon (2019) and Obenga (1992), show

the progression, in the timeline listed below, of how Kmt was a citadel of learning for the early

Europeans who today, serves as the beginning for western civilization, education, and history.

Here in this timeline, we learn the following:

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1. Thales of Miletus (c. 624 BCE): Europe’s first philosopher, thinker and the founder of the

first Greek school – Ionian school

2. Solon of Athens (c. 640 BCE): Gave Europe its first constitution

3. Pythagoras of Samos (c. 570 BCE): Europe’s earliest and greatest mathematician.

4. Herodotus (c. 470 BCE): Europe’s “father of history.”

5. Socrates (c. 470 BCE): Europe’s most popular philosopher. Was forced to commit suicide

because he tried to teach the European youth the “strange” ideas he acquired in Kmt.

6. Plato (c. 428 BCE): Creator of Europe’s first educational academies and model for a

modern European state. He derived the model of his education program in the laws and

pedagogy of ancient Egypt.

7. Hippocrates (c. 370 BCE): Europe’s father of medicine

8. Aristotle (384 BCE): Europe’s most influential philosopher: natural sciences, psychology,

governance, politics, ethics, law, religion, arts and aesthetics.

The timeline in the above progression indicates the extent of the triumph of African Indigenous

knowledge system well before Europe was born, so that it educated the European founders of

western education, the Greeks. For according to the recorded preamble of Eudemus, Thales,

Europe’s first philosopher and the founder of the first Greek school, born around 624 BCE, was

the first Greek to receive his education in Kmt, followed by many others. Nantambu (2001)

furthered this by stating that:

…the famous, well known Greeks (Europeans) whom we study and revere in school

curricula today all studied at the feet of the ancient Egyptians–Afrikans in the Nile

Valley, Kmt. For example, Plato studied at the Temple of Waset (currently called

Luxor) for 11 years; Aristotle was there for 11-13 years; Socrates 15 years Euclid

stayed for 10-11 years; Pythagoras for 22 years; Hippocrates studied for 20 years;

and the other Greeks who matriculated at Waset included Diodorus, Solon, Thales,

Archimedes, and Euripides. Indeed, the Greek, St. Clement of Alexandria, once

said that if you were to write a book of 1,000 pages, you would not be able to put

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down the names of all the Greeks who went to Kmt to be educated and even those

who did not surreptitiously claim they went because it was prestigious. (para. 8)

The research of Obenga’s (2016, 2004, 1999, 1992) analyses the significance of the Kmt -

Greece linkage beginning with Thales. This analysis also indicates that Thales (c. 624-547 B.C.)

was the first Greek student to receive his training from the Kmtyw priests in the Nile Valley of

Kmt. Plato (c. 428-347 B.C.) also recorded that Thales, under the Kmtyw priest was educated in

Kmt. Proclus (Neoplatonist, 420-485 A.D.) reported that science, philosophy and

mathematics/geometry were introduced to Greece by Thales. Thales is said to be the proponent of

the Greeks intellectual life as he, Thales, was the founder of the first Greek school of philosophy

and science. At this point, we can clearly see the timeline with which, and how education began

to be established in Greece. It is important to note that the Greeks did not deny that their education

had come from Kmt (Diop, 1991, 1974). Their documentation and records show that they looked

to Kmt, even for their basic education. This statement is supported by Obenga’s (2016, 1992)

research that reveals Thales strong recommendation to Pythagoras to travel to Kmt to receive his

basic education and to converse as often as possible with the priests of Kmt in Hut-Ka-Ptah

(currently known as Memphis) and Waset (currently known as Luxor). By 332 B.C., in the fall,

Alexander invaded Kmt and was accompanied by Aristotle (Browder, 1992; James, 2009;

Jhutyms, 2016). It was at this time, that Aristotle ranked Kmt, which he, Aristotle - refers to as the

country of the Pharaohs, as the most ancient archaeological reserve in the world in his assertion

that the Kmtyw were the most ancient of the human race (Asante, 1994; Browder, 1992; Obenga,

1992). The significance of this timeline is to help educators and students develop a system analysis

that supports the existence of the different ontologies and epistemology of education as existing

before and not beginning with the Greeks. Based on historical facts, scholars such as mentioned in

this paper, clearly agree with Nantambu (2001) that “The salient reality is that no one can deny the

42

historical truism that the Greeks (the world's first Europeans) went to ancient Kemet to study at

the Temple of Waset (later called Thebes by the Greeks and Luxor by the Arabs)” (para. 2).

Nantambu (2001) also stated that the Temple of Waset, the world’s first university, at its zenith,

educated over 80,000 students. Again, this information was revealed by Herodotus, confirmed by

Plato, and never argued by Aristotle (Obenga, 1992). Again, I repeat this noteworthy recognition

that the so-called originators of the field of education that we study today, and that is taught in our

schools today, were themselves students of Kmt, Africa. This also enhances Ann Lopez’s

argument for educators and students to “engage in curricula that disrupt dominant privilege and

power” (Lopez, 2015, p. 2). Following Nantambu’s (2001) illuminating article on Ancient Egypt’s

Role in European History, the benefit of this information for educators, is the further insights that

it provides into the nature of the educational structure of Kmt, when he stated that “the fact of the

matter is that it took 40 years to graduate/matriculate from Waset; this then means that none of the

Greeks graduated” (para. 8). In other words, none of the Greeks that we study today as the

foundations of western education, even, completed their studies in Kmt.

To Obenga (2016), education is the greatest achievement of Kmt, with teachers like ImAxw

Imhotep, they had the best teachers in the world, hence the grandiose of their High-Culture was

imbedded in their spirituality which comes with discipline, patience and a knowing of their

Divinity (Jhutyms, 2016; Obenga, 2016). Thus, education is their most achievement in humanity

because of their philosophy of education, of which philosophy originated with them (Obenga,

2016). The various works of the scholars mentioned herein, agree with the historical fact, as

previously shown, that the Greeks were students of the Kmtyw. They also came to the same

conclusion as Obenga (1992) that one of the greatest contributions of the Kmtyw High-Culture in

Kmt to the world was its educational system. The evidence from the works of these above-

43

mentioned scholars on our African Indigenous knowledge systems also contradicts the popular

opinion in medicine that Hippocrates, born around 460 B.C., is the “father of medicine.” Scholars

and researchers such as Hurry (1978), Nantambu (2001), and Obenga (1992), and of worthy

notation, the Encyclopædia Britannica (2018) explicitly contradicts the claim of the Greek origins

of medicine. Nantambu (2001) asserts that the African ImAxw “Imhotep, (born 2700 B.C.) was

worshiped by the Greeks as the “God of Medicine” 2000 years before the birth of Hippocrates”

(para. 16). Obenga (1992) made it clear that ImAxw Imhotep, the Black African Kmtyw, became

a demigod of medicine to the Greeks, only 100 years after his death. Britannica (2018) also has

this to say to further ground this claim:

Imhotep, Greek Imouthes (born 27th century bce, Memphis, Egypt), vizier, sage,

architect, astrologer, and chief minister to Djoser (reigned 2630–2611 bce), the

second king of Egypt’s third dynasty, who was later worshipped as the god of

medicine in Egypt and in Greece, where he was identified with the Greek god of

medicine, Asclepius. He is considered to have been the architect of the step pyramid

built at the necropolis of Ṣaqqārah in the city of Memphis. The oldest extant

monument of hewn stone known to the world.

In light of these evidence, it becomes necessary to teach appropriately and properly

education, that will not intentionally continue to de-educate and miseducation our Black/African

children, of our correct and accurate true-stories. This implies that African/Black children are then

able to learn medicine correctly and accurately within their culture and history from which it

originated, and how it was practiced, and the purpose for which it was practiced as informed by

their culture which invented it. The evidence clearly show that the knowledge that has been passed

down over the centuries through Eurasian education, institutions, and missionary activities in the

names of religion, denies the contributions of African people, intentionally erasing the knowledge

and significance of African people in world history (Jhutyms, 2016). This act of erosion is a huge

44

injustice that must stop. The African-centre Indigenous cultural worldview is a major means to do

so, and we, as educators have a profound role to play in this endeavour.

The Importance of The Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge

The historicity of the Mdw Ntchr establishes its relevance and importance as the major

African Indigenous Knowledge system that is the bed rock of western education today. The

relevance of this knowledge in my journey to find my African Indigenous cultural roots provided

for me a form of education that answered many questions about my existence, race, culture,

cosmology, the origin of science (spirituality, ontology, physics, chemistry, mathematics,

governance, aesthetics, logic, biology, sociology, anthropology, architecture, engineering,

agriculture, geometry, astronomy, astrology, medicine, etc.); the origin of Arts (writing, grammar,

literature, poetry, etc.); the origins of herbs, and many more (Jhutyms, 2016). In other words, as I

began my journey to find my African Indigenous cultural root, the Mdw Ntchr not only connected

me to my African ancestral classical language, it also connected me to my history, time periods,

and location (Jhutyms, 2016). Furthermore, education that encompasses the Mdw Ntchr African

Indigenous knowledge will offer all students awareness of the contributions of African people

towards their experiences. For the African/Black child, this knowledge will translate into pride in

their race, confidence, security, healthy self-esteem, and stimulation to do great things for the

benefit of themselves and their race (ben-Jochannan, 2004; Jhutyms, 2016, 2017; Robinson, 2018,

2009). The foundation of African-centred education on the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous

Knowledge system, according to our African Indigenous elders, is the only way to begin the true

process of healing from the injuries that today’s western education inflicts on our minds (Diop,

1991; Carruthers 1999; Hilliard-III, 1998, 1986; Mucina, 2011). The knowledge of the Mdw Ntchr

provides for the African child, student or educational leader, like it did for me, an education that

45

emancipates and empowers, because it addresses the questions of the origins of the western

disciplines as starting with the Black African minds and Black African people of Kmt (known

today as ancient Egypt). Though, the nature of education to these our ancestors, and in today’s

African Indigenous cultural context is holistic and Divine, we can say less for the current western

educational context where spirituality has no place (Dei, 2000, Wane, 2008).

As my stories in this study will show and tell, to the Black/African student or educator,

whose narrative of self-identity have been limited to descendants of saved savages and slaves, this

information, and way of learning traced to the origins of their existence, will become a critical

curricular or tool to disrupt the dominant narrative that sustains the American myth of European

triumphalism in today’s western educational system (Asante, 2009).

Why Learn the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge System

This literature review has shown that the immense and innovative contributions of Africans

to education has been established yet continues to be denied its place and saliency in western

educational systems. However, educational approaches such as Afrocentrism and other approaches

are seeking to ensure that our African Indigenous knowledge systems and education is embedded

in African-centred learning and worldview in which the African child is centred, and whose

narrative of their story empowers and affirms who they are as African students. Asante (2009)

addresses the critics of Africa as the cradle of the western educational system when he asserted

that: “the problem is that Ethiopia in the form of Nubia and (Egypt) existed thousands of years

before there was a Greece or Rome; [hence] to start a discussion of the ancient world with 800

B.C. is certainly poor scholarship” (p. 1). Thus, learning the Mdw Ntchr, will imply that by default,

we will learn the origins of the etymology of the word “philosophy” from which the disciplines

that make up the seven liberal arts - grammar, dialectic (logic), rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry,

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astronomy, and music - originated from, and on which, the current Eurasian and western education

system is built on (Diop, 1991; James, 2009; Obenga, 1992).

The scholarship indicates that another reason to learn the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous

knowledge, both as language and educational system, is to enable African people, both in the

continent and in the diaspora with the process of Re-Africanization (Jhutyms, 2016; Kambon,

2019). Re-Africanization is a re-birthing experience that takes us through a decolonizing journey

to know who we are – our collective identity, our indigenous ways of knowing, learning, teaching,

leading, living, and then, practicing it in Ma’at (Jhutyms, 2016; Hilliard-III, 2000, 1986; Kambon,

2019). This is important to inform students and educators from the continent of Africa, the African

diaspora in Canada and elsewhere. Reflecting on our collective experiences, which include my

personal experience, I suffered for most of my life from what I now know is termed as mental

slavery (Hilliard-III, 1986). This form of slavery is manifested through the Eurasian educational

system; where self-hate and shame for others like me is directly and indirectly implanted in African

peoples and students through the curricular (Mucina, 2011). I observe this in the aggressive need

to learn about the Eurasians while in one’s own country, and their falsehoods of ontologies, yet

nothing about the village or country of one’s own birth. Emancipation for me, that is still ongoing,

is as a result of my current and continuous relearning within the context of my African Indigenous

Knowledge systems. Jhutyms (2016) urges that African students must learn their ancestral

language in the form of the Mdw Ntchr, as our ancestors invented and communicated with it, and

not in the Eurasian version of it as Hieroglyphics. It is my position that it is not possible to speak

of African Indigenous knowledge as it informs African-centred education today, without speaking

of the Mdw Ntchr. This is because the Mdw Ntchr informs the historicity of “African-centred

education [as] a solution towards developing and maintaining a positive African identity, positive

47

self-esteem and making sure that images of [our] story and origins of [our] achievements are

amortized” (Jhutyms, 2016, p. 285). With this clear picture, we are able to see where we have

been, how we got to where we are, where we are going, as well as where we must go, according

to our own make up and internal directional human map (Jhutyms, 2016). Additionally, when we

communicate in this powerful language of our ancestors, through which the etymology of western

educational disciplines as we know it today is found, we energetically resonate with and cohesively

bond to the identical vibration waves-forms of our ancestors as well as with each other through the

use of our Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous language (Amen 2016, 2010; Jhutyms, 2016).

This autoethnographic study is made possible today as a result of my encounter with the

Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge system. This knowledge system share affinity with all

other African Indigenous Knowledge systems (Diop, 1974; Obenga, 1992; Lucas, 1970) including

that of my immediate ancestry, the Great Benin Kingdom. However, for the purpose of this

autoethnography, to find my African Indigenous cultural roots, the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous

Knowledge system, found in Kmt is the focus of this literature review. This is because Kmt is the

land of our collective ancestry from which my people (The Benins) have come to exist today as a

result of the immigration westward from the Nile Valley High-Culture of our ancestors, the Kmtyw

(Asante, 1994; Carruthers, 1999, 1995; Hilliard-III, 2000; Jhutyms, 2017, 2016; Obenga, 1992,

1995).

The Goal of the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge System and Its

Relevance for an African-Centred Education Today

Knowledge of the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge System provides us with

insight into the goal of education for the Kmtyw which is helpful to inform a successful African-

centred educational process today. Education in Kmt, for the Kmtyw, was informed by the Mdw

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Ntchr African Indigenous Knowledge System (James, 2009; Jhutyms, 2017, 2016; Hilliard-III,

1986; Nantambu, 2001; Browder, 1992). Nantambu (2001), clearly proclaims that the ultimate aim

of education in Kmt was for a person to become like the Ntchr; to be able to communicate as one

with the Ntchr, and to see one’s self and others through the eyes of the Ntchr. Hilliard-III (1986)

supports this statement when he stated that the Kmtyw sought to be one with MA’AT (truth,

justice, harmonious balance, love, order, law, and reciprocity), which is the cosmic order. James

(2009) further supports these statements when he asserts that this aim of education for the Kmtyw

summarizes to “man know thyself,” the doctrine of self-knowledge which for centuries was falsely

attributed to, as he says, the junny-come-lately, Socrates. The doctrine is now known to have

originated from the Kmty Temples, on the outside of which the words “Man, know thyself” were

written. A review of this works of literature indicates that the primary goal for education within

the African context is for self-mastery which comprises of the study of all forms of Nature that is

seen and unseen (Jhutyms, 2016). This also means that a student that is educated within the context

of African-centred education has mastery of the mineral domain, plant domain, animal domain,

human domain, and the spiritual domain (Jhutyms, 2016). Jhutyms (2016) elaborated on this

statement by asserting that education in ancient Kmt was Spirituality at its base; where Spirituality

is Science that is unseen but produces results, and Science is Spirituality that is seen, and produces

the same results. Analysing the work of Jhutyms (2017, 2016), he clearly emphasises that all forms

of education was to be in perfect balance and harmony with Nature. The relevance of this

information is crucial to inform African-centred education in a conscious manner, for an

educational system that is united with the culture of African people’s goals of education, as it was

created by the ancestors of African High-Culture. Another reason for the relevance of reflecting

on this information is to inform the African presence with the essence of the culture that is

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hereditary and harmonious to Africans naturally, for humans do not exist in a vacuum nor give

birth to itself by itself. James (2009), expanded further on the structure of education that existed

in Kmt with a list of the individual educational goals that cumulated in the ultimate goal of helping

the student achieve oneness with the Ntchr. He indicated that children with exceptional skills were

identified and selected for training in the priesthood at the age of seven, and this act was seen as

the highest honour that a family in Kmt would be bestowed - for their child or children to be

selected for admissions to be part of the “brilliant thinkers”, the “guardians of the state” whom

Plato so greatly admired and wrote about. Nantambu (2001) states that “When the boys

(Neophytes) entered the Temple/schools (or Grand Lodge) they had to study for 40 years - subjects

as Grammar, Arithmetic, Rhetoric, Dialectic, Geometry, Astronomy, Music, Architecture,

Masonry, Carpentry, Engineering, Sculpture, Metallurgy, Agriculture, Mining, Forestry, Art and

Magic” (para. 14). This shows us that even the concept of critical thinking was a way of life in

Kmt, where unlike the west, this knowledge was not compartmentalized (Adegbola, 2017; Hilliad-

III, 1986; Jhutyms, 2016). This science - Knowledge of All Things (Finch, 2018) created a holistic

and well-rounded/developed student and leaders of the society. Critical thinking which seems to

be just emerging in today’s educational system is actually not a new creation of western

scholarship, it is a natural way of life, a culture of African people that is important for an African-

centred education today, and of course, all forms of education (Jhutyms, 2016).

The wonder becomes, how can one achieve a state of oneness with one’s Divinity, mastery

of self and nature in a harmonious manner, as an African/Black student today? Browder (1992),

Hilliard-III (1986), and James (2009) show that through Personal Development, this state of

oneness with one’s Divinity, mastery of self and Nature in a harmonious manner, as the goal of

education in Kmt can be achieved. James (2009) in the Stolen Legacy described the prerequisites

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for this personal development as the “Ten Virtues” (p. 3). The neophytes are thus trained in the

Ten Virtues for personal development in order to fulfil the goal of education in Kmt and in other

spiritual African societies (Browder, 1992). Below are the Ten Virtues:

1) Control of thought

2) Control of action

3) Steadfastness

Every action that a person engages in is a direct result of that person’s thought;

correct action denotes correct thought and steadfastness is the ability to maintain

correct thoughts which will continue to yield the desired results.

