An inquiry into the integration of indigenous knowledges and skills in the Kenyan secondary science curriculum: A case of human health knowledge1

Abstract

Abstract In this paper I compare and contrast portions of the Kenyan biology syllabus (Kenya National Examinations Council [KNEC], 1990) with knowledge and skills in the area of health and healing in a rural part of Kenya—Kirumi. The purpose of the interpretive study on which the paper is based was to ascertain the status of indigenous knowledges and skills in the Kenyan high school science curriculum. This purpose results from a long‐standing plan by the Kenyan government to indigente2 the entire curriculum. In particular, I focused on the topic called Human Health in a Form 4 (Grade 12 equivalence) biology text (Kenya Institute of Education, 1989). The textbook was at the time one of the set books endorsed by the Ministry of Education as a syllabus guide. Then, through grounded theory method, I identified the principles and processes that underlay knowledges and skills in the area of health and healing in Kirumi. Following that, I used these principles and processes as the basis for a critique of the Hu...