Researchers want Africa's tech role recognized

Dar es Salaam. In order for Africa’s contribution in the global history of technology that has not been captured for a long time to be at the centre of research and teaching, African researchers have to step up and change the modus operandi, it has been stated.

This was specified yesterday during a meeting that brought researchers from the Global-North (United States and Europe) and those from the Global-South (Africa) in Dar es Salaam for a three-day deliberation on Technology and Material Culture in African History: Challenges and potentials for research and teaching.

The African experts said that in order to better realise the possibilities of research in African history of technology and material culture, they needed to participate in collaborative research that involves not only many disciplines but also the participation of many regions, especially North-South engagements.

According to them, researchers from developed countries have been promoting their products and their benefits, showing the growth of technology in their countries, something that African researchers have not been doing.

“Many African devices used by Africans, which have also altered due to technological advances, are not covered in the same large publications as those of our colleagues (Global-North); it is time to bring this history to light,” said Dr Hezron Kangalawe.

Dr Kangalawe, who is the Head of the Department of History at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), added that the meeting also aimed to discuss African technological innovations so that they are known around the world as well as the cultures associated with them.

According to Prof Bertram Mapunda, Principal at Jordan University College (JUCo), a visit to the past African technology and material culture was essential in fighting the colonial misconceptions of Africa’s past.

The Professor of Anthropology and History told The Citizen in an interview that, it was unfortunate that a large part of positive elements of the history of Africa have not been captured.

“African history has largely been produced by politically oriented colonial scholars or those with a Eurocentric world view that tended to undermine any positive aspect of African history, let alone African technology or material culture,” he said.

Prof Mapunda further pointed out that it is wrong attitudes that have denied the world of science the opportunity to recognize the science and technology hidden in many indigenous African technologies.

“I harbour no doubt that constructive deliberations are bound to come and that the future of research, teaching and learning about technology and material culture in African history is in good hands,” he believed.

In his presentation, Prof Mapunda stressed that Africa was rich in the history of technology, saying that science had proven that Africa is the cradle of humankind.

“As such, the continent is home to a multitude of historical technologies, ranging from the Stone Ages, dating over 2.5 million years ago to the last 500 years when Africa lost its ingeniousness to slave trade and colonial suppression,” he said.

The don added that the long history of technology gives Africa an advantage over the other continents in both depth and diversity, emanating from its size and cosmopolitanism. Presenting her opening remarks, the Principal, college of humanities at UDSM, which hosted the conference, Dr Rose Upor acknowledged that Africa’s contribution in the global histories of technology have not been at the centre of research and teaching.

“It is my hope that objectives of this conference, which are to promote the history of technology and material culture in Africa, will be achieved. Also, your deliberations will be useful in the ongoing curricula changes in different African universities and colleges,”she exuded.