4) Identity with higher ideals

5) Evidence of a mission

The ability to maintain correct thoughts and actions allows a person to experience

the higher ideals that life has to offer. Identification with these higher ideals allows

individuals to identify their reason for being, thus to understand their mission in

life.

6) Evidence of a call to spiritual order

7) Freedom from resentment (courage)

Once people have experienced their mission in life, they are empowered to a call

of spiritual order, which equips them with the courage necessary to face the

resentment they will meet from individuals who lack spiritual understanding.

8) Confidence in the power of the master (teacher)

9) Confidence in one’s own abilities

10) Preparedness for initiation

Every person who becomes properly motivated will encounter … role models who

will prepare them to assume positions of leadership. And when one gains authority,

one must have confidence in the ability to exercise it correctly and prepare for the

challenges waiting ahead. This cycle begins anew with initiation into a new level

of personal development. (Browder, 1992. P. 264-265)

The significance of these goals and the list of things they had to study show that the Kmtyw

valued a whole approach to education that draws on all aspects of ones being. This explains the

Kmtyw fundamental thoughts that one is born Divine; one is a soul and has a body. Hence, the

process of education is such that it feeds the soul, helps one become more alert, and conscious; it

goes beyond the need for high marks on a test score or education for economic and social mobility

(Obenga, 2016; Haveman & Smeeding, 2006). As an educator, seeking to practice within my

African cultural and ancestral framework, knowledge of these goals impacted greatly my

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educational journey in ways that the stories in this autoethnography now captures. Referencing the

overarching question of this thesis, the understanding and development of my African Indigenous

Knowledge and ontology, did give me many answers to my question about who I am. The

unlearning of western educational epistemology was brought about by the knowledge of the goals

of African Indigenous knowledge and the wisdom behind it. It is this that impacted my growth

today, as an educational leader, to help me become an African Indigenous educator. Also, I now

implement in my practice these goals, as a template that was used successfully by our ancestors.

To put this in today’s educational context for what we will like to see currently in African-centred

education, we need to further reflect on these goals for its practical application to our African/Black

students and educators. Since the cultural worldview of the African/Black child or student is an

African worldview, a closer look again at the aim/goal/purpose of African Indigenous education

which made our African ancestors very dynamic will need to be reflected upon even more.

In reference still, to the above-stated goals of education and structure of the educational

system that existed in Kmt, Plato Laws: Books VII-XII, show Plato’s great admiration for the

educational system of the Kmtyw that he strongly recommended it to be introduced into Greece.

James (2009) and Nantambu (2001) make it convincingly clear that it was from the above listed

Ten Virtues which helped the Kmtyw achieve their goal of education that Plato copied, imitated,

and derived his four cardinal virtues. From these ten virtues that the neophyte had to attain in Kmt:

Control of thoughts and action, Plato called the virtue of justice; Identity with higher ideals, Plato

called the virtue of temperance; evidence of a mission and a call to spiritual order, Plato called the

virtue of prudence; freedom from resentment, Plato called virtue of courage (James, 2009). In

order to give context to Plato’s experience and awe for his appreciation of Kmt’s educational

system, the excerpt below from Plato Laws: Books VII–XII (1926) illustrates a dialogue that

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creates a perspective that we can draw upon with regards to how the Kmtyw experienced

education, and the richness of the culture, and resources with which it was done:

Athenian: One ought to declare, then, that the freeborn children should learn as

much of these subjects as the innumerable crowd of children in Egypt learn along

with their letters. First, as regards counting, lessons have been invented for the

merest infants to learn, by way of play and fun, —modes of dividing up apples and

chaplets, so that the same totals are adjusted to larger and smaller groups, and

modes of sorting out boxers and wrestlers, in byes and pairs, taking them alternately

or consecutively, in their natural order. Moreover, by way of play, the teachers mix

together bowls made of gold, bronze, silver and the like, and others distribute them,

as I said, by groups of a single kind, adapting the rules of elementary arithmetic to

play; and thus they are of service to the pupils for their future tasks of drilling,

leading and marching armies, or of household management, and they render them

both more helpful in every way to themselves and more alert. The next step of the

teachers is to clear away, by lessons in weights and measures, a certain kind of

ignorance, both absurd and disgraceful, which is naturally inherent in all men

touching lines, surfaces, and solids.

Clinias: What ignorance do you mean, and of what kind is it?

Athenian: My dear Clinias, when I was told quite lately of our condition in regard

to this matter, I was utterly astounded myself: it seemed to me to be the condition

of guzzling swine rather than of human beings, and I was ashamed, not only of

myself, but of all the Greek world. (p. 819)

The relevance of the above quote is to show that even the so-called proponents of education

as it has been previously established greatly depended on the education of the African people of

Kmt, the Kmtyw, to inform their educational system. As a result, it will make sense for educators

and students to understand the culture of this kind of education and see how it can be incorporated

in and beyond the classrooms of an African-centred learning environment. Also, analysis of the

above quote is one that reflects Plato’s expression that the state of education for the children of

Kmt makes them more alert and mindful; as compared to the education in Greece which is designed

for swallowing pigs rather than for human beings. As The dialogue in the above-stated volume

continued, Plato gave a list of laws based on his experience as a student of Kmt and from observing

the ways of the Kmtyw. The dialogue show Plato recommending laws that should be enacted for

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the education of Greek citizens and he ended the dialogue on this matter by saying: “We may now

say that our regulations concerning subjects of education have been completed” (p. 822). This

statement supports Obenga’s (2016) presentation of the African Origins of the So-Called Greek

Philosophy & Education when he says that the Greeks neither had a philosophy, nor a philosophy

of education; for the philosophy of education is the application of one’s philosophy to education.

For Obenga (2016), a philosophy of education could not have been possible for the Greeks at that

time, because an education that was comparable to that of guzzling pigs, indicates an absence of a

philosophy of education. In addition to this analysis, he also made clear that the etymology of the

word “philosophy, is not a Greek one, but rather it is found in the Mdw Ntchr. For “how can

philosophy be of Greek essence or origin if the word philosophy itself is not a Greek word?”

(Obenga, 1992, p.54).

Our ancestor, Cheikh Anta Diop, in his work, Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic

Anthropology (1991), sums up the argument that this literature review presents and gives us

direction going forward in the way of African-centred Education through our Mdw Ntchr African

Indigenous knowledge system when he made this statements:

Far from being a reveling in the past, a look toward the Egypt of antiquity is the

best way to conceive and build our cultural future. In reconceived and renewed

African culture, Egypt will play the same role that Greco-Latin antiquity plays in

Western culture. Insofar as Egypt is the distant mother of Western cultures and

sciences, ...most of the ideas that we call foreign are oftentimes nothing but mixed

up, reversed, modified, elaborated images of the creations of our African ancestors,

such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, dialectics, the theory of being, the exact

sciences, arithmetic, geometry, mechanical engineering, astronomy, medicine,

literature (novel, poetry, drama), architecture, the arts, etc. It stems from a perfect

ignorance of the African past. Just as modern technologies and sciences came from

Europe, so did, in antiquity, universal knowledge stream from the Nile Valley to

the rest of the world, particularly to Greece, which would serve as a link.

Consequently, no thought, no ideology is, in essence, foreign to Africa, which was

their birthplace. It is therefore with total liberty that Africans can draw from the

common intellectual heritage of humanity, letting themselves be guided only by the

notions of utility and efficiency. This is also the place to say that no thought, and

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particularly no philosophy, can develop outside of its historical terrain. Our young

philosophers must understand this, and rapidly equip themselves with the …

necessary intellectual means in order to reconnect with the home of philosophy in

Africa, instead of getting bogged down in the wrong battles of ethnophilosophy. By

renewing ties with Egypt we soon discover a historical perspective of five thousand

years that makes possible the diachronic study, on our own land, of all the scientific

disciplines that we are trying to integrate into modern African thought. (p. 3-4)

The significance of this quote is crucial as it directs us on where we must go, where we

must begin, and how we must begin. It supports the notion that an African-centred education

should be built on the foundations of the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous knowledge system of

Kmt. It does not discard other African Indigenous knowledge systems within and outside of Africa,

such as the Akan, Hoodoo, Ewe (Vodoun), Yoruba (Ifa‘Orisha), Igbo, Bakongo, Bambara, Dogon,

Minianka, Goromantche, Nguni, Sotho, Khoi khoi, Dinka, Gikuyu, Maasai, Galla, Wolof, Twa,

Ovambo, Bassa, Fula, Fang, Azande, Sara, Afar, Batswana, Fon, Ovimbundu, etc. But instead, to

build each African group’s Indigenous knowledge system on the foundation of the Mdw Ntr

African Indigenous knowledge system, because Kmt serves as a reservoir for our shared history

(Jhutyms, 2017, 2016). This return to our African Indigenous knowledge system is the African

worldview that is imperative in order to inform the agenda and curricular which must be modified

to reflect contemporary concerns and issues (Diop, 1991, 1974; Carruthers, 1999). According to

Carruthers (1995), the African worldview of the universe is based upon the truth that man, Nature,

the universe, and the Ntchr (Divine) are in harmony – there is no alienation. This worldview

provides an education where the basic mode of human action is cooperation, peace, and building

great projects (Carruthers, 1995; Jhutyms, 2017). This worldview or philosophy, well stated by

Carruthers (1995) is utterly opposed to the Aryan/Eurasian worldview which sees man as alienated

from nature, at war with nature and surrounded by a competitive/harsh universe. Following these

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works of literature, and the above quote from Diop (1991), the need to Sankofa5 to Kmt, in order

to gain our proper orientation to inform our worldview which is the birthplace of philosophy,

ontology, epistemology, and culture becomes vital without question. In other words, to create an

education for the emancipation of African children, African-centred educators and stakeholders

must take African education in their own hands, reorganize it within the African cultural

worldview, to provide for our children education as the practice of freedom (Freire, 2005; hooks,

1994). This return to our root, is to honour and gather the best of what our past must teach us, so

that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward (Sankofa, 2019; Jhutyms, 2016). “For

whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone, or been stripped of can be reclaimed, revived, preserved,

and perpetuated” (Sankofa, 2019; para. 6).

Summary of Literature Review

The scholarship of this literature review overwhelmingly shows that over the years

systematic efforts have been made and are still being made to erase the contributions of Africans

and to immerse Africans in the European ways of knowing through missionary work (religion),

and through schools via the Eurasian worldviews and western educational system. Yet, just like

the African proverb, this crime leaves a trail like a water beetle; like a snail, it leaves its silver

track; like a horse-mango, it leaves its smell. Thus, as a result of this crime of de-educating us of

our Indigenous knowledge, as African people, we have lost our culture, hence our identity, hence

our minds. To, again, demonstrate the significance of the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous

knowledge system, I reiterate its relevance to the education system in Canada and elsewhere for

African students. Language, as universally accepted and as emphasized by Jhutyms (2016), “is the

5 “Sankofa” is a concept derived from the Akan people of West Africa, expressed in the Akan language. It means that,

if we forget and we return to our roots, to embrace the past in order to understand, it is not taboo. Sankofa is expressed

visually and symbolically, as a mythic bird that flies forward while looking backward with an egg in its mouth -

symbolizing the future (Sankofa, 2019; Jhutyms, 2016; Lopez, 2011).

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best keeper and transmitter of kulture” (p. 12). Hence, to understand the culture of our ancestors

that produced an educational system for mankind to build on, we must embrace the spirit of

Sankofa to go back and fetch what is ours and bring it to the future (Jhutyms, 2016). The records

of African culture, education systems, spiritual systems, knowledge, and work of our ancestors,

are recorded and left for us to see in the Mdw Ntchr. The main challenge is that for us as African

people to know who we are again; we have to relearn from those who came before us. Relearning

from those who came before us relies on our capability to comprehend the communications and

records that they have left behind. Therefore, there is a clear need to learn the Mdw Ntchr, that it

may inform our quest for African-centred education. I remember the saying: “the handwriting is

on the wall!” The Mdw Ntchr is still on the wall of Kmt to this day waiting for the descendants of

those who wrote it to come home, read it, as it holds messages to lead us forward (Jhutyms, 2016;

Obenga, 2016). Learning the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous knowledge system, provides for us,

the privilege to learn and live by its culture and values which connect us to the learning goals of

our ancestors. Do we want to experience education as the Practice of freedom? (Freire, 2005;

hooks, 1994). Through the Mdw Ntchr African Indigenous knowledge, as I have experienced, is a

system of education that makes us free, evolved, more alert, functioning, and productive beings.

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Chapter Three: Autoethnography Research Methodology and Design

The research methodology herein has been employed to address the umbrella research

question previously outlined in the earlier chapter of this study. The question seeks answers to how

the understanding and development of my African Indigenous Knowledge, ontology, and the

unlearning of western educational epistemology impacted my growth as an educator. In order to

answer this question, I explore other sub-questions that serves as the primary basis for the inquiry:

Who am I? How did I become the way I am? and Why did I become this way that I am? This

chapter is based on the following organization: introduction to autoethnography, forms of

autoethnography, autoethnographic research method, methodological assumptions, research

limitations, ethical considerations, and summary of the research methodology. This is a qualitative

research using an autoethnographical approach.

Introduction to Autoethnography

Autoethnography and writing about autoethnography is a balancing act that works to hold

self and culture together in a state of movement between story and context, writer and reader, crisis

and epilogue; creating charged moments of clarity, connection, and change (Holman-Jones, 2005).

Autoethnography is also defined as a non-canonical approach to research and writing that describes

and systematically analyses personal experiences to help understand cultural experiences (Ellis,

Adams & Bochner, 2011). Ellis & Bochner (2000) describe it as the “autobiographies that self-

consciously explore the interplay of the introspective, personally engaged self with cultural

descriptions mediated through language, history, and ethnographic explanation” (p. 742). Ellis

(2004) explains it as a form of research, writing, story, and method where the autobiographical

and personal is connected to the cultural, social, and political. Holman-Jones (2005) says that it

sets a scene, tells a story, weave intricate connections among life and art, experience and theory,

evocation and explanation, then it lets go, in hope that readers will bring the same careful attention

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to the words in the context of their own lives. It is comparable to Jazz, admired as the kind of art

that takes you deeper inside yourself and eventually brings you out again; performing storytelling

that can change the world (Friedwald, 1996; Holman-Jones, 2005). For Lopez (2017), it is the

thick documented accounts of our lived experiences and the self-reflective investigation the

researcher engages in that makes autoethnography a transformative form of research both to the

researcher and to others. Its multiple layers of consciousness connect the personal to the cultural

to help us understand ourselves in deeper ways (Ellis & Bochner, 2000). With this understanding

of ourselves, comes understanding of others, which makes autoethnography a form of research,

that again, comparable to Jazz, provides us as researchers with an avenue to do something

meaningful for ourselves and the world (Ellis & Bochner, 2000).

By its nature, autoethnography research methodology allows researchers to draw on our

own experiences to understand a phenomenon or culture (Méndez, 2013). This means that, as I

journey to find my African Indigenous cultural root, this specific research approach aligns with

my research project to provide me with the use of self-reflection and writing to explore anecdotal

and personal experiences which connects my autobiographical story to my wider cultural, political,

social meanings and understandings (Chang, 2015; Denzin and Lincoln, 2000; Ellis & Bochner,

2000; Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011; Lopez, 2017; Méndez, 2013). Adams, Jones, & Ellis (2015),

describes this as the use of a researcher’s personal experience to describe and critique cultural

beliefs, practices, and experiences; where the researcher acknowledges and values relationships

with others; and the research show people in the process of figuring out the meaning of their

struggles, what to do, and how to live. In other words, the beauty of this methodology is in the

contradiction that it presents to the colonialist sterile research impulse and their exploitative ways

of doing research (Smith, 1999). Additionally, it represents others and treats research as a political,

socially-just and socially conscious act (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011). For in truth, the

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understanding is that “Social life is messy, uncertain, and emotional. If our desire is to research

social life, then we must embrace a research method that, to the best of its/our ability,

acknowledges and accommodates mess and chaos, uncertainty and emotion” (Adams, Jones, &

Ellis, 2015). Therefore, no matter how messy, connecting my personal, scholarly, and academics

to my cultural being, I have chosen the autoethnographic research methodology as a way to

understand myself in deeper ways, in order to understand others in ways that are more meaningful

(Chang, 2015).

Forms of Autoethnography

According to Ellis, Adams & Bochner (2011), there are different forms of

autoethnography, and their use depends on how much emphasis is placed on the study of the

researcher’s self, the researcher’s self and interaction with others, choice of analysis, and the

context of interview or power relations. The various forms of autoethnography are

Indigenous/native ethnographies, Narrative ethnographies, Reflexive - dyadic interviews,

Reflexive ethnographies, Layered accounts, Interactive interviews, Co-constructed narratives, and

Personal narratives (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011). These “autoethnographic forms feature

concrete action, emotion, embodiment, self-consciousness, and introspection portrayed in

dialogue, scenes, characterization, and plot” (Ellis, 2004, p. xix), and they support

autoethnography researchers in their advocation for “the conventions of literary writing and

expression” (Ellis, 2004, p. xix). For the purpose of this study, the personal narrative form of

autoethnography is utilized.

Personal Narrative

Personal narratives are “stories about authors who view themselves as the phenomenon

and write evocative narratives specifically focused on their academic, research, and personal lives”

(Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011, para. 24). This is done in an effort “to understand a self or some

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aspect of a life as it intersects with a cultural context, connect to other participants as co-

researchers, and invite readers to enter the author’s world and to use what they learn there to reflect

on, understand, and cope with their own lives” (Ellis, 2004, p.46). Hence, the personal narrative

form of autoethnography fits the nature of this research, because of its specificity in examining the

personal, professional and scholarly aspects of my learning, unlearning and relearning, while in

the process of exploration to find my African Indigenous cultural roots.

Characteristics of Personal Narrative: Storyteller, Stories, and storytelling

Storyteller

Autoethnography foregrounds experience and story as a meaning-making enterprise,

provoking identification, feelings, emotions, and dialogue (Maréchal, 2010). Bochner, & Ellis

(2006) posit, an autoethnographer is “first and foremost a communicator and a storyteller.”

Autoethnography, is in essence, a story that re-enacts an experience through which people find

meaning, and through that meaning, they are able to better understand the experience (Bochner &

Ellis, 2006). For just like Mucina (2011), Dewan (2017), asserts that the stories and experiences

shared by the storyteller in autoethnography are not solely ours, but rather that they also represent

the group that we autoethnographically represent. This implies that while this study is limited to

one individual sample, I, the researcher’s experiences, the telling of these experiences through

story is extended to the group’s experience that I, the researcher represents.

