Knowledge production is the foundational legacy we must give posterity and the way ahead is to revolutionise co-creation not just of knowledge but also of wisdom. Our journey from here must be deliberate, mindful and disciplined, so that we do not just understand knowledge production, develop the pedagogy of wisdom but define the Mo o Lo of African excellence.
Most journeys should ideally end in a destination. The conversation about knowledge production I think will be greatly enhanced by a choice of destination. To be truly honest knowledge production is a somewhat difficult framing of purpose and I still struggle with its meaning, but that does not matter so much as what it does or what it can do. In 2004, I started a journey to produce African wisdom on organising for this adaptive century. The product titled Omoluwabi 2.0 focussed on Nigeria as a case study for Africa confirmed me in the sense that the world needs the exposure and expression of an African perspective on all things. So for me Knowledge production is about the ability to design, develop and deliver know-how, the craft to use knowledge to transform problems and challenges.
If Knowledge production is effective for Africa and Africans, then in 100 years approximately by 2115 there will be “a world system of operation shaped by Africa and African culture, capacity and contribution which is inclusive of all humanity, responsible in the engagement and accountability to nature and our planet. All of these within the economic psychology of abundance founded in the value of service to explore all forms of wealth not just material acquisition.” This vision will be in a world where the substantial number of the productive people alive will be African and the continent will in fact have the largest clustering of young people. It will be a period when Africa music, arts and sciences will be the centre of what the world hears, sees and consumes. It means that registrations such as patents, copyrights will be inundated with Africans and their productivity over the next century.
At the beginning of the 21st century, we are far away from my vision of 2115 in more than 100 years difference in time. Our position in the world is largely defined by our capacity to consume knowledge. It is clear that we associate westernisation with modernisation and measure progress with visibility of association and certification in western epistemology. We are caught in the battle between our borrowed system of formality from the west, and our often denigrated informality that is African heritage. At best we ritualise our ancestral wisdom turning them to acts, practices devoid of the quality of thought and depth of understanding to translate them to effective, as well as relevant to 21st century adaptation. For example we emphasis the primacy of age and respect for it but our ancestors framed respect for the knowledge that came with age rather than the number of years, the assumptions was of maturity and exposure not just time spent in the world.
Presently we have lacked the disciplined approach to African knowledge systems and their documentation. In fact worse is that aside from formal schooling the majority who are embedded in the informal cultural systems have few platforms, methods and tools to propagate what they know. So not only what we know from the wisdom of those who went before us are patchy, we have also created a massive division excluding large populations who are not certified in the formal systems of learning, excluding them from any organised learning or contribution to production. A good friend of mine Dr. Emmanuel Okeleji who is a digital entrepreneur likens our current relationship with information and data to the Nigerian Oil industry treatment of Natural Gas, which is just simply flared away.
We produce knowledge daily but still leave large parts of what we know and need untouched for where are the African management systems, economic theories and leadership practices. Omoluwabi 2.0 was a greedy experience because there are large spaces of knowledge that our ancestors covered that provides deep insight and unique perspective. It meant taking an excursion into pre-colonial meaning-making and genius. The transformation organised by Akhenaten the heretic, the pursuit of trade excellence by Jaja of Opobo, the republican architecture of the Empire of Ibadan. Have you ever thought about why people without written rules or laws were able to design, organise and manage complex governments that spanned what would be many countries today if they had no knowledge or wisdom on how to organise or manage? So why then do we confuse western management approaches as global ones? Management is a culturally determined way of getting things done.
Africa is not embedded but at the margin of the current world order not yet fully indoctrinated into the scarcity, reduction and engineered solutions. It is worth saying again that the order is at the end of its efficacy in the face of climate change, dysfunctional income disparity and denigration of the have-nots. For that very reason, Africa can start with far less dependence on the existing paradigm and far greater opportunity with the kind of creative blank sheet needed for original thinking and framing.
The 21st century has reclaimed the complexity that comes with interdependence and connectivity. The past few centuries of Western progress, using the metaphor of machines and industrial processes consistent with its laudable achievement in industrialisation. The world operated on the assumptions of social engineering of expert-led change, the intelligence of the few over the wisdom of the multitudes and the value as what is measurable only. The belief that once the powerful determined policy, what was left was the roll out of implementation on us all. This consensus has failed. In Greece, about Syrian refugees examples of the end of this epoch are daily emerging.
Africa is not embedded but at the margin of the current world order not yet fully indoctrinated into the scarcity, reduction and engineered solutions. It is worth saying again that the order is at the end of its efficacy in the face of climate change, dysfunctional income disparity and denigration of the have-nots. For that very reason, Africa can start with far less dependence on the existing paradigm and far greater opportunity with the kind of creative blank sheet needed for original thinking and framing. It does not appear that as Africans we have entered that space with the boldness, originality and focus that is needed.
In a time of information explosion and democratisation of knowledge, we need no permission nor should we engage intermediaries for the task. So where are the designs for the African cities of the 21st century or even the framework of martial arts, culinary excellence? In Omoluwabi 2.0, my first and core recognition is that Character is the essence of all that we are and the energy of authentic self-love. The unfortunate thing is that as Africans we confuse westernisation with modernisation that we are in great part strangers to ourselves.
