Content area
Full text
Abstract
This article explores indigenous African education and its relationships to culture, communicative competence, nonverbal communication, taboos, silence, and social and occupational education with specific attention given to the Akan culture. Particular support is given to the idea that culture includes the aspects of social philosophy dealing with the past and present. As such, varying aspects of indigenous education as relating to socialization including, but not limited to, accepted funerary rites, the pouring of libation, and proper understanding of taboos, greetings, and gratitude are illustrated in an effort to support the importance of preserving traditional indigenous education despite the influx of Western educational systems. The author argues that the Akan, and other Africans alike, must know about aspects of their cultural heritage, everything needed for the child to become a successful, viable member of society and which is passed from generation to generation.
In this article, I present an overview of indigenous African education and its relationships to culture, communicative competence, aspects of oral literature, non-verbal communication, taboos, silence and social and occupational education. My observations are focused on the Akan language and culture. Akan is the major language in Ghana and is the primary language of about 44% of the national population. Most of the examples are cited from Akan, my native language.
Culture
The first important thing a new-born child needs to learn is something about his/her culture and cultural values. Culture involves values that a child acquires from her/his parents. These values include first and foremost the language of the parents. The child also learns about clothing, shelter, food, occupations and festivals to mendon but a few of the aspects of culture usually transmitted by parents. In short, culture is the collection of customs, arts, social institutions, and other dimensions of life that historically identify a particular group of people. It involves all that differentiates people from other communities and defines their group identity.
Wardhaugh (1992, p. 217) points out further that "culture, therefore, is the 'know-how' that a person must possess to get through the task of daily living, only for a few does it require a knowledge of some or much music, literature and the arts." The "know-how" in this context involves possibly all aspects of life including...