Stories, and storytelling

In autoethnography, the focus is placed on the writer’s ability to develop writing and

representation skills alongside other analytic abilities; wherein the storytelling process, the

researcher seeks to make meaning of a disorienting experience (Adams, Jones, & Ellis, 2015; Ellis,

Adams & Bochner, 2011). Additionally, Adams, Jones, & Ellis (2015) assert that reflectivity in

the storytelling process: “includes both acknowledging and critiquing our place and privilege in

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society and using the stories we tell to break long-held silences on power, relationships, cultural

taboos, and forgotten and/or suppressed experiences” (p. 103). Consequently, the stories invite

readers into the experiences of the writer, feeling how the writer felt and suggesting how they

might respond, under similar circumstances (Adams, Jones, & Ellis, 2015). I have fused the

concepts of stories and storytelling, which is a less traditional, emergent form of research writing,

to capture the intersectionality of my identity journey to find my African Indigenous cultural root;

and how it intersects with my professional practice. The stories presented herein, include

characteristics such as African proverbs, metaphors, poems, and folklores, that are embedded in

the African indigenous tradition of oral storytelling (Achebe, 1994; Tuwe, 2016; Wane, 2008).

Autoethnographic Research Method

This section explains the autoethnographic research method for conducting

autoethnography both as process and as product. It also explicates the research design for data

collection and data analysis to find answers to my research questions.

To conduct a successful autoethnographic research procedure, Chang (2015) claims that

equal emphasis must be placed on the inquiry process which must be ethnographical in nature, the

content which must be autobiographical in nature, as well as the interpretation and analysis of the

content, which must be cultural in nature. By this, she strongly argues that the method of

autoethnography “should be ethnographical in its methodological orientation, cultural in its

interpretive orientation, and autobiographical in its content orientation. This implies that self-

reflective writings deficient in any one of these ingredients would fall short of ‘auto-ethno-graphy”

(p. 208). Meaning that the inquiry process must involve an active participant who is immerse in

the culture; the process of data collection will be the autobiographies of the participant’s

experiences accumulated through observation and documentation; and the analysis of the data

collected will be within the cultural context of the participant. Chang (2015), Ellis, Adams, &

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Bochner (2011), and Lopez, (2017), agree that the use of this method lies in one ultimate purpose:

the understanding of cultural fundamental autobiographical experiences. For Stacy Holman Jones,

of Monash University, Australia, autoethnographic projects, for her, often begins with personal

experiences that she wants and needs to understand more deeply and meaningfully; where often,

these experiences are epiphanies, which mark transformative moments and realizations that

significantly shape or alter the perceived course of our lives (Adams, Ellis & Jones, 2017; Denzin,

2013). These rare transformative moments create learning in three dimensions: psychological -

changes in the understanding of the self, convictional - revision of belief systems, and behavioural

- changes in lifestyle (Clark, 1991). In these moments, one experiences “the expansion of

consciousness through the transformation of [one’s] basic worldview and specific capacities of

the self; …facilitated through consciously directed processes such as appreciatively accessing and

receiving the symbolic contents of the unconscious and critically analysing underlying premises”

(Elias, 1997, p. 3). This Transformative learning that occurs through autoethnography, is steeped

in an epistemological worldview that reality is ever-changing and largely based on individual

reflectivity (Boyd, 2008; Glowacki-Dudka, Treff, & Usman, 2005). To reflect, I describe, analyse

and evaluate my thoughts, assumptions, beliefs, theory base and actions, either by looking forward

- prospective reflection, looking at what I am doing now - spective reflection, or looking back -

retrospective reflection (Alsop & Ryan, 1996; Fade, n.d). Hence, the significance of this

autoethnography research - for my personal, professional, and scholarly practice, as previously

mentioned, is to provide for me, the researcher, an opportunity for further reflection, interpretation,

and application to practice (Beattie, 2007) a form of knowledge that contributes to the “continuing

reinvention of self and reflection and reframing of perspectives, beliefs, and practices” (Dobson,

2007, p. 24). For according to Dewey (1933), reflectivity is something that is initiated in a state of

perplexity, reservation, or difficulty, that directs one to implore an inquest to resolve the perplexing

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situation. In other words, my reflectivity in the context of this study, is the method of reflection

and deliberation by which my life, and the stories of it, are retold for the purposes of reliving it, as

a way to chart a course amidst biographic, cultural, and traditional bonds (Clandinin & Connelly,

2000; Dobson, 2007). It involves describing, analysing and evaluating our thoughts, assumptions,

beliefs, theory base and actions (Fade, 2005). Thus, in writing my story, I found myself undergoing

these described predispositions when I constantly engaged in this exercise of reflectivity. I allowed

myself to experience organically a state of perplexity, reservation, or difficulty as I journey through

my experiences, and then implore an inquest to resolve my perplexing situation (Clandinin &

Connelly, 2000; Dewey, 1933; Dobson, 2007). I also consider the effect that the stories have on

the construction and reconstruction of the personal, professional and scholarly aspects of my

learning, unlearning, and relearning in order to re-imagine possibilities to re-form myself, my

practice, and my community (Beattie, 1995a, 1995b) within my African Indigenous cultural

context.

Doing autoethnography – the Process

As a method, this autoethnography study reflects Ellis & Bochner’s (2000) process and

product underpinnings of autoethnography, where research and writing does graphy; that is to,

describe and systematically analyze auto - personal experience, in order to understand ethno -

cultural experience (Ellis, 2004). As a method, the process of autoethnography combines

characteristics of autobiography and ethnography.

In doing an autobiography, this process requires me as the author of this research writing,

to retroactively and selectively assemble autobiographies about my past experiences, using

hindsight (Denzin, 1989; Ellis & Bochner, 2000; Freeman, 2004). In writing this, I utilize notes,

unpublished journal, audio recording, and artifacts, such as my shrine, clothing and a ring, to help

me with recall (Chang, 2015). I often write about epiphanies, which are remembered moments

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perceived to have significantly impacted the trajectory of my life, times of existential crises that

forced me to attend to and analyze my past experiences and events after which life does not seem

quite the same (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011; Zaner, 2014). These epiphanies are phenomena

in which I consider an experience transformative, and divulge ways that I negotiate “intense

situations” and the effects that remain (recollections, memories, images, feelings) long after a

crucial incident is purportedly over (Bochner, 1984, p.595; Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011).

In doing ethnography, I study my culture’s relational practices, common values, and

beliefs, and shared experiences for the purpose of helping me to better understand my culture

(Maso, 2001). I engage in this as an active participant in my culture by taking field notes of cultural

happenings and analyze artifact (Borchard, 1998; Goodall, 2000).

Consequently, in doing this autoethnography, I retrospectively and selectively write about

my experiences and epiphanies contained therein which are made possible by being part of my

culture and by possessing a particular cultural identity (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011). I also

analyse these experiences according to the social science publishing conventions requirements for

the analysis of one’s experiences in all autoethnographic research (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner,

2011). These requirements elucidate the importance of analysing these experiences as expressed

by Mitch Allen and re-echoed by Ellis, Adams, & Bochner (2011). Mitch Allen says that an

autoethnographer must look at experience analytically otherwise, one is only telling their story just

like people do on a daily basis on TV. However, what makes our stories as researchers valid, is

the set of theoretical and methodological tools and research literature that is used in its analysis.

Hence, I utilize methodological tools and research literature to analyze my experiences, consider

ways others may experience similar epiphanies, and use personal experience to illustrate facets of

cultural experience, thus making characteristics of a culture familiar for insiders and outsiders

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(Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011). To accomplish this, I compared personal experience against

existing research (Ronai, 1996), and I examined relevant cultural artifacts (Denzin, 2006).

Writing autoethnography – the Product

In a similar manner to doing an autoethnography as process, to produce an autoethnography

as a product, we first will write the autobiography and ethnography of our experiences. To write

an autobiography, a fine command of the print medium is a required expectation in most cases

(Adams, 2008). Autobiographies are aesthetic and evocative, engage readers (Ellis & Ellingson,

2000), and use fragmented story progression (Didion, 2005). It also illustrates “new perspectives

on personal experience - on epiphanies - by finding and filling a “gap” in existing, related

storylines” (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011, para. 10).

In writing the autobiography for this study, I make texts aesthetic and evocative by using

the techniques of showing (Adams, 2006), to bring “readers into the scene” (Ellis, 2004, p.142) -

mainly thoughts, emotions, and actions - that they may “experience an experience” (Ellis, 1993,

p.711). For Ellis, Adams, & Bochner (2011), showing allows writers to make events engaging and

emotionally rich, although, it is often done using conversation. I also use the technique of Telling

as another writing strategy that works with showing, to provide my readers some distance from the

events described so that they might think about the events in a more abstract way (Ellis, Adams,

& Bochner, 2011). For “adding some “telling” to a story that “shows” is an efficient way to convey

information needed to appreciate what is going on, and a way to communicate information that

does not necessitate the immediacy of dialogue and sensuous engagement” (Ellis, Adams, &

Bochner, 2011, para, 11). Also, I alter my authorial voice or point of view to make the text artful

and evocative (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011). To do this, I mostly use the first-person to tell a

story that I personally observed, eye witnessed, and lived through (Cauley, 2008; Ellis, Adams, &

Bochner, 2011). I utilize, occasionally, the second-person, to bring readers into a scene, to actively

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witness an experience, in ways that make my readers a part of the experience rather than distanced

from it, or to describe moments that I feel are too difficult for me to claim (Ellis, Adams, &

Bochner, 2011; Glave, 2005). However, to establish the context for an interaction, report findings,

or to present what others do or say, I sometimes use the third person (Caulley, 2008; Ellis, Adams,

& Bochner, 2011).

In writing ethnographies, I produce a “thick description” of my culture (Geertz, 1973, p.6;

Lopez, 2017, p. 25) in order to help facilitate an understanding of my culture, both for insiders and

outsiders (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011; Jorgenson, 2002). The culture that I examine herein is

that of an African Indigenous woman colonized from childhood, through western education, to

love all that is foreign and of the colonizer, at the detriment of my Identity and Indigenous ways

of being and knowing. I do this by inductively discerning patterns of my cultural experiences,

based on repeated feelings, stories, and happenings; and as evidenced in data collected in my

unpublished personal/professional reflective journal, novels, notes, records of conversations, and

artifacts (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011; Jorgenson, 2002).

Therefore, to produce this autoethnographic study, I do autobiography and ethnography, I

also write autobiography and ethnography. I seek to create an aesthetic and evocative thick

description of my personal, professional and scholarly aspects of my learning, unlearning and

relearning experience, in my effort to find my African Indigenous cultural roots. I accomplish this

in this study by first discerning patterns of my cultural experiences, evidenced by data I collected

in an unpublished reflective journal, novels, notes, and artifacts (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011).

I then describe these patterns using fragmented story progression, showing and telling, and

alterations of my authorial voice (Didion, 2005; Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011). Thus, as required

of autoethnography researchers, I not only try to “make [my] personal experience meaningful and

cultural experience engaging, but also, by producing accessible texts… [I] may be able to reach

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wider and more diverse mass audiences that traditional research usually disregards, a move that

can make personal and social change possible for more people (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011;

para. 14).

Data Collection and Analysis

The data for this autoethnographic project is my experiences which have been expressed

both in-person and in writing, documented in an unpublished reflective journal over the course of

five years (2012 – 2017) as both an educator and a graduate student. Within this context there are

many experiences that I will draw on. Contained in these experiences are epiphanies and records

of my observations captioned in my notes, unpublished reflective journal, audio recording, and

artifacts which are my shrine, clothing and ring. The selected documentation of text of these

experiences will, as aforementioned, be presented in the form of stories: a means by which

sensemaking and researcher reflectivity produce descriptions, explores and critiques culture and,

seeks to make meaning of a disorienting experience (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011). The contents

of these stories are not fictitious but are genuine exchanges which have occurred in my life. While

some of the remarks are transcribed, verbatim, from my personal reflective journal, most are pieced

together from my own recollection in a manner that authentically captures the transpired events. I

also did not live through these experiences solely to make them part of a published document; and

I did not intend to record my observations from the beginning for the purpose of this personal

research (Denzin, 1989). Rather, these experiences are assembled using hindsight, as demanded of

this research focus; in addition to my habitual documentation of exchanges and interactions that,

to me, are interesting, poignant and, above all, validating (Agostinelli, 2016; Chang, 2015; Denzin,

1989). This autoethnographic study allows me to look back at my writings and pull from my

memories to demonstrate how my own practices, infused with our African Indigenous knowledge

systems, serve to give renewed purpose and meaning to my role as an educator.

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Since my tools for data collection - unpublished personal/professional reflective journal,

novels, notes, records of conversations, and artifacts - were initially produced merely for personal

reflection, utilizing reflectivity therefore demands an inductive approach to analysis as afore stated

in order for the discernment of patterns of cultural experiences that leads to the construction of

three main themes to address my research questions. My project, in essence, uses three major

themes to present interconnected stories to answer my research questions through which my data,

text, and stories may be analysed. It is also true that my own observations and experiences are

what have prompted me to ask these questions. In short, my analysis and data collection occur

concurrently, informing each other in a web-like fashion (Agostinelli, 2016; Chang, 2015). Thus,

my data both forms and is informed by my methodology and analysis. The nature of this analysis

is cultural in its interpretive orientation (Chang, 2015). The stories in my project serve as the

foundation for and the cornerstone of my analysis, and they are a crystallization of understanding

for both the reader and I, the author.

The story format creates the opportunity to present my collected data in a creative way

while using the constructed texts as the bases for interpretive analysis. Through the study’s

determined effort to deconstruct knowledge, decode information, and attribute significance to my

emerging self as it will inform my practice; my analysis foregrounds an intensive pursuit of

criticality in my autobiographical experiences, the result of which facilitates a metacognitive

exercise that reimagines the role of African Indigenous educators. My analysis will act as a form

of self-assessment, which demonstrates to readers the potential and benefits of a critical approach

to self-development and transformative learning. The analysis is strengthened by contemporary

literature from the fields of African Indigenous Knowledge systems. I also stretch a little further,

only when necessary, to borrow from critical literature in the field of culturally relevant pedagogy

to critically analyse some of the stories.

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Methodological Assumptions

Since this project examines the significance of research to find my African Indigenous

cultural roots, to impact my practice as an Indigenous educator, there is an underlying assumption

that current and future educators and students will in some capacity be aware of the importance

associated with this kind of research for self-development and transformative learning. Hence, my

assumption in doing this research about myself and utilising this methodological approach is

strongly rooted in the words of Allen (2015).

Only by much searching and mining, are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can

find every truth connected with his being, … if he will … [reflect] on his thoughts,

tracing their effects upon himself, upon others, and upon his life and circumstances,

…utilizing his every experience, even to the most trivial, everyday occurrence, as

a means of obtaining that knowledge of himself which is Understanding, Wisdom,

Power. [For] in this direction, as in no other, is the law absolute that “He that

seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened;” for only by patience,

practice, and ceaseless importunity can a man enter the Door of the Temple of

Knowledge. (p. 6-7)

I presume, following Paige’s (2019) emphatic assertion, that since we, Black/African

people, are the primary victims of identity theft, prolific research is then required to find our lost

knowledge of selves. This knowledge of self, aligned in perfect harmony with Nature, is the

ultimate goal of African centred education (Hilliard-III, 1986). It is, therefore, my assumption in

creating this study, that, like me, other educators and students would have heard of or studied, at

least indirectly, the works of literature on Africa’s contributions to the world; or the Indigenous

ways of knowing and being, that African Indigenous knowledge systems teach and emphasize.

Research Limitations: Reliability, Generalizability, and Validity

To best evaluate the limitations of my study, it is imperative to, first, explore the concerns

and criticism of the autoethnography methodology itself. It is also first important to note that,

though part ethnography and part autobiography, autoethnography does not seek to achieve the

same goals as other canonical research in traditional ethnography or autobiography. The criticisms

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towards autoethnography are based on the criteria applied to traditional ethnographies or to

autobiographical standards of writing and conducting research (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011).

Further, being partly ethnography, autoethnography is disregarded by social scientific standards

for being too aesthetic, emotional, and therapeutic, and not rigorous, theoretical, and analytical

enough with insufficient fieldwork, not spending sufficient time with different others, and for

observing limited cultural members (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011). Additionally, “in using

personal experience, autoethnographers are thought to not only use supposedly biased data… but

are also navel-gazers… self-absorbed narcissists who don’t fulfil scholarly obligations of

hypothesizing, analysing, and theorizing” (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011, para. 37). In this case,

as part ethnography, autoethnography is criticized for being too artful and not scientific enough

(Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011).

Likewise, autobiographical writing standards are used to also disregard autoethnography

as “being insufficiently aesthetic and literary and not artful enough... catering to the sociological,

scientific imagination and trying to achieve legitimacy as scientists… [disregarding] the literary,

artistic imagination and the need to be talented artists” (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011, para. 38).

In this case, as part autobiography, autoethnography is criticized for being too scientific and not

sufficiently artful. Moro (2006), in a way enabled this criticism when he emphasized his belief that

it takes a “darn good” writer to write an autoethnography.

To respond to these criticisms, I point to the goal of autoethnography which approaches

“research and writing as socially-just acts; rather than a preoccupation with accuracy, [where] the

goal is to produce analytical, accessible texts that change us and the world we live in for the better”

(Holman-Jones, 2005, p.764). With this goal in mind, I conduct this study, viewing writing as a

way of knowing and a method of inquiry (Richardson, 2000); where writing personal stories hold

therapeutic value for our readers and for authors as we write to make sense of ourselves and our

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experiences (Poulos, 2009). We write to “purge our burdens and question canonical stories -

conventional, authoritative, and “projective” storylines that “plot” how “ideal social selves” should

live” (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011, para. 25). The accomplishment of this goal can result in an

agency by giving people a voice that, before writing, they may not have felt that they possessed

(Boylorn, 2006; Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011). It also results in improved relationships and better

understanding, encourage personal responsibility and agency, reduce prejudice, raise

consciousness and promote cultural change (Adams, 2006; Ellis, 2009; Goodall, 2006).

As applied to this autoethnographic study, the context, meaning, and utility of the terms:

reliability, validity, and generalizability, are altered for three reasons. First, it is understood that

what we recognise and refer to as “truth” changes as the genre of writing changes – e.g., science,

history; memoir; fiction or nonfiction (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011). Secondly, we also

acknowledge the importance and presence of contingency (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011). This

means that we are aware that memory is fallible, hence, it is impossible to recall or report on events

in a language that represents exactly how those events were lived and felt (Owen, Mcrae, Adams,

& Vitale, 2009). Finally, we know that people who have experienced the same event often tell

different stories about what happened (Owen, Mcrae, Adams, & Vitale, 2009). Subsequently, for

Bochner (1994) and Denzin (1989), narrative truth in autoethnography is evaluated based on the

impact of the story of experience on us the writers and others - as writers, participants, audiences,

and humans; how it is used, understood, and responded to. Hence, to the question of reliability,

autoethnography refers to the narrator’s credibility, and focuses on these points: “could the narrator

have had the experiences described, given available “factual evidence”? Does the narrator believe

that this is actually what happened to her or him? Has the narrator taken “literary license” to the -

point that the story is better viewed as fiction than a truthful account?” (Ellis, Adams & Bochner,

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2011, para. 33). In mediating the reliability of this study, based on these criteria, I hope that my

readers can for themselves decipher the reliability of the study.

