Abstract
They that make the wish possess the command- The African concept of Alá'bálólàse as derived from the belief in the potency of words is borne out of the science of language that allows for mere proclamation to result in the enactment of things in the real world. The semiotic evidence of the ingenuity of African science as evinced in the literary narrative of “Igbo Olodumare” shows that Africans have a long-standing innovative ingenuity in technology which includes medicine and artificial science even before the advent of colonialism. Addressing this lacuna, essential in mapping the place of African ingenuity in st the 21 century, the paper draws upon the theory of J.L Austin's Speech Act theory, scrutinising the literary narrative of “Igbo Olodumare” - offering a deep dive into the technological ingenuity it encapsulates. The findings show that Africans use words in form of declaration as a major condiment for activating their technological innovations. Unlike modern technology, Africans have a dynamic-specific process that is based on three stages of involvement, declaration and enactment. It compellingly argues that the African technological enactment unlike those of modern technology have a dynamic declarative specific process.
Introduction
Emeagwali and Shizha (2014) distinguish between African and Western science in their literature. They explain that African science serves as a basic reference point for reckonings of the potentials of secret African knowledge and skills. For them, African science occupies a place alongside the miracles of the Scripture and magic, of what is usually referred to as Western or White science in its ability to transform the world in mysterious ways. Emeagwali and Shizha (2014) aver that African science and White Western science constitute two distinct aspects of human power to understand and shape the world. Living in a world where the “technological miracles” of computers, the remote control, mobile telephones are everyday realities, and where images of nuclear explosions and space travel are commonplace, no one doubts the power of Western science to effect action at a distance and transform the world. And all who live in it because of the physical existence of science laboratories attest to this. The African science though has such untagged laboratories such as the alcoves of herbal permutations by the medicine men and the workshops of intense iron and metal experimentations (metallurgy) by the blacksmiths. The story of African development especially in terms of modern technology has been a debate amongst scholars. Heidegger (1977) differentiates between indigenous and modern technology by asserting that indigenous technology uses extensive human hand for operation while the modern technology uses the power of machine. Rodney (2022) argues that what is known as the modern European technology is an off-shoot of indigenous technology. He clarifies that the 15th century European technology was not totally superior to that of other parts of the world, including Africa.
Content
Martin (1935) in his work titled, “Culture Areas of Nigeria” averred that the invention of iron work, one of the earliest metallurgy innovations discovered in Africa, was originated in West Africa. Childs and Killick (1993) assert that the West only became aware of the technology of metallurgy after looting the Benin archives in the 1940s (page). Mawere (2014) rightly posited that Africans are endowed with indigenous materials and technologies that if harnessed could relieve the continent of its environmental, political and socio-economic related problems and advance development. Oluwole (1992) concentrated on the Yoruba Ifa oral tradition, situating the superiority of the Yoruba indigenous knowledge encoded by Orunmila as against the western philosophy pioneered by Socrates. Through her research, she discovered compelling evidence of ancient knowledge pertaining to modern computer science and particle physics. These further reveal that the Africans had their ingenuity and means of development even before the advent of the colonial masters. For her, development is not defined in terms of modernity but as an improvement in a country's economic and social conditions. Her argument was that any people that have the basic things they need to live and the means of ingenuity that allows the rights to make choices of improvement are developed.
The current study examines the indigenous African technologies and the belief that Africans have always had their ingenuity before the arrival of the colonial masters as evinced in the selected work of D.O. Fagunwa's Igbo Olodumare. To do a critical exploration, aspects of J.L. Austin's Speech Act theory and an aspect of Dopamu's religious-concept of Alá'bálólàse (2003) are explored. Aspects of descriptive design are used to handle the qualitative nature of the research. Its usage allows the research to identify categories of acts and allopracts, characterise declarations that result into actions and their functional meanings in the data.
Few studies have devoted their investigations to the power of the spoken word and its hidden symbolic and inexplicable implications or importations of the utterance of which can itself produce the desired effect without the use of magical objects or apparatuses. After the World Health Organisation's (WHO) declaration in 2002 that African traditional medicine is the most potent globally, there was a renewed interest in not only the field of African medicine, but also a wide range of other fields where the African ingenuity can be applied. Linguists such as Odebunmi (2003), Faleke (2005), Adepoju (2005), Odugbemi (2006), Igoli (2005), Egunyomi (2005), Jegede (2010), Nunn (1996) Olagunju (2012), Jegede (2021) and Abimbola (1976) have investigated the role of language in the practice of Yoruba tradition, considering the two main structures of polylogical and dialogical transmissions; Fadipe (1970) examined the use of spell and curse, considering ohun (word) as a major condiment of traditional preparation (p127), Bocoum (2004) looked at the origin of iron metallurgy in Africa as a pointer to Antiquity in West and Central Africa.
