Assessing Indigenous Knowledge System through Oral Literature for Educational Transformation: A case of Yorùbá

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge system is a communal knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and cultural-bound practices gained from one’s native community and transmitted over generations. As a land rooted knowledge, every community (including Yorùbá) has specific range of them. Scholars have worked on the role of indigenous knowledge generally on the generality of human existence with little attention paid to the invaluable importance of the indigenous knowledge system on the cognitive and cerebral development of the African youth. This study therefore, assessed the indigenous knowledge system through Yorùbá oral literature for educational transformation. The study examined different oral resources especially, the ones gained through intangible component of the cultural heritage (language) that can be incorporated in the national educational curriculum with a view to harnessing the wisdom in them for the promotion of youthful minds and enhancing mental power. Function approach to communication served as theoretical framework. An interpretive design was used. The data for the study were collected from the existing documents and electronic database through a purposive sampling technique. As oral collecting-driven study, the selected oral literature include philosophical statements, songs, children poem, and counting system The selected data were translated from the source language (Yorùbá) to the operational language (English). The data were subjected to content analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the children poems on thought and beliefs entrenched critical thinking in people’s mind whereas indigenous counting system enhance the children’s problem- solving skills. It is also established that intellectualism displayed by individuals in their fields of work is relative to the degree at which they maximized the acquired knowledge from the indigenous system. From this discovery, the study concluded that the most prominent medium capable of empowering people with philosophical and cognitive leaning is indigenous languages because they are divinely empowered for massive potential in economy, investment, science and technology. Hence, there should be concerted efforts by individual, government, and educational stakeholders in the documentation of oral materials to promote their acceptance. Doing that, would promote community-rooted knowledge in all the ethnic groups and enhance indigenous capacity for educational transformation and sustainability in Africa at large.