Related to reliability are issues of validity, where “validity means that a work seeks

verisimilitude; it evokes in readers a feeling that the experience described is lifelike, believable,

and possible, a feeling that what has been represented could be true” (Ellis, Adams & Bochner,

2011, para. 34). By this, it means that the story is coherent, connecting readers to writers and

providing continuity in their lives (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011; Méndez, 2013). The most

important question for the issue of validity to autoethnographers is, how useful is the story, and to

what uses might the story be put? (Bochner, 2002; Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011). Plummer

(2001) posits that what matters in the issue of validity “is the way in which the story enables the

reader to enter the subjective world of the teller - to see the world from her or his point of view”

(p.401). Additionally, Ellis (2004) points out that validity can be judged “in terms of whether it

helps readers communicate with others different from themselves or offer a way to improve the

lives of participants and readers or the author’s own” (p.124). This study is limited to the stated

manner of validity that is specific to this kind of research. In other words, it cannot be replicated

to test the validity and verifiability of the findings as with traditional research (Agostinelli, 2016).

Though, as previously mentioned, its theoretical framework could inspire other educators and

students to reflect critically upon their individual selves, culture, and practices; and by using the

same or related literature to that referenced in this study, continue investigating the intersection of

their Africa Indigeneity and practice to help explore and ameliorate the problems that necessitated

this research endeavour.

Also, for autoethnographers, unlike the canonical social scientific research, as earlier

alluded, generalizability does not apply to large random samples, nor does it possess grounds for

widespread and simple generalizability (Agostinelli, 2016; Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011; Leedy

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& Ormrod, 2005). Instead, “in autoethnography, the focus of generalizability moves from

respondents to readers, and is always being tested by readers as they determine if a story speaks to

them about their experience or about the lives of others they know; it is determined by whether the

(specific) autoethnography researcher is able to illuminate (general) unfamiliar cultural processes”

(Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011, para. 35). Hence, grounds for generalizability for this

autoethnography study is in the hands of my readers who will provide validation by comparing

their lives to mine; and by thinking about how our lives are similar and different and the reasons

why; and by feeling that the stories have informed them about unfamiliar people or lives (Ellis,

2004; Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011).

Conclusively, while my project may lack reliability, validity, and generalizability, as

recognized in traditional social scientific research; and though it lacks replicability and

transferability, and my findings and opinions may not, be perceived as empirical by all readers, I

have mentioned that they are not intended to be interpreted in that way (Agostinelli, 2016; Letts,

Wilkins, Law, Stewart, Bosch & Westmorland, 2007). Since this study is informed, largely, by my

own daily experiences, it would be counterintuitive to utilize a methodology and develop a study

that does not focalize what is, essentially, my story, my truth (Agostinelli, 2016; Denzin & Lincoln,

2000; Denzin, 1989; Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011; Méndez, 2013). Hence, my autoethnographic

research, accordingly, presents my experiences - my personal, professional and scholarly aspects

of my learning, unlearning and relearning, in my effort to find my African Indigenous cultural

roots - not as quantifiable or empirical evidence but, rather, as a valuable, honest, and subjective

narrative that makes research meaningful to me (Agostinelli, 2016; Denzin, 1989; Denzin &

Lincoln, 2000; Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011; Méndez, 2013). The stories herein, in this personal

narrative form of autoethnographic research, are written in my voice, and I am the author of them

all.

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Ethical Considerations

To preserve the integrity of this research, I have omitted the names of those integral to my

experiences in order to “do no harm (Ellis, 2007, p. 5), but also to include the necessity to do good.

However, in what Ellis (2007) terms as relational ethics, I implicate myself and close intimate

others, who by mere description exposes their identity as a result of their interpersonal ties with

me when using my personal experiences in this study (Adams, 2006; Ellis, Adams & Bochner,

2011; Etherington, 2007; Trahar, 2009). For example, in mentioning my mother, youngest sister,

and grandmother in my stories, they become identifiable. Following the conventions that guides

the relational ethics of this autoethnographic study, I presented my study as obligated to my family

members implicated in this research and allowed them to respond, to acknowledge how they feel

about what is being written about them, and also allowed them to talk back to how they have been

represented in the text (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011; Méndez, 2013). Accordingly, this

autoethnographic research design has not been reviewed nor approved by a Research Ethics Board

(REB) since technically given its lack of formal participants, it does not require consent. All

information in the data collected and stories are presented in a creative, composite format that

intentionally obliterates identifying factors. My data indicates that I am the central participant in

the expressed dialogue. Autoethnography, by its very nature, is an ethical practice, which obligates

honesty and transparency about the content and context of the events described (Agostinelli, 2016;

Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011). Hence, my decision to recount my story in the first-person, instead

of distancing myself from the story in the third person, advocates my commitment to full

transparency (Agostinelli, 2016; Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011; Méndez, 2013). However, of

most worthy importance is the work of Megford (2006), where she notes that the primary ethical

standard which any autoethnography research should be appraised by is an ethic of accountability.

An ethic of accountability compels the author to write their truth as though each of the persons

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involved in the described events were listening (Agostinelli, 2016; Megford, 2006). The

implications of adhering to this standard compelled my honesty and creativity in my descriptions

of events. To be direct and concise, I have chosen from my several stories, only those that are most

suitable to explicitly demonstrate my effort to draw from and integrate aspects of my journey to

find my African Indigenous cultural roots. Hence, still adhering to the ethics of accountability, I

use hindsight to select these stories, not due to any sort of personal preference, but more due to

what this autoethnography study requires. Hence, while all names and locations are never

disclosed, I am conscious of those stories that I may privilege and those that I may discard.

Summary of Research Methodology

My autoethnography is coupled with a theoretical framework of African Indigenous

knowledge systems to examine the personal, professional and scholarly aspects of my learning,

unlearning and relearning, in my effort to find my African Indigenous cultural roots. My stories,

which capture, in a creative format, my own experiences, shed light on how the continuing

reinvention of self through conscious reflecting practices can be a transforming learning

experience which makes our work more meaningful as educators. While my autoethnography are

fragmented stories with moments of epiphanies, the analysis/interpretation of the stories, will

simultaneously, inform each other in a web-like fashion to provide a legitimate frame and greater

recognition that this form of research deserves. I present this autoethnographic study in three major

themes of interconnected stories through the use of African proverbs, poems, metaphors, and

folklore, that is embedded in the Africa Indigenous tradition of Oral storytelling, to help me

provide answers to my fundamental research questions of how the understanding and development

of my African Indigenous Knowledge, ontology, and unlearning of western educational

epistemology impacted my growth as an educator. This research did this by exploring other sub-

questions: Who am I? How did I become this that I am? Why did I become this that I am? The first

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theme reflects on my learning experiences based on my life’s narrative to explore the story that

addresses the origins of my dream to become ‘White as Snow’. The second theme titled: ‘To Get

Lost Is to Learn the Way’, addresses my chosen narrative of how and why Unlearning became a

must for me. The third theme: ‘The Flying Turtle in a Relearning Glow: In the Spark of African

Indigenous Knowledge System’, also addresses my chosen narrative to help me understand how

my Indigenous African knowledge is currently impacting my Relearning.

What my analysis/interpretations will reveal is the great significance in our abilities as

educators, to centre our children, especially Black African children - within their cultural paradigm

where they are empowered with the correct and appropriate stories of their histories, that must also

be taught correctly and appropriately. My stories will act as snapshots for my arguments to help

crystallize and concretize my implications. Granting the data and the results are not empirical, they

are unequivocally honest and may be of value to imminent studies.

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Chapter Four: The Examination and Analysis of My Experiences as An African

Indigenous Woman Colonized through Western Education

She who wants honey, must brave the bees (African Proverb)

In this chapter, I realize the autoethnographic component of this project by foregrounding

my reflections and presenting noteworthy experiences in the form of stories that capture the

productive intersection between African Indigenous knowledge systems and my reinvention of

self and practice. Each story, presented in three different themes, are principally, an educative

snapshot of my journey. In addition to contributing creative content, I reflect critically on my own

educational experiences to forge a discussion of ongoing major themes and challenges for students

and educators, who’s culture, language, and knowledge of self have been stolen and destroyed.

Informed by current, relevant literature on African Indigenous knowledge, I approach my stories

with an analytic degree of reflectivity, to deconstruct and reconstruct the personal, professional

and scholarly aspect of my learning, unlearning and relearning; how it has transformed me as an

educator in search of my African Indigenous cultural roots, an essential journey to decolonize my

mind as a human being, and my practice as an educator.

Beatie’s (1995a) concepts of Interacting Narratives is also utilized to explain the three

themes that are presented in my story. Interacting narratives was originally coined by Beattie

(1995a) to describe the storied nature of individual lives and the effect of such individual storied

lives on each other when they interact. In this case, the interaction of narratives is intertwined with

the different stories of my experiences. This interaction of narratives is the “ground where lives

meet lives” (Beattie, 1995a, p. 83), in such a way that my different experiences unite to create a

narrative unity (MacIntyre, 1981). These Interactive narratives can either be further grouped into

two parts: Life narratives and Chosen Narratives (Beattie, 1995b). The Life Narratives (Beattie,

1995b) is an expansion of Beattie’s concept of interacting narrative (Beattie,1995a) where the

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stories we tell through our actions, decisions, and the ways in which we live our lives is influenced

by events for which we have little or no control; yet it informs our professional knowledge and

practices (Beattie, 1995b; Dobson, 2007). For example, we have little or no control as to how we

were born or raised as children. Chosen narratives (Beattie, 1995b) is another expansion of

Beattie’s interacting narratives (Beattie, 1995a) that “describe those practices that the participants

have actively sought out for their influence and conditioning - for example, but not only, literary,

artistic, musical, or psychological practices” (Dobson, 2007, p. 54). Hence, while my first theme

is guided by Beattie’s concept of live narratives, my quest for my Indigenous roots illustrated in

the remining two themes, are guided by Beattie’s concept of chosen narratives.

Theme One: My Dream to Become White as Snow

No Matter How Long a Log of Wood Stays in the River, It Does Not Become a Crocodile

(African Proverb)

As a girl child, from the Weppa-Wanno Clan, of the Afemai people of Benin ancestry;

growing up in the beautiful continent of Africa – West Africa – I remember struggling not to allow

the tears down my cheeks when I would be complimented about my beauty. I can vividly

remember this particular evening coming down the street with a group of my friends after church

service. One of the youth leaders who had not been in church that evening met us on the street,

where we all spoke and laughed for only a short while; and then he said to me that I was beautiful.

I was fourteen years old at the time of this incident, yet it is glued to my memory like it was only

yesterday. At this point, this occurrence was almost a habit that I could not control and trying so

hard to fight off the tears in the midst of others, might have been the reason the particular memory

of this experience stayed with me. While this was not an isolated incident, I remembered reflecting

on this precise moment in a state of perplexity (Dewey, 1933; Dobson, 2007); in an attempt to

understand why the tears, fell down my cheeks so unkindly. My reflection however went beyond

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this moment to wonder why my heart embraced sadness whenever I was told that I am beautiful.

Until now, as I nuzzle in the healing warmth of writing, as I have come to term it, that moment of

that particular experience had been frozen in what Conle (1999) conceptualize as “frozen stories”

(p. 20). Where “the stories we live can themselves become prisons of the sort when we forget that

they are stories in which we are characters and authors at the same time” (Conle, 1999, p. 20). That

experience has become the footing that I always reflected on every time that I attempted writing,

yet always avoided. It now seems, according to Conle (1999) that it has become a permanent prop

for my action that has hardened in my awareness in ways that largely influences my behavioural

predispositions. However, forced to awake upon my deep reflection, and by the subtle smooth push

for self mastery, which is a major goal for African Indigenous knowledge systems (Asante, 2003,

2007; Carruthers, 1999, 1995; Fu-Kiau, 2003; Hilliard-III, 2000; Jhutyms, 2016, 2003; Nantambu,

2011; Obenga, 1992, 1995; Wane, 2008), I have welcomed the perplexity of pondering upon the

why of this occurrence (Dobson, 2007). In essence, through my early adulthood, when asked about

who I am, I found my tongue glued to the pallet of my mouth and was always never able to tell.

However, as a child, upon being asked the same question, my lips were quick to movement and

my tongue eloquent to help my mind speak my thought of who I was. Yet, with such an

understanding and eloquence of who I was as a child, based on my learnings; why then do I taste

the saltiness of my tears when I was told that I am beautiful? Without putting it in those exact

words, those where the experiences that I questioned. In my personal/professional reflective

journal entry, in a title, Reflection of Praise, I had expressed the following:

When my Iyomah Nokhua (grandmother) sang my praises, she said to me that I was

as beautiful as a white woman. She says that my place is not here – in Africa – but

in the land of the whiteman. She dreams that it is I who will take her abroad to the

land of the whiteman. Then, when she was mad with my most little sister, the one

who is the darkest and most beautiful of us all - as we think of her - she says to her

that her heart is as dark and dirty like the colour of her skin. Uhmm… Well, how

can this be now that it is in the same manner, we think of her as the most beautiful

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amongst us because of the darkness of her skin, and the precious last born that she

is, and yet the darkness of her skin becomes comparable to evil.

(Reflective journal, Oshobugie, 2013)

Again, like in the story of my ability to articulate gracefully who I was, yet shed a tear

when I am told that I am beautiful, I draw contradictions. Just like I am praised in respect of my

proximity to whiteness (Dei & Lordan, 2016) as it may seem based on some of my actions, and

my sister is condemned and regarded to be of a dark and dirty heart, just like the colour of her skin,

yet, the most beautiful amongst us, largely still because of the colour of her skin, became quite

confusing. Additionally, more astonishing is my grandmother’s praise for me in comparison to a

white woman, even though she had never met one before at that time. However, even now, as I

reflect, I bring to mind that most of my childhood was in the church where I was taught that God

is white, Jesus is white, and the Devil is black. I was part of the youth and adult drama groups in

church where the scenes of the Devil and his demons were framed in darkness; and scenes of God,

Jesus, and his angels were framed in whiteness. The drama directors sought for the fairest skinned

amongst us to act the parts of Jesus and his angels, while the darkest skinned amongst us acted the

parts of the devil and his demons. I must say, that as a drama director myself in my teenage years,

I was also implicated in this act, to which I am remorseful today. One of the greatest events as an

actress/director was my success in writing a full script of about 120 minutes in length, within 48

hours, for stage performance. The script storied the event of a village who experienced drought

and famine as a result of punishment brought upon the land due to an enormous act of disobedient

that had occurred. In other to save the village of the curse; sacrifices, spiritual cleansing, and rituals

had to be carried out. However, there arrived a foreign body to the village with his thoughts,

beliefs, and actions that were regarded as taboo to the people of the land. Yet, without knowing or

understanding the peoples and their cultures, this new body along with his entourage, backed by

the whiteman, imposed their ways of thoughts, beliefs, and actions so aggressively on the people,

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and shamed them for being who they were. He refuted the need for the ceremonies of cleansing,

rituals, and sacrifices to occur. He referred to this practice as pagan and demonic, then instead,

insisted that everyone accepted Jesus Christ as their only lord and saviour, and that they must burn

all other forms of images of ancestors and ancestral deities that they knew. This piece, though

animated at the time, ended with the usual formula where the messenger of Jesus Christ – which

is the foreign body that visited the village – wins, and the deities or Indigenous spiritual systems

of the people in the land and village became defeated and made less powerful. Narratives such as

these are the defining stories which my later childhood was built upon – the foreign Christian faith

– a complete contradiction to my Indigenous self, identity and knowledge systems on an individual

and collective level. Hence, the cornerstone of my identity crisis.

At this point, I had been fed with the knowledge of self as that which must be planted in

the Christian faith. Now a grown woman, have I humbly sought the food of the knowledge of self

from the seeds of the earth which have been hewn out by the sweat of my sun-baked brows (Idada,

2013). This grown woman, whose identity is now grounded in the lands of my forebears, I am with

a face, today full of a surprise-like grin, as I reflect to my childhood and early adulthood. I grew

up believing that Jesus, white as he is, will wash me in his blood, red as it is, and this will make

me, Black as I am, become White as Snow. This goal of being white as snow was supposed to be

the foundation of who I needed to be. Albeit, what has happened to me, Black as I am, to forfeit

this aspiration to become White as Snow has now become the entry point for this autoethnographic

research into the personal, professional and scholarly aspects of my learning, unlearning and

relearning, that is leading me, I hope, to my African Indigenous cultural roots (Wane, 2008). “Let

me see, let me hope, that by exploring this journey, I shall enlighten my understanding of the

conscious process of why this has become… May I know my story, that I will be planted deep in

the darkest most nutritious soil of my African mind” (Reflective Journal, Oshobugie, 2016).

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As I continued my reflection in a state of perplexity as to my sadness in response to the

complement of my outer beauty, I realised that through my childhood into my early adulthood, I

was thought to know and tell of my identity only through the eyes of the Christian faith where my

response to who I am was this: “I am who I am through Christ Jesus who strengthens me, and I

am made in the image and likeness of God” (Reflective journal, Oshobugie, 2013). The problem

here was that I never saw an image or a likeness of God in me, Black as I am, and he, and his son

and angels, all white as they are, and only in the gender of men. These learnings were reinforced

at home, where I had to speak good English like the whiteman, in school where I learnt more about

the whiteman and his country, was taught that he discovered most parts of my continent, and even

saved me and my people from our demonic salvage selves and cultures (Thiong’o, 1986; Wane,

2008). Now, could it be that with my learnings which emphasized whiteness to be the ultimate aim

of the highest goal of who I should become, and yet, my inability to see me becoming this, became

the reason for the saltiness that my mouth tasted when words complimented my beauty? In

retrospect, I gazed back and understood my interpretation of this compliment as mockery; “for

unless I am white, I was not beautiful, and they lie to me so when they say that I am beautiful; and

when this they did, they reminded me of my deepest yarning to have a fur hair, to have a flat

buttocks, tiny lips, pale skin - to be beautiful, to be clean, to be – white” (Oshobugie, Reflective

journal, 2016).

This life narrative (Beattie, 1995b) from my childhood into my early adulthood, is the basis

of most of the learnings that informed my sense of self yet caused for me so much confusion and

grief. I did ask questions with hope for relief. In most cases, I received responses similar to this:

“somethings, we just don’t’ know until we get to heaven, and then everything will be revealed to

us.” One thing that I held on to, while I practiced this faith, was my ability to question and be

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critical. Only, I learned that these abilities were better left in my head where I knew that they would

be safe to remain.