The current study examines the indigenous African technologies and the belief that Africans have always had their ingenuity before the arrival of the colonial masters as evinced in the selected work of D.O. Fagunwa's Igbo Olodumare. To do a critical exploration, aspects of J.L. Austin's Speech Act theory and an aspect of Dopamu's religious-concept of Alá'bálólàse (2003) are explored. Aspects of descriptive design are used to handle the qualitative nature of the research. Its usage allows the research to identify categories of acts and allopracts, characterise declarations that result into actions and their functional meanings in the data.
Few studies have devoted their investigations to the power of the spoken word and its hidden symbolic and inexplicable implications or importations of the utterance of which can itself produce the desired effect without the use of magical objects or apparatuses. After the World Health Organisation's (WHO) declaration in 2002 that African traditional medicine is the most potent globally, there was a renewed interest in not only the field of African medicine, but also a wide range of other fields where the African ingenuity can be applied. Linguists such as Odebunmi (2003), Faleke (2005), Adepoju (2005), Odugbemi (2006), Igoli (2005), Egunyomi (2005), Jegede (2010), Nunn (1996) Olagunju (2012), Jegede (2021) and Abimbola (1976) have investigated the role of language in the practice of Yoruba tradition, considering the two main structures of polylogical and dialogical transmissions; Fadipe (1970) examined the use of spell and curse, considering ohun (word) as a major condiment of traditional preparation (p127), Bocoum (2004) looked at the origin of iron metallurgy in Africa as a pointer to Antiquity in West and Central Africa.
Conclusion
The work has demonstrated that Africans have always had their means of scientific ingenuity which involves three stages of: proclamation, enactment and involvement. This shows the power of the Yoruba belief in proclamation which has a direct semblance to an aspect of the theory of Speech Act that deals with declaration – a situation where something that is not in existence is made to be by merely declaring them. Our findings' reflection on afro-craft conventions: technological sequencing in Igbo Olodumare bears semblance to Adegbindin (2017) on the phronesis and the universality of Ifa in African philosophy; Azenabor (2007) on the golden rule of African ethics and coordination; Ferguson (2002) on African philosophy and tradition; Oluwole (1992) on the craft of witchcraft as an essential technology in Africa and Adegbite (1991 &; 1995) on the role of language in the practice of traditional medical discourse. The study explores the afro-craft conventions and speech act sequencing in Igbo Olodumare. It reveals their sequencing through the processes of proclamation, enactment and evolvement. J. L. Austin's Speech Act Theory and Dopamu's (2003) Alá'bálólàse cater for these sequencing. The study reveals that, among other things, words in form of proclamation are germane in evoking technological development in African science.
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Publishers.
Abah, J., Mashebe, P., & Denuga, D. D. (2015). “Prospect of Integrating African
Indigenous
Knowledge Systems into the Teaching of Sciences in Africa.” American Journal
of Educational Research, 3 (6), 668–673.
Adegbindin, O. (2017). “Sophia, Phronesis, and the University of Ifa in African
Philosophy.”
Eds: Afolayan, Adeshina and Falola, Toyin. The Palgrave Handbook of African
Philosophy. Newyork: Palgrave Macmillan.
Adegbite, A. (1993). 'Some Features of Language Use in Yoruba Traditional Medicine.'
African
Languages and Cultures. 6 (1), 1-10.
Adegbite, W. (1995). 'The Structure of Texts from Herbalist-Client Encounters in
Yoruba
Traditional Medicine'. Text and Talk. 15 (2): 271-297.
Allen, J. (2005). 'The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt.' New York: Metropolitan Museum
of Art.
Austin, J. 1962. How to Do Things with Words. London: Oxford University Press.
Childs, T.S. and Killick, D. (1993). “Indigenous African Metallurgy: Nature and
Culture.”
Annual Review of Anthropology. 22, 317-337.
Bamgbose, A. (1974). The Novels of D.O Fagunwa. Benin city: Ethiope Publishing
Corp.