Going from here towards 2115, we must start with authenticity and self-love, a deep recognition and knowledge that we are not children of a lesser God. In fact, claiming the established knowledge that human beings are a African creation and consigning the mental illness that is Race and racism to the waste bin of factual, scientific and empirical evidence. This is not just a motivational sentiment but recognition that the insecurity that has driven western domination and hegemony is about fear of inferiority rather than superiority. To genuinely take the responsibility in shaping how life is and will be lived on this planet, we have to accept not just the kind of parity that humanity is about but also responsibility to contribute to the prosperity that an effective Africa can give from its own unique body of knowledge.
The proper documentation of historical and contemporary African knowledge is imperative to satisfy the teeming numbers of liberated self-loving Africans and will be a great platform for a Pan-African curriculum of learning, designed and delivered in all settings across the continent. For example, the effort led by the South African to preserve the libraries of Timbuktu should be the foundation of renewing and adapting the engagement with astrophysics, mathematics, and chemistry that is captured in the manuscripts in West Africa. It would authenticate history amongst many other things. It should be a catalyst for redefining ways in which these issues can be learned. In Omoluwabi, the technology was to engage an ancient system of honour, value and evolution to design a framework for engaging, designing and organising Complex adaptive systems. Using a complex place like Nigeria to pilot the capacity of this knowledge system to guide how to operate it in the 21st century. It also provides a framework of how to connect many of our people disconnected from enquiry, reflection and practice of knowledgeable problem solving.
As the continent doubles her population, the discipline of a culture of co-creation and participation will lead the next generations to the quintessential African epistemology captured in the Yoruba saying, ‘Abo oro ni aso fun omoluwabi ti o ba de inu e a di odidi’: you tell the truly evolved just enough for them to make their own whole meaning. A people who do not need to be instructed to the point of mental and intellectual redundancy but fully engaged in the dynamic equilibrium of making multiple meaning, not just good and bad or other simplistic dichotomies. African excellence then is not an oxymoron but clear product of habit expressed in the daily interaction across the continent.
It is important to address learning settings because we will need to liberate structured and disciplined learning from designated buildings like classrooms and schools. Building our societies for life-long learning in ways that truly invest in our people the full capacity to co-create knowledge and engage in deep participation of its uses. The social and hardware technology when fully deployed as tools of massive learning engagement, improvement and empowerment will truly transform the continent. The possibility of mobile knowledge apps that not only capture and accredits prior learning as well as offering relevant digitalised body of knowledge already happens in patches. It should and will be pervasive. The use of audio recordings for all African titles and translated into indigenous languages will free knowledge from the obstinate barrier of literacy, especially in borrowed languages.
Imagine Africa where the neural network of open air markets that stretch across hamlets, villages, towns and cities become clusters of learning excellence not just commerce. A new Africa where the fractal networks of households and homestead capture and catalogue the wisdom from their ancestral stories and practices, peculiar recipes of food and remedies, as well as products of their craft and artisanal endeavours. Yes! Africa where the term African excellence is lived daily not exclusive to special settings or certification, found in the intersection of the formal and informal but owned as well as transformed by the choices, commitment and contribution of our multitudes. It is in this funky space that we will replace the folly of the current systems of intellectual property with a more holistic recognition system that celebrates originality, as well as encouraging communities of interest. The most profound preparation for African transformation and redefinition of the World paradigm and system will occur when African women are at the core of this repositioning and pursuit of excellence by removing a lot of the inherited patriarchal barriers.
As the continent doubles her population, the discipline of a culture of co-creation and participation will lead the next generations to the quintessential African epistemology captured in the Yoruba saying, ‘Abo oro ni aso fun omoluwabi ti o ba de inu e a di odidi’: you tell the truly evolved just enough for them to make their own whole meaning. A people who do not need to be instructed to the point of mental and intellectual redundancy but fully engaged in the dynamic equilibrium of making multiple meaning, not just good and bad or other simplistic dichotomies. African excellence then is not an oxymoron but clear product of habit expressed in the daily interaction across the continent. The tapestry of what is known will connect across space and time to include the best of our pre-colonial heritage, the discerned wisdom from what the rest of the world has to offer and daily products of our enquiry of phenomena released from learnt inferiority and self-doubt.
Professor Yoloye in his book Educational Wisdom captures the taxonomy of Yoruba educational objectives, starting with Imo – knowledge , we evolve to Oye – understanding and when fully mastered we stand at the apex with Ogbon – Wisdom. I will add that all this only matters when it is crowned with Mo o Lo – effective use. Knowledge production is the foundational legacy we must give posterity and the way ahead is to revolutionise co-creation not just of knowledge but also of wisdom. Our journey from here must be deliberate, mindful and disciplined, so that we do not just understand knowledge production, develop the pedagogy of wisdom but define the Mo o Lo of African excellence.
Adewale Ajadi, a lawyer, creative consultant and leadership expert, is author of Omoluwabi 2.0: A Code of Transformation in 21st Century Nigeria.
