Proverbial futures: proverbs and political discourse in Africa

Abstract

Examining references to proverbs in African political discourses in light of Integrational semiology and Southern Theory, we find not fossils of ancient wisdom but the creative construction of desired futures that may grow out of the present situation in light of what has been learned from the past. Proverbial discourse, always speaking to the present situation and commenting on available possibilities while being open to multiple interpretations, suggests an important argument about the provisional and contextual nature of all our knowledge. Beginning with the assumption that each of us is in a better position to understand our own situation than any foreign observer or abstract schemata could ever be, we argue that the indeterminacy of creative proverbial discourse can present a better epistemological foundation for dealing with the uncertainties of natural events, social life and a politics of freedom than the totalitarian discourses of knowledge as power and Theories of Everything. We suggest that proverbial discourse as it is practiced in various African societies can be utilized as a way of framing and approaching Southern Theories.