Indigenous and Afro Knowledge in Science Education: Dialogues and Conflicts

Abstract

This chapter provides ethnographic descriptions and analyses of interviews with indigenous and Afro-Colombian (The term refers to the descendants of Africans who survived the slave trade and to their dual affiliation: to both their black African roots and the Colombian nation. In some articles, especially those from Africa, the original African cultures are called “indigenous” (Semali and Kincheloe (Eds), What is indigenous knowledge? Voices from the academy. New York and London: Falmer Press, 1999). However, in America they are called “Afro” in order to distinguish them from the original American cultures.) teachers and of some discursive interactions with their students in primary school classrooms in underserved communities. In those contexts they mobilize their local community knowledge for science lessons. We analyzed the teachers’ purpose in incorporating indigenous and Afro knowledge in teaching science and how these different knowledge systems work in the interaction. These teachers’ and students’ co-constructions modify and enhance the official science curriculum with forms of resistance to the scientific myth of only one universal truth about physical phenomena. This resistance is based on the strength of their collective identity constructs as well as their connection with and respect toward nature. These kinds of studies are relevant references for a culturally sensitive science curriculum development.