However, now, as an educator, I encountered culturally relevant pedagogy – CRP for the

first time in the fall of 2016. It is the understanding of the tenets of CRP that I now utilize as a way

to analyse this story. Culturally relevant pedagogy is a critical theorizing (Lopez, 2016) that asserts

its success on three major criteria, which are: the ability for learners/students to achieve

academically; the nurturing and support for cultural competence; and the development of a

sociopolitical or critical consciousness (Ladson-Billings, 1995). The need for this grounded theory

by Ladson-Billings (1995), was partly influenced by previous scholarships which emerged with a

disturbing finding after examining the academic success of African-American students. The works

of Fine (1986) and Fordham (1988) indicated that academic success for African-American students

came at the expense of their cultural and psychosocial well-being. The work of Fordham and Ogbu

(1986) in a phenomenon they identified as “acting White” (p. 176) illustrated the dilemma

experienced by academically successful African-American students who were ostracized by their

peers. “These students believed that it was necessary for them to stand apart from other African-

American students so that teachers would not attribute to them the negative characteristics they

may have attributed to African-American students in general” (Ladson-Billings, 1995, p. 476).

Hence, the theoretical and conceptual framework of culturally responsive pedagogy became a

significant praxis that provides a way for students to maintain their cultural integrity while

succeeding academically (Ladson-Billings, 1995). It became a way by which to alleviate the

dilemma of having to negotiate “academic demands of school while demonstrating cultural

competence” (Ladson-Billings, 1995, p. 476). Ladson-Billings (1995) showed an example of this

in her work when she illustrated how one of her teacher participants in a study, used lyrics of rap

songs as a way to teach elements of poetry before introducing more conventional forms of poetry.

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The action by this teacher helped affirm the student’s cultural frame of reference, creating in them

the need to explore more of their own culture, agency, and talents; studies became meaningful;

and this created a positive social climate in the classroom (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Rich &

Schachter, 2012). As a result of the combination of all these factors, students experience

confidence in identity and further exploration of their cultural selves, both individually and

collectively, beyond the classrooms (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Rich & Schachter, 2012). My regard

for the culturally responsive pedagogy as analysis for this theme, White as Snow, holds

significance because “rather than add on versions of multicultural education … that serve to

exoticize diverse students as “other,” … [it instead] problematize teaching and encourage teachers

to ask about the nature of the student-teacher relationship, the curriculum, schooling, and society”

(Ladson-Billings, 1995, p. 483). Howard’s (2012) defines culturally relevant pedagogy as:

An approach to teaching that incorporates attributes, characteristics, or knowledge

from student’s cultural background into the instructional strategies and course

content in an effort to improve educational outcomes. One of the primary ideas

behind culturally responsive pedagogy is to create learning environments that

allows students to utilize cultural elements, capital cultural, and other recognizable

knowledge that they are familiar with to learn new content and information in order

to enhance their schooling experience and academic success. (p. 1)

My understanding of culturally relevant pedagogy, and the above-mentioned quote, though

absent in my childhood, is what has empowered me to now reflect on this theme. In reflecting, I

clearly comprehended that a conscious effort was imposed on my community, through

colonization via western education and religion, to create a pedagogy that would take away my

ability to appreciate myself, utilize my culture, or cultural elements (Thiong’o, 1986).

….

Amongst other things that people would fast for, at the time of my childhood, I, would fast

in prayers for a long silky/fur hair as I hungered for it to fervently replace my hair of wool. I

bleached my skin in my active efforts to make it less dark, dated and mingled outside my race,

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made friends outside my race, and only wanted to be called by my English name. I began the

process to officially change my cultural names to only English ones, which I was to call myself -

Emerald Green. And all in more efforts to obliterate my sense of identity from my Black/African

roots, I worked on my accent to be closer to that of the whiteman and whitewoman and hated

somehow to be associated with those like me. What a state of mental illness to really think that a

Black body as mine could be almost completed replaced by whiteness (Hilliard-III, 2000; Jhutyms

2003, 2016; Thiong’o, 1986; Wane, 2008). I participated in collective and individual praying

activities, where our daily prayers entailed for our sins to be washed off by the blood of Jesus

Christ in order to become brand new and blameless in his sight. We would cry, wail, sob, moan,

or just ask Jesus for us to become as white as snow by the washing of his blood. While I understand

the metaphoric nature of this idea, it is the consistency of this thought, and others like it, that had

informed my actions in ways that make me now chuckle in the reflection of how the personal

aspect of my learning at this stage of my life was influenced. As I developed into my very late

adulthood, I released from my head, the questions so tightly withheld. I allowed myself to again

engage in critical thinking and expressed my thoughts, which began to generate dialogues. Only

in doing so, did disruptions to this form of learning occur. This learning had been the dominant

life narrative of my childhood that formed the most parts of my life. While I understand that the

Christian faith is held dear by many, I am only writing of it within the context of how it had served

and informed me, with no judgments of its good or bad. I grew up to become a minister of the faith

as a result of these teachings and all that I did, was informed by it. It will, therefore, be dishonest,

should I explore my journey without touching the foundations that impacted this journey. I,

therefore, beseech my readers to not regard my tales of my experience of the Christian faith as that

of slight.

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During my travels in my early twenties, I began to engage in new learnings, and in doing

so, this quote by Lopez (2015) became the best way I would describe my reaction to these new

learnings:

Culturally responsive leaders must ensure that students who have traditionally been

underserved and excluded (a) have the opportunity to achieve academic excellence;

(b) engage in learning that raises their awareness of injustices in society; (c)

experiences and ways of knowing are included in the teaching and learning process,

and (d) engage in curricula that disrupt dominant privilege and power. (p. 172)

The above quote helped me realize that I have begun to actively engage in disrupting these

learnings that have instilled dislike for self and kind. In the process of disrupting these learnings

that had informed me to this point, I echoed the expression in the novel by Idada (2013), where

one of the actors gently mentioned an African proverb that indicated that “a nickname no matter

how sweet is not a real name” (p. 71). The interpretation of this proverb to my sense of self and

identity that informed my childhood learning, captured me like a stranger in another person’s cloth,

only to fear that they will soon see that the clothes were borrowed; and I dreaded, that when that

day came, I will be shamed, for my real identity, filled me with indignity. I very much wanted to

be the whiteman - clean and white as snow - learning all I could of his culture and almost nor of

mine. However, a fact stuck to the back of my head which I never let see the light of day, until

now. This fact is the solemn wisdom illustrated in this African fable that says: no matter how long

a log of wood stays in the river, it can never become a crocodile. With this fable in mind, these

words pierced my thoughts: “a people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and

culture are like a tree without roots” (Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jamaican National Hero). Through

reflection on this story, I am therefore elucidated, that western education is genocide and poison

to the African child’s mind (ben-Jochannan, 2004; Carruthers, 1999; Hilliard-III, 2000; Jhutyms,

2016, 2003; Thiong’o, 1986; Wilson, 2000). By this statement, my expectation from most of my

readers may be that of disgruntle, in deep disagreement. But I appeal your indulgence to stay with

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me. You see, like most poisons, when it enters into a body, it weakens the body, making various

things that will not normally be a threat become a threat to the health and live of the body. Poison

in this context is defined as an educational system that de-educate, miseducate, and annihilate a

people’s sense of self, culture, history, and spirituality (Carruthers, 1999; Jhutyms, 2016, 2003;

Mucina, 2011; Wane, 2008). The clarity of the problem of western education, whose ultimate goal

is to “create Black bodies which had no history, language, and cultural identity” (Mucina, 2011),

is not only limited to the African continent, but to all people of African descent in the diaspora

(Carruthers, 1999; Jhutyms, 2016, 2003). In the west, there also exist both remote and recent

statistics saying the same thing about the poor and pathetic state of education for African/Black

students. Carruthers (1999) stated that the state of education for African/Black students is bleak

following current reports of his time. Dei (2015) and Dei, Holmes, Mazzuca, Melsaae & Campbell

(1995) clamour about the alarming rate of school “pushout” of African students. Cooper (2015)

gave an uproar about their disengagement and corresponding dropout rate of 60% in the Canadian

schooling system to be an alarming national shame. Also, a recent report on the CBC (2017) News

headline indicates that “Almost Half of TDSB Students Expelled Over Last 5 Years Are Black.”

Most of these problems have been linked to equity and social justice issues along with a

lack of culturally responsiveness in pedagogy, curriculum and leadership, which speaks to the

inability to centre the African’s child’s worldview in ways that makes their learning relevant to

them (Asante, 2007, 2003; Dei, 2015, 1995; Howard, 2012; Ladson-Billings, 2014, 1995; Lopez,

2016, 2015). Other scholars, as mentioned earlier, have also argued that even when the African

child successfully finishes school, their allegiance is mostly to all but themselves and their kind

(Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Jhutyms, 2016, 2003; Woodson, 1990). This is reflected in our daily

realities where the communities and development of the African people are not reflecting of the

large majority of African/Black students who have made it to the finishing touches of the best

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colleges and universities in the western academy (Woodson, 1990). These, unfortunately,

resembles the reality of Ladson-Billings’ (1995) work, where the academically successful African-

American, in order to attract attention from the western society which they are educated in and

now thrive in, must disconnect from their peers, hence their communities. This, for me, is a critical

matter of poison of the mind towards one’s own self and kind, as I have come to experience, and

it is a very sick feeling. A condition in which I faced daily the negotiating dilemma of academic

success at the expense of alienation from my African Indigenous culture (Ladson-Billings, 1995).

On the other hand, Wane (2008) very intelligently created a dichotomy on this matter, when

she said: “my formal education has ironically drawn me closer to my Indigeneity through research,

causing me to become increasingly self-reflexive in an effort to move beyond critiquing the other”

(p. 194). While this is presently my plight as well, it is, unfortunately, not the plight of most. But,

her dichotomy, however, reminds me of an African tale, in a folklore told by a Dogon Priest to

help us comprehend our current mental state. Morodenibig (2015) narrated this tale: “Against the

principles of evil, the individual can only be compared to an orphan to which the assassin of the

father is at the same time the one that educated him, fed him, and raised him. One then should not

be surprised to see that the orphan sees the assassin of his father as a saviour!” (p. 6). While neither

I nor Wane (2008), I am completely certain, ascribes to the western academy, the saviour status, I

am aware of the complexities that the afore folklore elucidates. And now just like Wane (2008), I

am following in the most revered voice of our great ancestor, Nana Omowale El Hajj Malik El

Shabazz – Malcom X, to say just as he did: that “of all our studies, it is history [our-story - within

our cultural and ancestral jurisdiction] that is best qualified to reward our research”, from our

African worldview, as the most ancient of beings (Asante, 2007, 2003; Dei, 2000; Diop, 1974;

Jhutyms, 2016; 2003; Sutton, 2000, p. 460; Wane, 2008). While a way forward has been provided

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for us by our afore mentioned ancestor, Wane (2008), has also given us a road map of how she

goes about this:

As an author, therefore, I believe that there is a need to move beyond attempts to

de-centre objectification of the Other. It is imperative that I stop spending my time

critiquing the totalizing forms of western historicism and engage in the discourse

of possibility, where the missing voices and knowledges can be heard and validated.

(p. 194)

As I move towards healing, and beyond the attempts to de-centre objectification of the

Other, as illuminated in the above quote, I will end this thread in the story of my life narrative –

white as snow - with a poem that I wrote a while ago. I remember vividly how this poem came to

mind. I laid in my bed and looking out to the trees, with my mind in reflection. My reflection is

my mind’s gaze of the childhood teachings that informed my personal and professional aspects of

my learning, into my late adult years. These learnings that have formed and informed me to this

point. In such calmness, I wrote:

I, a colonial subject

Colonized in and out

An Oreo cookie completely lost

Inferior, even to me

Desires of travel to all but mine - to west but east

Knowledge of all but mine - of west but east

My blackened skin I grave not

My woolly hair I want not

My ancestral lineage is evil I see

My culture is demonic as taught

My oppressors my saviours I yearn

Of my village I know not

Of my rituals I fear

Ah! Of my language I am stripped

Of my culture, am I utterly naked

I pray to my destroyer’s tool

I have been invited to dinner

Equipped with forks and knives

But behold, it is I that is dinner!

Ah!!! Awake!

(Reflective Journal, Oshobugie, 2015).

………………………………………………

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Theme Two: Unlearning Became a Necessity

To Get Lost Is to Learn the Way (African Proverb)

The above African proverb became true for me as I engaged in the exercise of disrupting

the very foundations on which my learning occurred (Lopez, 2015). I remembered vividly acting

and thinking like a rebellious teenager who was not content in a definition of self that excluded

my being. Bullough, & Pinnegar (2001) asserted that “who a researcher is, is central to what a

researcher does” (p. 13). Connelly & Clandinin (1994) illusioned that what a researcher does is

influenced by what a researcher learns through experiences and narratives. My wake-up call was

in the words of another most revered ancestor, Hilliard-III, who into my consciousness his words

expressed voice:

Mental bondage is invisible violence. Formal physical slavery has ended in the

United States. Mental slavery continues to this present day. This slavery affects the

minds of all people and, in one way, it is worse than physical slavery alone. That

is, the person who is in mental bondage will be ‘self-contained.’ Not only will that

person fail to challenge beliefs and patterns of thought which control him, he will

defend and protect those beliefs and patterns of thought virtually with his last dying

effort. (Hilliard-III, as cited by Browder, 1992, p. 235)

My dire need to officially change my name to Emerald Green; to have a child by a

whiteman as part of my attempt to fulfil my dream to be white as snow still leaves me with shame

when I reflect on these memories. However, I realised that I was, as illustrated by the above quote,

mentally enslaved. A prominent character in the novel by Idada (2013), puts this concept of mental

enslavement in the following context:

A slave is not only one who is shackled and flogged. A slave is not only one who

is bought with money in the market. A slave is not only one who has his master’s

name burnt into his skin. A slave is anyone who loses authority over his own life.

You might be free but yet a slave if any man controls the very basic necessities of

your life. You are a slave if you lose your culture, your identity, to another man and

have his foisted upon you. (p. 179)

I appraise myself today, that I took up the courage to go beyond disrupting my childhood

learnings and to do something more about it. The story that follows in the rest of this paper is my

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chosen narrative (Beattie, 1995b) that writes about my journey on the highways to the personal,

professional and scholarly aspect of my unlearning as a way of decolonizing my mind (Dei, 2016;

Jhutyms, 2016, 2003; Wane, 2008).

The awakening that gave birth to this new phase of my story for my desire to find me

occurred sometime around July 2012. I had a profound experience that got me to outrightly

question everything, including my sufferings. Life at this point didn’t make sense to me. The only

ideology I was still exposed to at that moment was Christianity, and this meant that my questions

were directed to God, as expressed in the colonial definition of God. The information recorded in

my personal reflective journal (2012) reads thus:

My need for answers were as though I should depart,

And only in death will I get the answers

To understand this complexity that is life

(Reflective Journal, Oshobugie, 2012)

My questionings eventually gave ways to answers. I remembered vividly how I met an

older African woman, in my community that is like a mother to me; and in teary lamentation, I

poured out my questions. She answered one or two questions, but in response to my continuous

lamentation for more answers, she paused to say to me something I would hear for the first time:

“when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” It was on this note that she stood up to her

shelf, pulled out a book, and stretched it out to me, making me promise to bring it back. It is this

book which will forever change my life and open up my quest to find me since 2012.

In 2015, I desired to study philosophy as a graduate degree. I arrived at the University of

Toronto, Department of Philosophy building in 2015, to inquire in person about their program. At

this point, I decided to be proactive to reintroduce myself into philosophy as it was one of my best

subjects in my previous university. As I began studying philosophy again, on my own, it reminded

me of lots of the claims that it makes, for which I was now beginning to doubt. These claims

asserted that “Hippocrates is the Father of Medicine” and other claims asserted that the roots of

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western philosophy can be found in the works of Greek philosophers known as Thales,

Anaximander, and Anaximenes, during the fifth and sixth centuries which was later referred to as

the pre-Socratic period (Kleinman, 2013). At this moment, still in my ignorant self, I was

innocently questioning how human life began in African, yet everything we know today seems to

begin from elsewhere. This question was originally triggered by my experience for the first couple

of years when I arrived Canada, in 2010. I witnessed the news showing reports of new scientific

discovery of super foods and medicinal foods such as herbs and vegetables. Even Dr. Oz (popular

TV show host in the USA) also referred to this information as new scientific discoveries. I was

forced to say my thoughts out loud one day when I remarked: “how can it be a new scientific

discovery if that was how I used to live in my village.” While at this point, I was not sure what to

make of these new experiences, I was sure that I was conflicted in the learning that I had received

to that point in 2010, which tells me that all knowledge systems are produced by the west – the

whiteman. Now, writing this narrative, I find the language to express my thoughts described in the

words of Dei (2016): “without a firm cultural rootedness, some type of epistemological anchorage,

colonial modernity will only ensure that all learners simply embrace Western culture with an

inferior complex” (p. viii). Within my colonized experience of learning, when I was making all

attempts to denounce my proximity to my African root, little was I aware of my mental slavery in

the form of invisible self-inflicted violence as the legacy of my learning outside my cultural lens.

On one lovely evening, after one of my classes ended, I submitted to the directions of our lecturer

to spend time and reflect on the things that give us joy the most. On this night, looking at the

beautiful darkness of the skies, I titled my reflection in a poem: By Ways of Years the Learning

Bee, and it illustrates thus:

Now, I see that the education that attempted to obliterate me

I was given in my child years

When I absorb, so fast like a bee,

All this information with me they shared.

