The Story of the Carpentries in Africa (original) (raw)
Related papers
2008
The main thrust of the paper is the role of the librarians, library and ICT in global dissemination of indigenous knowledge. The empirical case study is the art and craft of raffia work in Ikot Ekpene, with a view to increase and improve the available information of the unique indigenous knowledge. The people of Ikot Ekpene have developed exceptional skills in transforming raffia fibers into shoes, assorted handbags including conference bags (and packages) belts, hats, mats, decorative apparels, bangles and numerous articles of fashion. Presently, the market for the raffia product is limited to local demand and is of attraction to only a few tourists. There is however great need to disseminate information on the product of this peculiar indigenous knowledge globally. This paper suggest that libraries should act as a clearing house for collecting, documenting, preserving and disseminating information on raffia craft knowledge systems. Librarians should publicize raffia craft activiti...
Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths
African Arts, 2018
ife has an edge, sometimes keen, sometimes blunt. Enter iron-digging, cutting, shining, or rusting, but always transforming circumstances. Iron is "born" when smelting releases it from rock. How did sub-Saharan Africans affect these complex processes, sculpt natural-draft furnaces by hand, and create malleable iron to change the world? How did smelters and smiths know which ore to select, which wood to cut for charcoal, and how to position logs within the furnace to stoke fires of the astounding heat required to smelt iron? Who knew what to do, how to hammer, when to quench, and what to reheat? What arcane sciences were mastered, what dramas performed? Why this shape for a tool, weapon, or emblem of status and not that, and how was perfection realized and recognized? How did ironworking legitimize and empower leadership and rule, and vice versa, however ambiguous such roles most surely are? As a Yorùbá oríkì praise of Ògún has it, the god of iron may "wear a red cap, " reflecting the glow of a blacksmith's forge and the transformative implements there created, but please Ògún, "let me not see the red of your eye!" 1 "Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths, " organized by the Fowler Museum at UCLA, will examine how the smith's craft extends from the production of the most basic of domestic tools to the creation of a corpus of inventive, diverse, and technically sophisticated vehicles of social and spiritual power. The project draws on decades of research by its curatorial team, led by artist Tom Joyce, a MacArthur Fellow originally trained as a blacksmith, who lends his technical expertise and nearly three decades of substantive research and study of African ironwork to this project.
WOMEN AND INDIGENOUS FISffiNG TECHNOLOGY: A SOURCE FOR AFRICAN TRADITIONAL EDUCATIONAL IDEAS
INTRODUCTION From antiquity, men and women have used indigenous technology in the production, processing and preservation in the family occupation. The vital role played by particularly women in the rural area in the fishing industry has implications for educational development (Fafunwa 1974; Akinpelu 1981). The term technology refers to the system of tools, artifacts, and techniques employed by a particular people to modify conditions and resources in their environment to meet their basic material needs. For example, a knowledge of various fishes, when they can be harvested, where they are found, which parts are edible, how they should be prepared and cooked and how to make instruments for their procurement are all bits and pieces of the technology in the fishing industry. This process of learning involves the development of educational Ideas. It has to do with a systematically thought out plan of what education should be. It contributes to the understanding of the theory and proce...
Great Ideas for Teaching about Africa
The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 1999
This is to say nothing of the country specific or subject specific sites which number in the hundreds. In addition, there are now literally dozens of African daily and weekly newspapers online. Similarly, many international organizations, non-governmental organizations, African governments, political parties and social movements, regional organizations, and research institutions and universities have impressive and informative websites. These provide students (and researchers and scholars, of course) with immediate, invaluable resources once only available at well endowed libraries or in country. They give us all an access to Africa once available to far fewer people. The many contributors to this volume repeatedly invoke the same challenge when teaching about Africa at their universities: "The teaching of Africa is simultaneously a struggle to overcome centuries of 'filling in the gaps' and a struggle to tear down distortions and misinformation in order to rebuild knowledge" (p. 204). Great Ideas for Teaching About Africa provides a wealth of ideas for tackling this and related challenges.
