Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu: How Africa can use its traditional knowledge to make progress
Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu: 非洲如何利用其传统知识取得发展
Working across disciplines, Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu explores homegrown and grassroots approaches to the sustainable advancement of Sub-Saharan Africa. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
I was visiting this East African city,
approaches my window
to spread it on the floor
and I quickly grabbed a copy,
the alphabet sheet
to teach my daughter.
reminded me of the fact
out of a similar alphabet sheet.
I struggled for years.
with the formal education I received
与我之前所受的教育和解
I looked at my lineage with disrespect.
不再以尊重的眼光看待我的血统
for what my life had to offer around me.
in that part of the world
只适用于有苹果生长的
with her mom and sees red,
of all shapes and colors and sizes.
各种颜色的孩子们
education to this child
functions of education,
of the learner's environment
in order to add value.
增长见闻
with brown dots, you know,
warehouses, sorting --
would not regularly feature
with "A is for apple,"
to constantly and perpetually seek
within it and with it.
it would be tough for anyone.
可能对所有人都很难
from my education.
愈发背道而驰
discovered the Niger River.
蒙哥·帕克发现了尼日河
of the Niger River.
thousands of miles from Europe
right under their nose?
was preparing me to go somewhere else
是为了让我去别的地方
environment that it belonged to.
where and when I grew up.
and some studies
a change of mindset.
of the remarkable ones with us.
in Washington, DC
with the World Bank Africa Region.
a conversation on some project,
World Bank project,
that cost millions of dollars
wasn't so sustainable,
that instituted the whole package.
a particular project,
that was hugely successful
where the World Bank project was failing.
and 20- to 30-centimeter-deep holes
around the field,
across the surface area.
that the plant needs the water.
as much water as needed
that is a life-or-death situation,
were used in the experiment,
constructed on it.
also were planted on both plots.
of millet per hectare.
of millet per hectare.
and I looked at myself.
agriculture for 12 years,
as we say in East Africa,
African knowledge of cultivation --
and actually succeed,
would struggle to succeed.
to dedicate my life, concern my life work,
献身于,将我的工作致力于
on Africa's own knowledge system
for its mainstreaming
and experience I had at the bank
of where I was going to go,
research to go into,
that he likes to go to Africa
and to work on World Bank projects.
和世界银行的相关工作
and my project proposal in Washington, DC,
just get signed.
"I hate going to Asia or ..."
Asia and some of these countries.
to get the best deal for their countries.
目的是给自己国家谋求最好的交易”
that clause will not work for us
It's just so Western.'
we have enough experts
through all these things.
yes, they get the best deal,
他们得到最大的收益
the best deal for the bank,
并且没有给银行带来最大利益
a loan negotiating session
positions during summer,
with the World Bank team,
with organizational matters.
the negotiating session.
with me from Washington, DC.
at my African brothers and sisters.
they had anything to offer
可以给蒙哥·帕克的曾曾子孙们
of Mungo Park --
"Oh, just give us, let us sign.
“噢,给我们,让我们签吧
Show us, let us sign."
They didn't believe in themselves.
他们不相信自己
on Africa's knowledge system,
traditional knowledge.
has been implemented in Africa,
successes recorded.
judicial system
was in shambles:
hundreds of thousands of genocide cases.
能处理成百上千的屠杀案件
came up with this idea
judicial system known as Gacaca.
judicial system,
within these communities.
its trial of genocide cases in 2012,
Gacaca被用于屠杀案件的审判
had tried approximately 1.2 million cases.
处理了大概一百二十万例案件
Rwanda's traditional philosophy
punitive and banishment idea
that it really emphasized
只是为了表达这确实强调了
Africa's advancement,
validation and mainstreaming
真实的、纯粹的、本土的知识
original, indigenous knowledge
in policy making and across sectors.
used to being told how to think,
更为困难
to the intellectual guidance
to make progress.
我们必须要做的工作
of Joseph Shabalala,
Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo 的创始人
can never, ever be greater
on our reality and our knowledge.
和知识赋予价值
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu - Indigenous knowledge expertWorking across disciplines, Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu explores homegrown and grassroots approaches to the sustainable advancement of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Why you should listen
Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu is convinced of the ability of Africans to transform the continent by acknowledging the significance of its indigenous knowledge in all fields of human endeavor. A researcher, fiction and non-fiction writer, public intellectual and teacher, Ezeanya-Esiobu has published several research papers on aspects of Africa's indigenous knowledge. She has also been commissioned to conduct indigenous knowledge-based research by the International Development Research Center Canada, United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research,(UNU-WIDER) United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and The Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), among others.
Ezeanya-Esiobu is the author of the historical fiction book Before We Set Sail. In its manuscript form, Before We Set Sail was one of six shortlisted out of over 250 submissions, made to the Penguin Publishers Award for African Writing in 2010. Following her TEDGlobal 2017 talk, Ezeanya-Esiobu shared an alphabet book series she had written for her daughter: Dr. Chika's ABC for the African Child (2017).
Ezeanya-Esiobu has lived and worked in four countries across three continents, and through her travels she has learned to value integrity, dignity, respect for self and others ... to be open to knowledge, to be happy and to smile a lot with her heart. Her lifetime passion is to contribute to efforts that would see to the unleashing of the suppressed creative and innovative energies buried deep in the hearts and minds of all Africans. She blogs at chikaforafrica.com.
Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu | Speaker | TED.com