Building Blocks And Processes For Establishing Knowledge Societies In Sub-Saharan Africa

Idowu Biao ,Dama Mosweunyane ,Flora Tladi

doi:10.14738/assrj.62.5826

Idowu Biao , Dama Mosweunyane + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.62.5826

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Abstract

After establishing the undeniable importance of knowledge as ingredient for happy living in the 21 st century, this paper probes into the pertinent question ‘which types of knowledge may guarantee the sustainable development of Sub-Saharan Africa?’. The paper argues that the establishment of the modern knowledge society (all human societies having been eternal learning or knowledge societies) is linked to the modern concept of globalisation whose core mission is to promote learning and the knowledge of the new world economic order established and advertised from the North. After highlighting the nefarious effects of uncritical adoption of Western concept of knowledge society, the paper advises that while it is proper for Sub-Saharan Africa to share in knowledge advertised by the North, that which would guarantee sustainable development of Africa is a critical integration of pieces of knowledge drawn from both the Global North and the Global South.

Highlights

As the world moves to close the second decade of the 21st century, the recognition that knowledge is key to successful and happy living going forward is made more strident and evident through the media, academia and government organs
The aim of the present paper is to examine the role that sociological elements play in the establishment of knowledge based societies and the model that may be adopted by developing societies in general and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular to promote the establishment of a knowledge society in the 21st century
While learning cannot but be lifelong during the 21st century and while no group of human beings may live in isolation in the century of unparalleled developments in all fields of human endeavours, the Sub-Saharan African knowledge society must offer opportunities for both selflearning and learning of the unknown

Summary

Introduction

As the world moves to close the second decade of the 21st century, the recognition that knowledge is key to successful and happy living going forward is made more strident and evident through the media, academia and government organs. The current notion of knowledge society itself derives from the fact that beyond the middle of the 20th century, human knowledge exploded (Buchanan, 2016) offering enormous possibilities for improvement in the realms of health, science, technology, exploration, commerce and other countless human endeavours. This is not to say that human affairs have not been guided by knowledge from time immemorial. The processes of learning and education construct social reality through the operationalisation of important and fundamental social elements such as language, belief systems, social interactions, social institutions (Berger and Luckmann, 1991) and natural human drive for innovation

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