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Yet, I rejoice that in those child years,

My Indigenous experiences, little also I gained, but by default

Consider I honoured still,

For most had not the Indigenous experience of which myself I pride today

(Reflective Journal, Oshobugie, 2017)

As I wrote this poem, I realized that it involved learning my Indigenous ways that gave me

pleasure. It is the knowledge of my Indigenous ways of knowing and being that produces the

pleasures that define my research and give it and I purpose to engage my current learning. All of

a sudden, I was able to speak back boldly with smiles to Bullough, & Pinnegar (2001) and Connelly

& Clandinin (1994) to say, that I am knowing who I am as a person, which will define who I am

as a researcher; and this feeling encapsulates me with pleasures that only a satisfied woman with

an enchantingly delightful husband could echo. My African Indigenous knowledge system “is a

living experience that is informed by (our) ancestral voices” (Wane, 2008, p. 2). The expression

from the above quote provided me with the courage that I needed to embrace my African

Indigenous knowledge system so that I can channel my ancestral voices, while still in the

colonial/western Academy (Dei, 2016). At this point in my story, I, however lacked the means by

which to do so. This presented for me a challenge, for how could I embrace my African Indigenous

knowledge system within a space that is alien to me and my culture. My need to navigate through

the western academic space, reminded me again of my understanding of culturally relevant

pedagogy and how I could utilize it in practice to create an agency for me. In practice, as afore

highlighted, culturally relevant pedagogy is a theorizing that provides a way for students to

maintain their cultural integrity while succeeding academically (Ladson-Billings, 1995). I used the

theorizing of culturally relevant pedagogy as my entry to take charge of my education to

successfully centre myself within my African Indigenous cultural knowledge system. It has

henceforth informed my relearning, while still in the western academy. This also means that as an

educator, the benefit of culturally relevant pedagogy helped me to forfeit the negotiating dilemma

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of academic success at the expense of been alienated from my culture. It also meant that I took

leadership over my learning and became my own educator to self-teach. As a leader for my own

learning, I became genuinely concerned in the role that I play in my educational process, my role

in shaping how I develop a sense of self, formulate my identity, learn the ways of my African

Indigenous societies and cultures, define and transmit my culture to the next generation, to my

children, groups, and communities (Davis, 2002). I continued to disrupt the dominant narrative

about who I am. I proclaimed my journey of Unlearning the many years of lies, ready to embrace

a Re-learning for my liberation and freedom (Camara, 2010; Freire, 2005; hooks, 1994; Theoharis,

2007). I began reading books that were telling me about who I am, my ancestral wealth of wisdom,

and how I came about as a human being. This new learning was as though I felt a gushing tide of

incoming waves. It created an explosion in me that I could not manage, overwhelming feeling that

led me to say “now, there is one thing that I now know for sure: it is how much I do not know”

(Reflective Journal, Oshobugie, 2015). The case study by Brooks, Jean-Marie, Normore &

Hodgins (2007), earlier referred to in this study that articulated a teacher’s appeal help put what I

was feeling at that moment into perspective. The teacher passionately stated that “these kids need

to know their intellectual ancestry … and the traditions of genius and guts that run through their

people” (p. 391). I now knew that to take a position to centre myself within my cultural lens, to

equip myself with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of who I am, would help me live a

peaceful, productive, and purpose-driven life (Jhutyms, 2016, 2003). This will make me a

contributing citizen to myself, family, and communities at large with no confusion about where

my focus must lie. Hence, through culturally relevant pedagogy, I provided for myself an agency

through which my education is governed by my African Indigenous knowledge system. I took

action by building the capacity that allowed me to question my self-inflicted injustice as a result

of what I knew of myself through the colonial/western education (Lopez, 2015; Wane, 2008).

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Although there exist challenges through this personal and scholarly journey, I always enjoy

devising mechanisms and environments for me to experience the freedom to become my best self

(Davis, 2002). Excerpt from my personal reflective journal (2017) best expresses this thought:

I was only 6 years old,

Long distance errands I made

Knowledge of farming and growing my food, I possessed

Ability to tell the time of day without clock, I had

Herbs for healing I prepared

Communing with plants, I experienced

Fundamental courtesy I expressed.

African Storytelling in the moonlight, under African skies honours my memories

Organizing skills fell upon I naturally, for almost 25 mouths were to be fed

Though a child was I, yet grown I felt

The joys of my early childhood, true learning I beheld

Filled with laughter, love, and light, yet some whip of course

But what fun it was - I played, I learnt, responsible was I!

…. Wait… A… Minute!!!

I, adult now, past university I am

Yet, less of these skills I now own, nature or stories

What is this that I reflect! What is this that I see!

As I travel back to the leaves of this most loyal notes, to collect this data, I realize that my

confusion as to who I was based on my childhood learning, actually began with my family’s

exposure to the city, the christian faith, and western/colonial education, that is known to denounce

all things Indigenous. I also realize, reflecting on the above poem, that similar to the words of

Idada’s (2013) play, that I did not journey from the land of my forebears as a babbling baby, but

as a fully-grown child; and surely, that land had fed me of its very essence, and it is this essence

that honours my memory with our Indigenous ways today. I cannot disown my heritage, yet, I have

power over my destiny, and over my chosen narratives that will serve me to give purpose to my

actions and research in ways that I choose (Beattie, 2017). This story, encapsulated in the theme -

To Get Lost Is to Learn the Way – is dedicated to the personal, professional and scholarly aspects

of my unlearning journey. This theme captures lots of disruptions. But without my knowing, the

vacuum created by the unlearning process through these disruptions was to prepare me for that

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which was to come - my African Indigenous knowledge. It filled this vacuum that more space is

created daily in order to accommodate the beauty and liberation that it offers.

…………………………………………

Theme Three: The Flying Turtle in a Relearning Glow

In the Spark of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems

– Home Sweet Home! –

My African culture and spirituality is the foundation of all African education within its

Indigenous context (Jhutyms, 2016, 2003). Our Indigenous African elders teaches us that it is the

African culture that informs the education, economics, spirituality, governance, and social

relations of the African people. Davis (2002) asserts that if persons or groups seek to reproduce

their culture, they must ultimately depend on the process of education to accomplish this goal as a

culture cannot transmit itself. Hence, African Indigenous knowledge systems is one that addresses

the educational needs, socioeconomic and governance concerns of African people, from their

cultural perspective and worldview (Asante, 2007, 2003; Carruthers, 1999; Dei, 1994; Fu-Kiau,

2003; Jhutyms, 2017, 2016; Wilson, 2000). This is what centres African peoples’ spirituality,

healing and holistic learning; creating an unmovable love for themselves and for their African

cultural expressions (Asante, 2007, 2003; Carruthers, 1999; Dei, 1994; Fu-Kiau, 2003; Jhutyms,

2017, 2016; Wilson, 2000).

My story in this theme describes how I came to find out about myself and the greatness

that runs through my ancestral bloodline. This knowledge that I found gives me great power, joy,

and delight in my personal, professional and scholarly aspect of my relearning. This power is one

that impacts my sense of self to serve my purpose – which is to just be me, to be alive and to have

a zest for living within my authentic identity. This relearning experience has been an education for

liberation (Camara, 2010) that I have since adopted after disrupting the status quo of what I have

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been taught that limited my mind and self-worth. This education is the Mdw Ntchr African

Indigenous knowledge system within my cultural and ancestral jurisdiction. I realize, in a

conscious manner that my education is only significant when it is informed by my African-centred

worldview that is in line with the culture of African people’s goals of education which has been

well articulated earlier in chapter two of this study. My African education harmonizes me with

nature naturally, where our trust is constantly in our Creator and in Science (Clarke, 1996). Since

African people do not exist in a vacuum, nor give birth to itself by itself, then, according to

tradition, we must follow our path of greatness and build on the shoulders of our elders as we

constantly proclaim. I repeat here, the words of this greatly revered elder, Umdala Vusa’mazulu

Credo Mutwa, as he echoes this significant call:

The tree grows well and strong, Oh children mine,

That hath its roots deep in the native earth;

So honour always thy ancestral line

And traditions of thy land of birth! (1964, p. 2)

When I speak of Indigenous African people, customs and cultures; I am speaking of Black

people whose bloodline are ancestral to Africa wherever in the globe that we may be (Jhutyms,

2016, 2003). When I speak of beautiful Africa, I am cautioned by some that I romanticise Africa.

Well, in truth, you romance what you love, so I am content with my affectionate relationship with

my ancestral land and my land of birth. But if we know Africa, like I have come to know Her, one

will not think of it as the romancing of Her. The deficiency is the thinking that we romance Her

for nothing, because its greatness to many, seems to be gone with the wind in the mist of the

perpetual exploitation of her lands, her people, her peoples minds, her children, her cultures, her

talents, her governance, and her resources (Diop, 1974; Jhutyms, 2016, 2003; Obenga, 1995, 1992;

Rodney, 2011; Wane, 2008). So, here is one particular story of my learning of her that has

influenced my love for Her so.

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I needed to write one of my first papers at the university in the fall of 2016. By now, I had

disrupted all my learnings, unlearnt my afore knowledge of Africa via western education, and was

now ready for a re-education, but did not know where to begin. As earlier mentioned, I amusingly

thought that specializing in the graduate field of education will fill-in this need. But only to begin

school excitedly, to then realize that I was not reflected anywhere in or outside the curricula. So,

for this particular paper, I desired to do research that spoke to my truth and to my origins. This

meant that I spent lots of money purchasing books that I needed but were not reflected in our

school library – nonetheless my purchases did pay off. When my books arrived, I went straight to

work with enthusiasm, and the work of our most revered ancestor, Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop, became

for me, my constant companion for instruction and direction. Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop is regarded as

a brilliant scientist and prolific scholar who is highly respected and revered for his painstakingly

research contributions conducted with his associate, our elder - Dr. Theophile Obenga. The

presentation, scientific demonstrations, and results of this research dumbfounded the people and

organizers of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Cairo symposium, held between February 28th through January 3rd, 1978 (Browder, 1992). This

event is still of great memory in the mind of most. The impact of his contributions was so great

that one of the consensuses among several reached at this UNESCO Cairo symposium was that:

“there was no evidence that the ancient Egyptians were white, and that Egypt was not influenced

by Mesopotamia, but by peoples from the Great Lakes region in inner-equatorial Africa”

(Browder, 1992, p. 20). Below in this text, in the works of Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop, my mind opened

up and my pen allowed a harmonious relationship, which with it birthed one of my first research

papers. Here, Diop (1991) directs us, African people and scholars, as earlier alluded to, that “far

from being a revelling in the past, a look toward the Egypt of antiquity is the best way to conceive

and build our cultural future” (p. 3); with his further assertion that Kmt, our High-Culture must be

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to us - African people, what ancient Greek civilization is to European nations - that is, the historical

source of their inspiration (Jhutyms, 2016, 2003). Any lack of understanding of this direction or

confusion that this may create for some, “stems from a perfect ignorance of the African past”

(Diop, 1991, p. 3).

At that early time when I discovered this directive, with a few astonishing truth of Africa,

I began reflecting on my new knowledge and wanted to know more with a wish that there was a

course or program I could enroll for in the western academy about African history that will not

begin with the civil wars of the eighteen hundred or with slavery, which all began with the invasion

of the Eurasians into Africa anyways (Jhutyms, 2017, 2016, 2003). It was in my yearning to learn

more that I stumbled upon the lectures of one of our now again revered ancestors, Dr. Yosef ben-

Jochannan, who taught: The African Origins of Western Civilizations. His teachings were so clear

with demonstrable timelines of how our ancient Kmty (Nile Valley – ancient Egypt) High-Culture

was already old before Europe was born (ben-Jochannan, 2005, 2004, 1997, 1989; Clarke, 1993,

1992; Jhutyms, 2017, 2016). In that lecture, he taught about the falsely ascribed title to Hippocrates

as the father of medicine with a statement that made his audience laugh out loud. He said; how can

one go into Egypt to learn medicine and then become the inventor/father of medicine?

At this point in my journey to find my African Indigenous cultural roots, I had already

taken complete leadership of my education to inform my personal, professional and scholarly

aspect of my relearning through research. And this question triggered my need for further study to

find answers to the African origins of Medicine. To do this, I looked into the different works of

prolific scholars as earlier mentioned, such as, Asante (2007, 2003), ben-Jochannon (1989, 1997,

2004, 2005), Carruthers (1999, 1995), Clarke (1993), Crusillia (1985), Diop (1991, 1974), James

(2009), Jhutyms (2017, 2016, 2003), Nantambu (2001), Obenga (1992; 1995), and some more.

From my new form of education and research, I soon discovered as the literature review for this

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study divulges, that the Greeks - the world’s first Europeans – (Clarke, 1993, 1992; Diop, 1991,

1974) went to ancient Kmt to study at the Temple of Waset (Nantambu, 2001). With this

ruminating in mind while I travelled to a conference in the USA in 2017, I met a senior professor

who is from the Yoruba people of West Africa. To my surprise, she stated vehemently in a

conversation that before the arrival of the Eurasians to Africa, we had no systems of education.

This statement took me back to my earlier state of ignorance for which I must show empathy, yet

sadness. For even we, are imbued with the dominant narrative of an Africa that needed saving. I

imagined if she had the opportunity to engage in a form of education or research that would help

her realize that what is popularly known as Egypt today, from where all knowledge streamed from,

to the world was a centre of education, world knowledge, wisdom, beauty, magnificence,

spirituality, science, governance, and order (Carruthers, 1999, 1995; Diop, 1991, 1974; Jhutyms,

2017, 2016, 2003; Obenga, 1995, 1992). That it was a BLACK High-Culture of BLACK African

people that was influenced from the interior of Africa beginning from the interior South, and not

the invaders there today that some confuse for Africans (Browder, 1992; Clark, 1993, 1992; Diop,

1991, 1974; Jhutyms, 2017, 2016, 2003; Obenga, 1995, 1992; Williams, 1993, 1992). I also

wondered if only she knew the wealth of her Yoruba Ifa cosmology which contains a rich holistic

knowledge and Science of the Yoruba people that it will be an insult to even compare this ageless

knowledge system to all the entirety of the Eurasian educational disciplines today (Adegbola,

2017; Oluwole, 2016). I must confess, that her state of Ignorance mirrored mined (as I was), and

many of us, as we are now (Jhutyms, 2017, 2016, 2003). I also bear witness that my clan, the

Weppa-Wanno people of Estako East, Afemai, had an effective and efficient African Indigenous

educational system that experienced the quality and goal of African Indigenous knowledge system

previously stated in the literature review for this study. This quality of educational experience and

justice in the society flourished for many centuries, with my own clan, and resembled what existed

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on a grander scale in Kmt before it was interrupted by the Eurasian invaders, with their religions

and educational systems of colonization (Itseuwa, 2008).

So, on a mission to know more, my mind stuck to the statement by Dr. Yosef ben-

Jochannan: how can one go into Egypt to learn medicine and then become the inventor/father of

medicine? Consequently, I took it on as a project to begin my research on the African Indigenous

Origins of Medicine. In doing so, I found, as earlier stated, evidence from the works of the above-

mentioned scholars on African history that contradicts the popular opinion that medicine,

Hippocrates (born 460 B.C.), is the father of medicine. I furthermore came up with findings that

inescapably points to the African origins of the entire western civilization, even though it is a poor

imitation of the original (ben-Jochannan, 2004; Wilson, 2000; Woodson, 1990). This information,

this new form of education, this new learning was what established in me my ancestral pride for

self and for others like me. I began to realize that I am worth studying. I have developed a

relationship with my ancestors, my wonderful forebears since then. I am now speaking my cultural

language with pride; enjoying my accent as an African woman; bear only my African Indigenous

cultural names; participate in my African Indigenous rituals, love the healthy glow of my burnt

dark skin; married a Black African man like myself, where we have both produced life from my

womb – a beautiful Black African son that proclaims – “I’m African boy mama!” I adore and

respect others like me; and above all, I live in love and in a Divine state, with the full humbling

knowledge of knowing that I truly am beautiful, Divine; and was born Divine, and never in sin.

Even, in writing this experience, I feel relief, I feel transformed – I feel the joys of knowing! This

joy was felt especially one evening, sometime in October 2017, after one of my classes. On this

day, we had an artifact presentation about something sacred which has informed our personal,

professional and scholarly aspects of our learning, unlearning and relearning. While I didn’t have

the luxury of time to reflect on my presentation and those of my colleagues that night or studied

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the feedback notes from my colleagues to me, I was able to do so the next day. On studying the

notes, I realized their efforts and was grateful that they took out time to make those notes. The

feedback from the notes created a moment of epiphany for me, the moment I grasped for the first

time about how far that I have come, compared to where I started from. The feedback from my

colleagues collectively spoke to three ideas that were observed about my presentation: a cultural

sense of identity, connection to the homeland, and African indigenous knowledge for self-

education. Feedback in respect to the idea of a cultural sense of identity spoke to the discomfort

my colleagues observed when I shared experiences of my attempt to change my name, to take on

a sense of identity that was palatable to the western society. However, a sense of comfort was

observed when I, with my eyes closed, spoke of reclaiming my Indigenous identity as a Black

African woman within my cultural and ancestral jurisdiction. In my thoughts, especially at the

time, speaking of my Indigeneity in a classroom full of white people, I guess that I must have

found comfort in closing my eyes. That was my first time of publicly stating that it is learning

about myself and my ancestry that enhances my life. You see while growing up, I was taught and

made to believe that all my stuff, all things from Africa is evil, that I am evil and born in sin, that

the Black race is suffering because of a curse that existed somewhere in the bible. Then I came

here, to the West and I see that my symbols are used for almost everything in most significant

places like Washington D.C., New York, Maryland, and so on. Even right here in my current home

in Toronto, the ANKH is used as the logo for the Women’s College Hospital. The Ankh is a word

in our Mdw Ntchr language and is represented by a symbol that means life – the key of life, the

union of the male and female principles to represent eternal perpetual life, eternal life, the union

of compliments (Jhutyms, 2016). The Ankh is always carried by our Nswt Bety (called pharaoh

by the Eurasians), priests and priestesses. So, I leave you my readers to be the judge, to kindly tell

me if it will not give you so much joy and pleasure and empowerment studying about yourself if

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you were me? I found it productive and joyous Re-learning, hence finding my lost self. Even now

as I write, I occasionally allow my feet carry the rest of my body to the cluster of the major hospitals

in Toronto, for right there and then, I see the works of my forebears elegantly displayed. My

colonial teachings taught me to fear these works. Yet the works are used, appropriated, and

replicated by the creators of those teachings which taught me to have no reverence for the works

of my forebears.

With regards to the second idea about my yearning and connection to my homeland, my

colleagues described that in looking down when speaking of my mother and in keeping my eyes

shot when speaking of my forebears; I used phrases, such as closeness to mother, family, ancestral

shrine, ancestry, story, culture, and language. The artifact presented that elucidated this common

feedback was a ring that was given to me by my mother on departing Africa in 2008; and, a dress

passed on to me by her since I was thirteen years old. The final idea elucidated from my

presentation, Africa Indigenous knowledge for self-education, comprised of my thoughts of

education as a process of knowing in the context of place/culture/Nature. It also comprises the

concept of Spirituality, Self-mastery, Know Thyself, know nature, and know the world – as this is

key to African Indigenous knowledge systems. In these feedbacks, do I see my growth, and in this

growth, do I now experience the liberating beauty of the sparks of African Indigenous knowledge

systems.

