Don tasks government on reviving African cultural heritage

RENOWNED Professor of African Philosophy, Sophie Oluwole had called for researches in African culture, to identify the intellectual heritage of ancient Africa.She identified that the cultural heritage, which has often been overlooked in the contemporary period, is the foundation for meaningful socio-political, economic and moral development of the black race in the present period.Oluwole called on the government to rekindle interest in the African intellectual heritage by setting up research institutes and have findings documented for teaching in schools.In her Keynote address at the one-day conference to commemorate the 2011 World Philosophy Day, by the Centre for African Culture and Development (CEFACAD), held at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, Oluwole said that it is high time Africans answer the question of who they are and correct the misrepresentation of African intellectual heritage inherent in earlier answers by the Europeans.Speaking on the theme: 'katafuru: misconceptions about African intellectual heritage', she explained that a close study of existing answers by the Westerners shows that the Westerners stated the basic features of their thought and defined African thought as negation of Western thought.'If Western thought is scientific, critical and logical, African thought must, of necessity, be unscientific, uncritical and emotional.'She advised that scholars of African origin must present some literary pieces in their oral tradition, one of which is that of the Yoruba people of South Western Nigeria, as an illustration of ancient African thought, to demonstrate factual and logical error in Western thought about the Africans.'It intends to establish that knowledge about the true nature of African thought comes only through deep studies of African expressions in the myriad of African languages by illustrating various examples of African intellectuals, ideas, beliefs and principles relevant in our world today.
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