2016
Indigenous wood carving in Africa is a vital practice which provides answers to the origins and ancestry of many African people. The question of where we come from, transfer of cultural practices, historical artifacts and how to preserve the knowledge emanating from these, have become a cause of concern to many African people especially when indigenous wood carvers die or migrate from their communities of origin. This study investigated how knowledge from African Traditional wood carvers (ATWC) are transferred and preserved for future use in Africa. A case study approach was used. Participants were selected from 10 communities in Sub-Saharan Africa based on their historical background in Africa sculpture. Semi-structured, open ended interview questions were used to gather evidence from the participants regarding their methods of wood carving process and how knowledge is share with younger people and preserved. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded. The findings reveled...
2004
In this paper, we discuss a collaborative research project between India and South Africa that involves the documentation, study and understanding of the extent to which indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and modern technologies are utilized in the traditional manufacturing processes of artisans in both countries. The focus of the project is on redefining the characteristics of ‘knowing’ (of knowledge) as not just a mere contemplative gaze, but also as a practical activity. By focusing on artisans, we place the question of knowledge in a material and practical context. We weave together indigenous knowledge systems of the production of artifacts with the artisans’ understanding of science and technological processes. This allows us to develop interventions that capitalize on existing skills, practices and social relationships rather than undermining them, which contributes to their sustainability. In our presentation, we will share the pitfalls and successes of this multidisciplinar...
Short-format Workshops Build Skills and Confidence for Researchers to Work with Data
2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
is the Director of Assessment and Community Equity for The Carpentries, a non-profit that develops and teaches core data science skills for researchers. Marianne Corvellec, Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education (IGDORE) Marianne Corvellec has worked in industry as a data scientist and a software developer since 2013. Since then, she has also been involved with the Carpentries, pursuing interests in community outreach, education, and assessment. She holds a PhD in statistical physics fromÉcole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France (2012).
Makerere History and Archaeology Seminar [2024]
2024
Makerere History and Archaeology Seminar schedule (2024) Presented by the Makerere University Department of History, Archaeology and Heritage Studies 31st January Dr A.B.K. Kasozi 2:00-4:00 pm Abu Mayanja, MP: The Intellectual Star of Uganda's "Struggle" for Independence and the Search for a Liberal Democratic State, 1929-2005 Discussants: Prof Samwiri Lwanga-Lunyiigo and Dr Joseph Kasule (Makerere University) 6th March Gaku Moriguchi (Toyo University) 3:00-5:00pm Urban Riots as “the Reality of the Virtual”: Politics and Historicity in Kampala, 2007-2011 Discussant: Dr Jacob Katumusiime (Makerere University) 13th March Dr Rhiannon Stephens (Columbia University) 2:00-4:00 pm Poverty and Wealth in East Africa: A Book Talk 20th March Dr Rebecca Glade (Makerere University) 2:00-4:00pm Striking Judges, Shari’a, and the Limits of Military Rule in Sudan, 1983-1985 Discussant: Anatoli Lwassampijja (Makerere University) 26th April M.A. Student Writing Workshop 10:00am-4:00pm 14th June Nelson Abiti (Uganda Museum); Mark Elliot, Rachel Hand, Dr Eva Namusoke (University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology); Derek R. Peterson (University of Michigan) 2:00-4:00 pm Repositioning the Uganda Museum: A Report on Work in Progress 19th June Ph.D. Student Writing Workshop 10:30am-5:00pm 8th August Arif Elsaui (Sudan Facts Center for Journalism, Atar Magazine), Amar Jamal (Atar Magazine), Ahmed Nashadir (Atar Magazine), Dr Rebecca Glade (Makerere University) 2:00-4:00 pm Contextualizing Sudan: Journalism in Wartime 21th Sept Dr Derek R. Peterson (University of Michigan) 2:00-4:00 pm Making Revolutionary Film in Idi Amin’s Uganda: propaganda and peril Discussant: Dr Anna Adima 20th Nov Dr Charlotte Mafumbo (Makerere University) 4:00-6:00 pm Women in the Peace and Security landscape of the East African Region: Operationalization of the UNSCR 1325 Discussant: Dr Aili Mari Tripp (University of Wisconsin-Madison)