Divining the Future of Africa ― Healing the Wounds, Restoring Dignity and Fostering Development

Author Mawere begins this book by expressing concern that globalization will wipe out residual African norms and values. The indigenous knowledge systems, he says, are the backbone of the continent's moral and educational systems. Mawere sees the negative impact of mass media, as well as modernity, logical positivism and scientisation, contributing to a breakdown of these systems and a continent-wide identity crisis. He lists many examples of decadent behavior borrowed from Western television, which formerly were not tolerated, but have now become common. Mawere finds the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be an example of Western hypocrisy, describing it as a cover for waging war. He describes some aspects of indigenous knowledge systems, which control behavior by means of taboos, charms, and folk tales. He argues for Africa taking active steps towards self-reliance, away from domination by the West, by a flowering of indigenous knowledge systems. He discusses trade with China as a possible alternative. Distributed in North America by the African Books Collective. Annotation c2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)