131-132.
Beier, U. (1965). “Fagunwa: A Yoruba Novelist.” Black Orpheus.
Bocoum, H. (2004). “Introduction.” In H. Bocoum (Ed). The Origins of Iron
Metallurgy in
Africa: New Light on its Antiquity, West and Central Africa. Paris: UNESCO
Publishing, 21–30.
Dopamu, P.A. 2003. Scientific Basis of African Magic and Medicine: The Yoruba
Experience.
Ed. Dopamu, P.A. 2003. African Culture, Modern Science and Religious
Thought. Ilorin: African Centre for Religious and Sciences (ACRS).
Emeagwali, G. and Edward S. (Eds.) (1993). African indigenous knowledge and the
Sciences:
Journeys into the Past and Present. V.4 Pierre Wilbert Orelus, New Mexico
State University, USA.
Emeagwali, G., & Dei, G. J. S. (Eds.). (2014). African Indigenous Knowledge and the
Disciplines. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Shizha, E. (2014). 'Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Curriculum.' G.
Emeagwali & G. J.
S. Dei (Eds.). African Indigenous Knowledge and the Disciplines. Rotterdam:
Sense Publishers, 113-128.
Ezeabasili, N. (1977). African Science: Myth or Reality? New York: Vantage Press.
Fagunwa D.O. (1949). Igbo Olodumare. Ibadan. Nelson Publishers Limited.
Ferguson, G.J. (2002). 'African Philosophy and Tradition: Not yet postcolonial.'
Philosophia
Africana. 5(1), 43-53.
Frazer, J.G. (1978). The Illustrated Golden Bough. London George Rainbird Limited.
Heidegger, M. (1977). The Question Concerning Technology and other Essays. New
York:
Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.
Humphrey, J. W. (2006). Ancient Technology. Greenwood: Press Westport.
Idowu, E.B. 1962. Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief. London: Longman.
Idowu, E. B. (1973). African Traditional Religion: A Definition. London: SCM.
Martin B. (1935). Culture Areas of Nigeria. Field Museum of Natural History. 21 (3), 346
368
Kante, P. (2004). 'Indigenous Knowledge and Environmental Concerns in Africa.'
Economic and Political Weekly. 4 (22), 31–44.
Kaya, H. O. (2014). Revitalizing African Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Knowledge
Production. E-International Relations: Open Access Website for Students and
Scholars of International Politics. Retrieved: December 29, 2015, from www.e
ir.info/2014/05/26/ revitalizing-african-indigenous-waysof-knowing-and
knowledge-production.
Mawere, M., (2014). Culture, Indigenous Knowledge and Development in Africa:
Reviving Interconnections from Sustainable Development, Cameroon: Langaa
Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group.
Mbiti, J. (1970). African Religion and Philosophy. London. Heinemann. New York:
Doubleday and Company.
Mey, J.L. (2001). Pragmatics: An Introduction. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Nunn, J. (1996). Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Okpoko A. I. and Okpoko P. U. (2002). Tourism in Nigeria. Nsukka: Afro Orbis
Publication.
Olson, R. G. (2010). Technology and Science in Ancient Civilisation. Praeger Santa
Barbara ABC-CLIO, LLC.
Olubunmi, S. (1993). Literary Translation and Culture Consciousness: The Experience
ofTranslating D.O Fagunwa's Igbo Olodumare from Yoruba into English. Meta,
v.38, 218-225.https://doi.org/10.7202/004196ar.
Oluwole, S. (1992b). Witchcraft, Reincarnation, and the god-head. New Delhi: Excel
Publishers.
Oluwole, S. (2015). Socrates and Orunmila: Two Patron Saints of Classical Philosophy.
Lagos: Ark Publishers.
Parrinder, E.G. (ed.). (1969). West African Religion. A Study of the Beliefs and
Practices of Akan, Ewe, Yoruba, Ibibio, and Kindred People. London: Epworth
Press, 196-197.
Robin H. (1967). African Traditional Thought and Western Science. Cambridge
University Press Journal of the International African institute. Vol. 37, no2.
Accessed 2012, 155-187.http://www.jstor.org/stable/1158253.
Rodney W. (2022). Development in Decolonisation. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Sibanda, N. (2009). The Relationship between Migration and Development in Africa.”
Accessed November 24, 2010. (https://afriissues.blogspot.com/2009/10/relationship-betweenmigrationand.html).