While I reflected that lovely night on these feedbacks, I saw in them the beauty in my story,

the unity, and coherence in the narratives that have brought me this far. I experienced a form of

stillness with humility that seemed to say, “look at how faraway you have come.” It was a feeling

of gratitude that came upon me like a spirit bringing with it the cool breeze of the night. While this

path of informed learning within my African Indigenous knowledge systems and my cultural lens

is a continuous one for me, I must with humility acknowledge the beginnings of my journey and

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how I can be of help to others. That night in my reflective journal, I wrote the following in the

words of Dr. Rashid:

What you do for yourself depends on what you think of yourself

What you think of yourself depends on what you know of yourself

What you know of yourself depends on what you have been told of yourself.

………………………………………

Ah! Could this be how I came to forfeit my desire to be white as snow? Did this

new tale that of me, I now know, destroy this desire? Did it instead, create in me, a

beauty most natural, likened to the Divine sustaining DARK MATTER of all life –

both in space and on earth! (Personal Reflective, Oshobugie, 2017)

As I hovered, in my journal, the printed words of the above-mentioned excerpt, it was a

night of deep reflection with tears in my eyes, as I acknowledged that my history, and my story,

though withheld from me, and from my people, I must now choose to find, learn it and retell it in

the bosom of our truth. Through unlearning of the old, I created space for the new; I created space

for my truth, that I may now be Called “by My Rightful Name” (Okpewho, 2004).

Today, I simply identify myself as an African Indigenous woman; grounded in my cultural

and ancestral jurisdiction, where my education, governance, economics, spirituality, and daily

experiences are all grounded in my culture. I have no need to be anything more, except to be a

better version of my Divine Native self (Jhutyms, 2017, 2016, 2003). On this night, I engaged my

routine request to the Ntchr (Divine Creator) for daybreak to find us well and ended my nightly

exercise of reflection. For through this journey, I now can clearly answer the questions: Who am

I? How did I become this that I am? Why did I become this that I am? For in answering these

questions, I have come to comprehend how the understanding and development of my African

Indigenous knowledge, ontology, and the unlearning of western educational epistemology

impacted my growth as an educator. I slept that night, proclaiming with my lips, a knowing that

my soul now knows very well: I am Osholene Itsemhekhona Ebisaleh Oshobugie! I am the

daughter of Africa, the child of the SUN, the child of my Divine African ancestors, in whose

bloodline is the origins of being - philosophy (science, spirituality, ontology, physics, chemistry,

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mathematics, governance, aesthetics, logic, biology, sociology, anthropology, architecture,

engineering, agriculture, geometry, astronomy, astrology, medicine, etc.); the origin of Arts

(writing, grammar, literature, poetry, etc.); the origins of herbs; etc.! I belong to the great Kingdom

of the Benin empire, known for its valour, spirituality, creative forms, and intellectual strength.

The daughter of the soil of the Afemai people of Weppa-Nwano, where my immediate maternal

and paternal bloodlines dwell, the soil indeed that fed my early childhood of the essence of my

African ways. I have chosen to remember us as we once were, in keeping abreast with our realities

of what we have now become, with a desire that we return to the greatness which we once were,

and even more.

In the epiphany of this moment, I radiated gratitude, made a deep sigh, seeing, that I have

found myself in the truth that I am. Asé.

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Chapter Five: Insights Gained and Implication for Practice

Great Fires Erupt from Tiny Sparks (African Proverb)

In this chapter, I examine my autoethnographic study in a manner that leads to a discussion

about insight gained, implications for practice and conclusion of the study. In this section, I

continue to examine a re-imagined possibility of an education that will centre the African child

within their African Indigenous cultural frame of reference and address critical questions which

arise as a result of this study.

Insight Gained

I embarked on this study to enlighten my own understanding of my personal, professional

and scholarly aspects of my learning, unlearning and relearning in order to find my African

Indigenous cultural roots. I did this by reflecting on my experiences to deconstruct and reconstruct

my story, using interacting narratives that focused on my intertwining life and chosen narratives,

in order to create narrative unities and meanings of them all (Beattie, 2007, 1995a, 1995b; Dewey,

1938; Dobson, 2007; Macintyre, 1981). The concept of narrative unities is borrowed from

MacIntyre (1981) where she defines narrative unity as a “concept of self whose unity resides in

the unity of a narrative which links birth to life to death as a narrative with a beginning, middle

and end” (p. 205). Connelly & Clandinin (1987) also explains narrative unity as a “continuum

within a person’s experience which renders life’s experiences meaningful for the unity they

achieve for the person” (p. 130). Clandinin (1985) simplified the meaning of narrative unity as the

“union in a particular person in a particular place and time of all that he has been and undergone

in the past and in the past of the tradition which helped to shape him” (p. 356). In other words,

“the notion of narrative unity allows us the possibility of imagining the living out of a narrative as

well as the revision of ongoing narrative unities and the creation of new ones” (Connelly, &

Clandinin, 1987, p. 131). This inquiry into my interacting narratives, through autoethnography,

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emphasizes the nature of my narrative unities to reconcile in one voice my life narratives and

chosen narratives in ways that I choose to tell and retell my life story.

Hence, this study has been a process that has helped me reflect on my growth in my

educational journey and in life. Reflecting on this journey, using autoethnography as a method,

and the theoretical framework of African Indigenous knowledge systems, helped me draw upon

themes in my stories that unite and is consistent all through. The threads of these storied events

weaved together into a coherent whole, has helped me to create a self-portrait that is temporal, and

that I know will change as I develop new understandings (Beattie, 2007; Ellis, Adams, & Bochner,

2011). It is the benefit of those early experiences of my Indigenous ways (Lightfoot, 1997) that I

know has helped me through this journey with a consistent message that is seen across the stories

– my yearning to know myself. The overarching theme that is derived from this study is centred

on my current personal, professional and scholarly journey of self-mastery which is the goal of

African Indigenous education (Fu-Kiau, 2003; Jhutyms, 2016, 2003). It is this form of education

that is currently informing the personal, professional and scholarly aspects of my relearning and

practice. This journey encapsulates me with a feeling I could best describe in an image of a flying

turtle; ever so smooth, confident, and protected – going steadily slow, yet amassing information

that nourishes its soul in ways that catapults its heart – soaring unhurried yet fast. Beattie (2007)

elaborated clearly on the significance of undergoing such research into the self, which as earlier

stated, I now can imagine. It provides for me, the researcher, an opportunity for further reflection,

interpretation, and application to practice connections between experiences and ideas (Beattie,

2007). Following Beattie’s (2007) words, almost verbatim as she wrote them, I became

vehemently aware, that this study is most significant when I reflect back on my learning,

unlearning and relearning that I have undergone; and on the significant events and surprising turns

in my educational journey so far. I find that this autoethnographic research, that I have underwent,

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in my portfolio will be an excellent resource for me to help me make links between the continuity

of my past, my emerging future, and the present that I am enacting (Beattie, 2007). In other words,

findings from this study will support me as a resource that will inform my personal, professional

and scholarly practice, allowing me to continually engage in the process of reflection to

deconstruct and reconstruct my experiences. Beattie (2007) in another form, describes the impact

of this kind of research to my personal, professional and scholarly aspect of learning, unlearning

and relearning, when she puts it thus: “it will help you to express the central concerns and values

in your life, to explore how they are enacted in your professional practice, and to imagine and

create the script for your future life” (p. 164). True to this, I have emerged from this research and

enacted to my personal, professional, and scholarly practise a deep sense of Identity rooted in my

African cultural Indigeneity. From this research, I have gained an enormous insight that I will

illustrate in the words of Ifa6.

In the literary work of Okpewho (2004), Otis, one of the African-American character was

attempting to, as I did, and like Wane (2008) did, find his way home to Africa. He was being

beckoned to come home by his ancestral spirits but did not know where to begin as his immediate

family line runs over 400 years deep in North America from during slavery times. While driving

in the dark of night, a question came through the FM station: “That’s cool. But would their affairs

survive a move to the West? And who cares about all that [Africa] stuff anyway?” (Okpewho,

2004, p. 5). It is in response to this question that the insight gained from this research will be

summarized, and remain purposely, untouched and unanalysed. For while I comprehend the

common practice to not leave texts or quotes hanging in the western academy, and the reason for

6 Ifa is the practice of the Yoruba people of West Africa that reflects the dual levels of potentiality that exist through

the study of human nature and Divine nature. Through Orunmila, Ifa is the practice of harmony with the animate and

inanimate, manifest and unmanifest, visible and invisible worlds that leads to a fundamental understanding of the self-

ontology; which brings about the evolution of the human spirit, which, in turn, encourages Divine behavior, worldly

progression, and expanded cosmology. (Baba Ifa Karade, 1994)

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this; I however humbly indulge my liberty to leave this text untouched. Indeed, within the African

Indigenous context, “conversations are regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palmoil with

which words are eaten” (Achebe, 1994, p. 7). It is therefore within our context to often converse

selectively, using adages, stories, folklores, idioms, metaphors, and proverbs; and in most cases

allow the wisdom of the words be understood by each, without the interference of interpretation

(Carruthers, 1995). Herein, in the response to the question from the FM station, summarises my

insight gained for self and for practice:

Ifa says of him who has forgotten his forefathers: if he does not take care of the

departed ones, there will be no one on earth to take care of him. Whether your

forebears are in heaven or on earth, care for them, or your affairs will come to

grief. It may be tomorrow, it may be next year.

(Okpewho, 2004, p. 5)

Implication for Practice

Do Not Beat Too Hard on The Hardened Back of a Tortoise with The Shell of An Egg

(African Proverb, Idada, 2013)

The above African adage is a saying that speaks to the strength of a problem that will not

be solved with a less compactable solution. Culture is to man what breathing is to live, has always

been my personal assertion since my journey began. My mind supplicates for the rigour of deep

reflection (Idada, 2013) in which I have come to comprehend the unlimited bounds of culture by

learning from our collective mother – NATURE – itself. You see, I invite you to create in your

mind, an image of a goldfish, happy and healthy swimming in its natural habitant – THE RIVER.

Journey with that imagination, to nicely and carefully place that same goldfish in what seems the

same as its natural habitant – THE SEA. Then you wait… and see this happen… You see, the

happy goldfish, whose beauty is praised for its elegance, so that they say, that it has no hiding

place when thriving in its natural habitant, will become a dead fish and will rote when placed in

the sea, its unnatural habitant. Though you may be right to say that it is all same water, but what

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must be considered in this story of the goldfish is this: both types of water have their cultures, and

each culture gives life to its own. This observation of Nature is my way of saying to my brothers

and sisters, that We Are Not Just Black People, for beyond colour, “the proper name of a people

must always relate to land, history, and culture” (Clarke, 1996). We cannot solve our many

problems as hard as the shell of a Tortoise, with a solution, as light as the shell of an egg, by

appealing to just the colour of our skin. We are human beings, and all humans have its culture –

All humans on earth embrace theirs but us. Outside our culture of natural habitat, we can liken

ourselves to the goldfish, where our minds are already dead, and our bodies just waiting to go six

feet below ground level. While this truth is not the tastiest for our palates, it is our current reality

(Jhutyms, 2016, 2003). I shall share with us the story by Carruthers (1999), on how we got here –

here where I had to wait until in my thirties, after spending thousands of dollars on education, just

to begin the process through research in order to know who I am. The knowledge of who one is,

is a basic psychological need of any child, which, for me, was taken away by the colonial project

through western education (ben-Jochannan, 2004; Wilson, 2000; Woodson, 1990). This story by

Dr. Jacob Carruthers, also, a high priest of our Kmty culture, alludes to the importance of the

historical underpinnings that have informed this state of the miseducation of the African child

globally, yet to this day. This story indicates the intentional miseducation of Africans, which

occurred in two phases. Phase one describes the Eurasian merchants and missionaries as pioneers

of our miseducation; and phase two describes how the entire educational process, created and

operated by Eurasians, directly and indirectly, in African societies/communities was exported

across the world. Herein, this story by Carruthers (1999), summarizes the miseducation of Africans

to have begun with the arrival of the Portuguese to the Congo-Ngola area of the African coast in

1481. The Portuguese were helped into Africa by Arabic powers six hundred years ago, when they

first initiated the process of the miseducation of Africans as an instrument of exploitation, by

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persuading the royal and noble families of Africa to send their sons to Portugal for European

education. When the sons of these royal families returned, they began ruling our African societies

in the interest of the Portuguese. Carruthers affirms that this model still endures to this day as the

most successful method by which Europeans defeat, control, exploit, and annihilate Africans. An

example of the effect of this model is seen in Carruthers’ description of an African male in the

eighteen century who was given the European name of Jacques Elisa Jean Captein, with a degree

in theology. This African male wrote his thesis in defense of slavery and spent his life as a priest

to those who have been kidnapped and locked up in slave factories, awaiting shipment as chattel

to the west. The missionaries, especially, played a key role in this phase, as they prepared the

ground for the mental and cultural colonialism to subjugate African hearts and minds. It was they

who first settled in African societies and slowly gnawed at our societies by transmitting their

values, through the mission schools (Kambon, 2019). Oftentimes preconditions of treaties and

pacts were the allowance of missionaries into African societies, and everywhere the early Eurasian

cultural vessels went, they played a critical role in our destruction not only by spying on us,

documenting and reporting back to their homelands, but also by spreading discord in the societies,

and causing the younger generations to undermine Ancestral values (Kambon, 2019). In this first

phase of the miseducation process, many colonial schools were expansions and extensions of the

“missionary schools” which would, in turn, become the state schools after “independence”

(Kambon, 2019). Hence, a direct continuity from the colonial destructive process to the current

state of purported so-called educational systems on the African continent.

The story by Carruthers (1999) clearly captions phase two of this history that mapped the

plot for our miseducation today, and it has to do with the Mohonk conferences. There occurred

two Mohonk conferences, one in 1890 and the other in 1891. At this conference, only leading

white educators and ministers met to hammer out a consensus on African/Black education (called

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Negro education at the time). It was there that they plotted the course of Africa/Black education

that still exists today. No African/Blacks were invited, and none were present. The consensus

arrived at this meeting was later on transferred to Africa by the British. According to Carruthers

(1999), the consensus of what African/Black education should be was championed by a Reverend

James Pike, who claimed to be an abolitionist of slavery. He asserted that the problem of Blacks

(referred to as Negro at the time) was not how to teach them to read and write as they all too readily

learn all that, but rather the problem was how to teach the Blacks proper manners and respect for

their new roles as workers. This pattern, function, and goal of education was later transferred to

Africa by the British. To this day, Carruther (1999) asserts that the mastery of the system of white

supremacy of mental slavery to control the physical, psychological and political conditions of

African children and African peoples in North America, Africa and in the diaspora is effective

through the process of the so-called education. Which, in reality, is a system of education that

deeducates the masses of Black/African people and miseducates our leaders (Carruthers, 1999;

Jhutyms, 2016). The effect of this system of education is seen in the current trends in the results

of the educational process for African/Black children. These trends are statistics of recent years

that demonstrate that at grade one, the differences between children of African descent and

Eurasian children in America are insignificant; but at grade eleven, these African children become

unbelievably disadvantaged, which is a predisposition that suggests that the western educational

process de-educates African children (Carruthers, 1999). Also, the procedure of judging a process

by the products, according to Woodson (1990), will leave one begging the question: If our

education was good, we would be good, our families would be whole and our societies healthy;

therefore, is our current condition a direct indictment of its quality and usefulness, or lack thereof?

Given this history of western education that is created with the African in mind, can we then say,

that, following the current trends in the results of the educational process for African children, this

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form of education imposed on us does exactly what it was carefully and intentionally designed to

do? Can we also say, that it reinforces the false conclusion by Gobineau (1853-1855), that

Africans/Blacks are naturally inferior to whites, and education will only widen the gap?

Henceforward, satisfying the consensus at the Mohonk conference for which the purpose of

education must serve for the African/Black nations and peoples globally; an education that controls

the thoughts and actions of African/Black people to serve the interests of the Eurasian society.

Having this in mind, these words written by our great ancestor, Nana Carter Woodson admonishes

and ties it all in:

When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions.

You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his “proper

place” and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go

without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special

benefit. His education makes it necessary. (Woodson, 1990, p. xiii)

The above quote was my exact experience. When my education directed my love towards

all that is external to me – towards Europe and anything proxy to it – and hate towards myself and

everything proxy to me. At my own detriment, I will defend that which oppresses me, because my

education taught me so. Ashamed of my own mother tongue, I spent years and money learning

English and French, for my language was regarded as vernacular, for which a fine awaited me,

should I have spoken it in school.

I mapped out three implications for this study. The first implication is better put in the

words of Dr. Paige:

We exist to help you better understand who you are. That’s the only reason we are

here. Is because you deserve to know where your family was before Mississippi

and before Arkansas. There was this disconnection. And…, you know, that makes

us the original victims of identity theft. We’re the very first ones. We lost our

names, we lost our languages, we lost the freedom to honour our ancestors, and our

families were torn apart. So, if you don’t know your name, you can’t speak your

language, you can’t talk to your God, and you don’t know where your brothers and

your sisters are, or who they are, then how can you know who you are? (Paige,

2019)

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Those words by Dr. Paige, though were shared to our African-American brothers and

sisters in the United States, did resonate with me still. While this quest for seeking our roots is

worse for our brothers and sisters who are from the direct lineage of our enslaved ancestors, the

fright in not knowing is one I empathise with, and for this, I cannot imagine the psychological

trauma. However, that disconnection from who we are and from our culture is one that we all

share. For though I was born in the continent of Africa, I grew up seeing my culture and highly

evolved Indigenous knowledge systems as primitive, disconnected from the elders who would

have helped me advanced, because they were to me, “illiterates”. I used this reasoning because my

colonial education taught me so. So, the first implication of this study for educators and for practice

lies in the above statement by Dr. Paige. As educators, we are here to help our students acquire an

identity answer within their cultural frame of reference, as this is empowering. On this foundation,

will we achieve the success of African students that will translate into community advancement.

For without knowing who we are, without our ancestral memory, we can never really be whole.

Knowing where we are from, and the culture that informs our origin, is a critical component of

knowing who we are (Paige, 2012). For me, it has transformed how I define myself, because, I am

now able to utilize that knowledge. For, if the death of a peoples culture and language, equates to

the death of a people’s history (ben-Jochannan, 2004), then educators must practice “the major

function of education [which] is to help secure the survival of a people” (Wilson, 2000). This

means that our educational process must be concerned with fundamentally inculcating in ourselves

and our students’ collective values, attitudes, commitments and priorities that allow us and them

to function meaningfully in the interest of our groups, families, communities, and nation. Hence,

our education must require us to develop values and skills necessary for our survival and

development, and if this is not happening, then we can say for certain that we are being

miseducated (Woodson, 1990). This implication for practice is a major key that we as educators

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can utilize to transform the lives of our students, especially seeing the history of why this form of

education was created.

I was in a class once, where we addressed the topic of education. We were asked this

question: Are Africans being educated or miseducated? To answer this question, and to give more

value to the implication of this study for practice, we must first define what education is. In order

for a nation to continue existing and in order for it to attain and maintain a certain quality of life,

it has to ensure that its values are transmitted and improved upon with each generation (Davis,

2002; Hilliard-III, 1986; Jhutyms, 2016; Kambon, 2019; Wilson, 2000). The process through

which this transmission and improvement of values and skills are done constitutes education

(Davis, 2002; Hilliard-III, 1986; Jhutyms, 2016; Kambon, 2019; Wilson, 2000). Our much loved

ancestor, Nana Hilliard-III (1998) teaches us that the general role and purpose of education is to

allow each generation in society to rationally guide and systematically guarantee that it refines and

reproduces its finest accumulated wisdom, knowledge and skills necessary to develop, maintain

and participate in the society of the future for its future generation. In the words of our great

ancestor, Nana Marcus Mosiah Garvey, “Education is the medium by which a people are prepared

for the creation of their own particular civilization, and the advancement and glory of their own

race” (Garvey, 2014, para. 1). For to advance a nation, the people must be advanced, for a people

to be advanced, they must know who they are, for them to know who they are, they must be taught

who they are. So, we note that education is fundamentally concerned with the perpetuation of

group/national interest (Kambon, 2019). Meaning that the skills instilled through the educational

process permits the person to contribute productively to the advancement of the collective

society/people. A renowned African educator, Mwalimu Shujaa (1994), explicated fundamental

differences between schooling and education. He his work, he noted the following:

1. Education instils values and shapes individual personalities.

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2. Education adjusts individual commitment to collective survival and continuity.

3. Education is developed by and in the interest of the group/nation/culture.

4. A group cannot and will not socialise/educate people for another group, especially if

they have conflicting interests.

5. An individual who has been socialised with and in the values of a group will function

as a member of and in the interest of that group, even if s/he originally belongs to

another group.

6. A group that adopts another group’s educational/socialising process will instil into its

members values and commitments that will perpetuate the interests of the group that

created the socialising process and procedures.

We can see, then, that education is ultimately the process (methods, standards, procedures,

techniques, content, direction) through which the thoughts and emotions of a people are shaped in

accordance with its interests and survival thrust. In the light of this understanding of education,

our honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey assertively admonishes us that, “To see your [oppressor]

and know him is a part of the complete education of man; to spiritually regulate one’s self is

another form of the higher education that fits man for a nobler place in life, and still, to approach

your brother by the feeling of your own humanity, is an education that softens the ills of the world

and makes us kind indeed” (Toussaint, 2010).

It is clear from the above definition and assessment of education and its role that people

cannot oppress and dominate another nation unless it disrupts and destroys its educational process:

the process through which it would transmit its survival thrust and develop the skills needed for

its liberation and self-perpetuation (Kambon, 2019; Wilson, 2000). Therefore, as Nana Amos

Wilson teaches us:

If our study of Black history is merely an exercise in feeling good about

ourselves, then we will die feeling good. We must look at the lessons that

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history teaches us. We must understand the tremendous value of the study of

history for the re-gaining of power. If our education is not about gaining real

power, we are being miseducated and mislead and we will die “miseducated”

and mislead. (Black, 2018, para. 8)

To analyse the above quote, is another teaching by another great ancestor, Nana John

Henrik Clarke: “to control a people you must first control what they think about themselves and

how they regard their history and culture. And when your conqueror makes you ashamed of your

culture and your history, he needs no prison walls and no chains to hold you” (Quotes, 2018). For

through our mis-education, or as some will say, de-education, and anti-education, the dominant

culture (Eurasians) are able to secure their survival by ensuring that we will not do much for

ourselves because what little we may be told of ourselves is skewed to serve their interests

(Kambon, 2019). It is for this reason, that I justified my realization of western education as poison

to the minds and bodies of African people, and decided to undergo this research, which is only a

starting point in the process of reinventing myself within my cultural and ancestral jurisdiction, as

an African Indigenous educator and storyteller. Helping my students with the means to find their

ancestral roots, retrieve their ancestral memory, and practice the best of their culture, is one of the

ways that my practice has been impacted by this autoethnographic study. In other words, on

realizing my profound loss, and on my awakened desire by the love for my African Indigenous

knowledge systems to find my cultural roots, I now keep abreast the teachings of this great

ancestor, mentioned earlier, Nana Lerone Bennett Jr, that “an educator in a system of oppression

is either a revolutionary or an oppressor” (Quotes, 2019). Behind this foundational thought, is the

conviction of consciousness that “the most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the

oppressed” (Biko, 1978, p. 68). This implies for our abilities as educators to centre children,

especially Black African children, within their cultural paradigm where they are empowered with

the correct and appropriate stories of their histories, that must also be taught correctly and

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appropriately; and better yet, how to apply the new knowledge gained to create a positive spiritual,

social and economic change that will impact their families, communities, and nations (Asante,

2007, 2003; Davis, 2002; Dei, 2000; Freire, 2005; Jhutyms, 2016, 2003; Ladson-Billings, 1995;

Lopez, 2016, 2015). To do this, those of us who are capable must implement “African languages

[to] express philosophic and scientific thought (mathematics, physics, and so forth) [for] …

African culture will not be taken seriously until their utilization in education becomes a reality.

(Diop, 1974, p. xvii). It is the strong recommendation of our distinct ancestor, Nana Cheikh Anta

Diop (1974) that we must implement into our educational systems our African cultures, languages,

thoughts and philosophical systems. Nana Carruthers (1999) for instance echoed Nana Cheikh

Anta Diop’s work to say: that within African-centred education, we could for instance, replace the

study of Roman law in our law schools with the study of Kmty jurisprudence; the same applies to

philosophy, where, Kmt is at the origin of an elaborate philosophical system, and not a mere

cosmogony of a branch of science that deals with the origins of the universe. But above all, “A

suggested start in this regard is to call the deep though of Africa (what the Greeks call philosophy)

Medew Netcher (Divine Speech …). We will then call the general method of discourse Medew

Nefer (Good Speech)” (Carruthers, 1999, 233). The nature of the Mdw Ntchr is a holistic structure

that defines what our educational system should be, how it should be, why it should be, where it

should be, and for whom it should be for. Building on the Mdw Ntchr will be building on an

already existing template of enormous African greatness which will implicate our praxis for

education as the practice of freedom (Freire, 2005; hooks, 1994) for ourselves and children. For

only education within our cultural and ancestral jurisdiction can free us indeed (Jhutyms, 2017,

2016).

The second implication of this study for my practice, is to focus on education that is

absorbed on self-mastery within my cultural and ancestral jurisdiction; and not be exhausted with

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the erroneous tiring fights of working with the western systemic framework which plays out to be

a strenuous game that I now know, must serve the agenda for which it was created to serve (Diop,

1974). This is by no means an act of giving up. But rather, as beckoned to us in a moonlight

conversation with our African Indigenous elders one evening, is the instruction that “the best way

to fight back, is to practice your own culture and build your own institutions.”

The third implication for practice, is that the new knowledge and insight gained, further

supports my understanding of self within my cultural context and informs how I now relate to the

Other who belongs in my cultural context and outside it (Chang, 2015; Wane, 2008). As I continue

my route on this journey as an educator in my personal, scholarly, and professional aspect of my

continued process of learning, unlearning, and relearning, I am proceeding with a new

consciousness gained from this work. While I have not captured all the moments in this journey, I

have however been fortunate that a space has been created for me through story in the personal

narrative form of autoethnographic research, to critically reflect on my experiences in order to

forge a new understanding about my journey in education. As a result, I am enjoying the

knowledge of my soul knowing very well, the beauties of being Black as Coal – for from the

darkest depth of the soil, beyond the skies, and the womb, is life made, and that which sustains

life, both in space and on earth – the Dark Matter.

Conclusion and New Beginnings

Not to know is bad; not to which to know is worst (African Proverb)

Conclusion

On speaking with one of my many uncles in my family lineage, with whom I was hoping

to find directions on our history as a people; he responded to me that our history does not matter,

it is what we do now that matters. While I use to be that exact person with such a faulty perspective,

I later blamed it on the Eurasian/western system of education that has invaded our ways of being

120

through intense aggressive acts of violence (Rodney, 2011). A system of education where we have

been taught that our stories, cultures, and practices do not matter. In order to give perspective to

the words of my uncle, I analyse my experiences again in a summative snapshot. I, like most of

my fellow African families, was actively exposed to western education and culture as a way of life

that must be aspired to; and destructively, at the expense of our African Indigenous cultures

(Thiong’o, 1986). However, my wake-up call which began once I commenced the correct and

appropriate education helped provide for me a praxis which enabled me to play an active role in

shaping how I now develop my sense of self, formulate my identity, learn the ways of my society,

how my culture is defined and transmitted from one generation to the next (Davis, 2002). This sort

of education within my cultural and ancestral jurisdiction and heritage is simply an African

Education based on my African Indigenous knowledge systems that are organic to who I am as an

African being. Until now, I had found it unfortunate that my true education was in my early

childhood in the village before the age of six. At six years old, I was able to heal myself and

siblings of certain mild ailments knew who I was to an extent and understood my oneness with all

things. I lost these abilities once I was introduced to the mainstream definition of education and

forced to learn more about my oppressors. I was taught to love these oppressors; and in turn was

taught to hate my ancestors, see them and my Indigenous ways as evil for I was taught vigorously

to accept only that which was in the image of the white jesus and god. My next phase of African

education began for me at about the age of thirty, after my university education, one college

diploma, and three postgraduate diplomas were achieved. I say this to say that, we conveniently

say, our cultures, histories, and stories do not matter because we do not know that we have a history

and culture to be proud of. When a system of education de-educates and miseducates us

(Carruthers, 1999), we become a perfect end product for the purpose that it is meant to achieve

(Woodson, 1990). While like my uncle, we clearly say that history does not matter, and proceed

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to praise the miracle called the “whiteman” in such a way that when we hear about our inventions

and how all the “whiteman” did and are still doing is stealing and appropriating all of it, killing for

it and ascribing it as their own, my uncle was in great disbelieve. He could not comprehend himself

or his race as a symbol of success with ingenious inventions as all his life, he has been told

otherwise; especially, with the more western education that we receive, the more of ourselves we

seem to forget (Woodson, 1990). Yet, to him, I ascribe no blame, for the nature of western

education for the African mind has its goal to do just that – the loss of the collective memory of

our significance. Yet, our collective memory is our collective history. For “the relationship of

history to the people is the same as the relationship of a Mother to her Child” (Clarke, 2016).

Consequently, after realizing this loss, and how much I have forgotten; I then chose to

embark on this difficult but truthful journey via this autoethnographic research, as the important

first step towards restoring who I am, by remembering who I am (Hilliard-III, 2000). For while

our problems as a people may be many, the first step amongst “a large part of what we must do is

to get our memories back intact and regain our orientation, only then will other things be possible”

(Hilliard-III, 2000, p. ix). This Research of storying my experience through autoethnography, is

one of the most important ways that I have chosen to get back my memory and regain my

orientation, so that moving forward, the personal, professional, and scholarly aspects of my

education and practice will be informed by my African Indigenous cultural roots, knowledge

systems, and worldview, which is governed by living harmoniously with all that is Nature – which

is to live in MA’AT! I therefore invite you, my readers, my brothers and sisters, to determine if

my story speaks to yours about your experience or about the lives of others that you may know; or

if unfamiliar cultural processes have been illuminated (Ellis & Bochner, 2000; Ellis & Ellingson,

2000), thereby, creating for you, possibilities for a personal or social change (Ellis, Adam, &

Bochner, 2011).

122

New Beginnings

I begin by asking, does our past really matter? I respond to this asking with the works of

our ancestor, Okunini Nana Chancellor Williams in The Destruction of Black Civilization:

What happened to the Black People of Sumer?’ the traveller asked the old

man, ‘for ancient records show that the people of Sumer were Black. What

happened to them?’ ‘Ah,’ the old man sighed. ‘They lost their history, so they

died. – a Sumer Legend. (Williams, 1974, p. 16)

In the literal sense, the teachings from the above quote is a humble reminder that a people

with no historical connection ultimately perish through self defeat. Returning to our cultural roots,

practicing our culture, and perpetuating it, keeps us strong, alert and alive. It is my hope that the

above quote will inspire courage in us for a new beginning for us. As directed by our African

Indigenous elders and highly esteemed scholars, our Sankofa to the Mdw Ntchr African

Indigenous system will be a unifying bond for us all, as we all can trace our common histories to

Kmt. It will enable us to explore the Mdw Ntchr within the cultural jurisdiction of our African

ancestors. Since I began this journey, and seen that the Mdw Ntchr consist of the etymology of the

word “philosophy” which gave birth to the current western educational system, from which our

educational disciplines exist today; it created in me, the need to ponder regularly the following

questions: 1) How can African educators take responsibility to research the ontology of their

scholarships and educational disciplines within the Mdw Ntchr Africa Indigenous knowledge

systems? 2) How can African educators and students learn the Mdw Ntr language and culture of

their African ancestors? 3) How can Africa scholars achieve the huge task of writing books and

creating learning resources to cater to the learning needs of the African child in the K-12 school

system, with teaching methodologies that are consistent with the African worldview and culture?

And 4) how can African educators, scholars, parents, and communities globally make it their duty

to learn an Africa language and culture, and teach their children, subjects such as mathematics,

grammar, science, e.t.c. in that African language and culture? Research shows that children learn

123

best in their mother tongue within a cultural paradigm that informs their identity in the image of

who they are (Ball, 2014; Kambon, 2017; UNESCO, 2008a).

As I ponder on these questions that have been informed by the works of literature as

reviewed herein, I am conscious of the directions of our revered ancestor, Nana Cheikh Anta Diop,

when he admonished us that we, as African people in the diaspora, have 100% cultural citizenship

to our homeland in Africa. This admonishing is supported by our Indigenous African proverb

which illuminates, “that no matter how far and how long a snail travels, it does not leave its shell

behind.” Based on this admonition and the evidence presented to us on the African worldview, by

the scholars in these works of literature and beyond, let us kindly note that our healing begins with

us acknowledging our collective identity, as African people first, before anything else. For we

must remember that our heritage is not just a colour. Our heritage is of an African people with a

culture, with rich Black skin full of melanin which is the source of life for our planet earth and for

space; and for that, we are honoured (Afrika, 2009). Following this, let us then make a conscious

effort to learn our African cultures and languages within our Indigenous context and within our

Indigenous gaze. For in doing this, I re-echo the directions of Mama Mazama (2016) that: “for you

to be truly educated, you must know about yourself;” and with knowing about ourselves, comes

our salvation.

The end

*********************************

124

Epilogue

(Jegna, Warrior Scholar, Queen Mother, Living Ancestor, Dr. Mama

Marimba Ani!)

SHE SPEAKS CULTURE TO ME

Culture is the organization of human experience. It is the supreme ideological

force and political mechanism for collective group development. Without our

cultural and historical connections, we are not a people!

Culture is the immune system of a race. Like a petri dish, it is an environment

that grows a specific organism. It is the armor that protects a people against

genocide. It tells us who we will live for and who we will die for.

Our culture is the grounding of our historical self-consciousness. African

culture is the unique expression of the African soul. It cultivates, nurtures and

cares for the African soul as nothing else can! It makes us part of the global

African family. It imparts to us the power of our ancestors. It has got to be the

foundation of any educational system that we have!

It is the basis of our sovereignty!!!

The Maafa (The African Holocaust), and its ongoing ramifications,

destroyed/destroys our collective memory, leaving us possessed by European

definitions of ourselves and all of life: obsessed with being “American;”

lacking vision beyond academia; not willing or capable of envisioning

“nation;” too much tied to the visionless-ness of integrationists, and the

kumbaya crowd.

WE NEED TO REBUILD OUR CULTURAL IMMUNE SYSTEM!!!

WHEN WE TRANSFORM OURSELVES, ALL OTHERS AND ALL ELSE

MUST TRANSFORM ALSO!!!

(A. Marimba, Speech at the Association of Black

Psychologist Annual Convention, July, 2011)

125

VISION OF BEAUTY

“It has given us so much pleasure to look at you since the conference began, you are a vision of

beauty.”

Uhmm… I have been complimented in different ways in the past, even at this

conference, I received so many compliments. However, it is the first time anyone,

and a lovely African sister, in this case, will refer to me as a “vision of beauty.” I

was very touched, as this to me was a compliment so profound coming from a sister

like me. Perhaps it would not have meant so much had it come from someone else

of another identity. Even the words are so rich… the vision of beauty! It excites

me!

………………………………………………..

You see, the context of my look that engendered such compliment that I reflect

upon was my African Indigenous appearance. My love for my Africa self,

translated into wearing my Africa attire since 2016. Before this time, I did dress in

my Africa clothes and accessories, but less often. I, however, since the beginning

of 2017, made a conscious decision to dress in my Africa clothing as much as I

could and adorn myself with my Africa jewelleries and beads always. Well, one

could imagine my heartfelt moment at this compliment because I once felt shame

to wear my clothing and beads and jewelleries to selected places. The new look and

style have given me so many compliments and admiration that sometimes

transports me to what it was in Africa when women walked with their beads and

colourful clothing in ways that portrayed their royalties or prominence. You see,

everyone always had these elements of adornments around their skins that

beautifies them with only a description that a canvas with a painting brush can give.

I walk with my head high, chest and shoulders straight, and smiles on my face to

say hello with the feeling of royalty - a vision of beauty. Ah! What a difference in

the stories my journal now captures, entries filled with texture of love for culture,

self and beauty, as at when compared to previous years.

(Reflective Journal, Oshobugie, 2017)

126

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AFRICA

We paid no taxes;

There was no crime;

There was no police;

There was no inflation;

There was no unemployment;

There was no AIDS;

There was no poverty;

There was no famine;

There was no corruption;

There was no debt crisis,

There was no prostitution;

Men didn’t beat or divorce their wives;

Then the white man came to improve things!

A poem by Nana Musamaali (Nangoli, 2001, 11)

AFRICA ON MY MIND!

It is me, this is me, it is me, this is Africa

Indigenous to the earth, Indigenous to my humanity

It is me, this is me

It is my song, ancestry, kulture

It is me, this is me

It is me, it is my economics, dance, family

It is me, this is me

It is my rituals, collective ways of living

It is me, this is me

It is my food, spirituality, beauty

It is me, this is me

It is Africa, this Africa, this me – this TRUTH, this SELF

(Reflective Journal, Oshobugie, 2017)

IN AFFIRMATION

May our African ancestors guide our paths to MA’AT - the fundamental law which is in

perfect harmony with that THAT WE ARE; may we glory in our true knowledge of self while

we still live; so that we will not depart before knowing the greatness from whence we came. Asé!

****************************************

127

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