ABSTRACT

LET US RETURN TO THE OLD LANDMARK: AN EXAMINATION OF THE

PEDAGOGIES OF AFRICAN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS

Authens Oppong Wadie, Ed.D.

Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education
Northern Illinois University, 2009
Laurel Jeris, Co-Director
LaVerne Gyant, Co-Director

Africa has produced many outstanding knowledge systems, despite the fact
that one can be led to think otherwise based on the projections of the major media.
As a researcher, I became familiar with African ways of knowing by absorbing the
rich, tradition-based heritage and cultural lore from my Jamaican-born parents. A
review of the relevant literature confirms that much of what is classified as African
religions, myths, and art are in fact best understood as elements of various African
knowledge systems. This study examines African knowledge systems, their
pedagogies, and the use of their pedagogies in the European American institutions
of higher learning. Specifically, this study examines the use of African pedagogies
by Dr. Grant D. Venerable II, who served as a professor of chemistry in various
American universities. This study also examines the effect that African pedagogies
had on the students of Dr. Venerable. This study finds that the pedagogies of

African knowledge systems offers American students a unique and in-depth

understanding of the subject matter and it also gives them a deeper appreciation for
life. This study also finds that the pedagogies of African knowledge systems have a
historical legacy that reaches back into ancient Africa. These systems and their
pedagogies were brought to and preserved in North America by enslaved African
people. Furthermore, such pedagogies, when the conditions are right, may be
useful in American colleges and universities. Finally, this study calls for further
research on other African American teachers who are holders of the pedagogies of
African knowledge systems. In addition, it offers ideas for practice of these
pedagogies.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY

DEKALB, ILLINOIS
AUGUST 2009

LET US RETURN TO THE OLD LANDMARK: AN EXAMINATION OF THE

PEDAGOGIES OF AFRICAN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

BY
AUTHENS OPPONG WADIE
2009 Authens Oppong Wadie

DEPARTMENT OF COUNSELING, ADULT AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Doctoral Co-Directors:
Laurel Jeris
LaVerne Gyant

UMI Number: 3369713

INFORMATION TO USERS

The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy
submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and
photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper
alignment can adversely affect reproduction.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized
copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

______________________________________________________________
UMI Microform 3369713
Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC
All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.

_______________________________________________________________
ProQuest LLC
789 East Eisenhower Parkway
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to express gratitude to the members of this dissertation committee:
Professors LaVerne Gyant, Laurel Jeris and Phyllis Cunningham. I deeply
appreciate their willingness to explore African knowledge systems with me.
I also want to thank the three stars that fell from heaven to make this journey
with me--my children: Afua Ayaw Nzinga Oppong, Anokyewaa Kyerewaa Abena
Oppong and Kofi Opoku Tutu Kyrenyaga Oppong. All I have ever wanted to be is
a good example for them. May their patience and belief in me benefit all of us.
A heartfelt thank you to my husband Kwadwo Oppong Wadie, a Mondayborn child of peace. For your unending understanding, may the goddess Awo grant
us a place of her namesake and long life, good health, and happy heart to go with it.
I want to express a sincere thank you to Dr. Grant D. Venerable II. You
have been so patient, so fatherly, and so committed to this process. From the very
first time we spoke, I knew that we were destined to meet and learn from each other.
It has really been a privilege to learn this method. Special thanks also to Dr.
Dolores Cross who opened her home for the interview process.
I would also like to thank Baba Oye Kunle, a priest, a father and a friend.
This process would not have been possible without your phone calls and
encouragement never to turn back when in the middle of the river.

iii
Finally, I would like to thank my mother and my friends Vera, Linda, and
Dana. They all made this journey much easier with their kindness and generosity.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
LIST OF FIGURE

viii

LIST OF APPENDICES ..

ix

GLOSSARY .

Chapter
I.

II.

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY ..

Purpose of the Study

Statement of the Problem .

Organization of the Study

Definition of a Knowledge System .

The Deep Structure of African Knowledge Systems

African Knowledge Systems Philosophical

Assertions

Symbol, Mythology, and Proverbs .

31

Dr. Grant Venerable II

52

REVIEW OF LITERATURE .

59

Marimba Ani ...

62

George James ...

64

Socrates Persecution .

68

v
Chapter

III.

IV.

Page
Who Were the Ancient Egyptians? ..

69

Charles Finch

71

Griaule and Dieterlen

72

Myth of the Po ..

75

Existence ..

78

Star of Deep Beginning

80

Ntuology ...

82

Further Research ...

83

Kimbwandende Fu-Kiau ..

86

Muata Ashby

88

African Knowledge Resurgence ..

89

METHODOLOGY ..

91

Research Design ..

92

Biographical Research .

93

Participants ..

97

Data Analysis Procedure ..

98

GRANT D. VENERABLE II BIOGRAPHY .

100

Family Life ..

101

Social Awakenings ..

103

Education .

103

vi
Chapter

V.

VI.

Page
The Artist

104

Dr. Therese Braithwaite ..

109

Venerable and Braithwaite ..

112

Teaching and Administrative Career ..

114

Core Academic Beliefs

115

The Middle Passage .

118

THE VEN MATRIX ...

122

The History .

123

The Bakongo Cosmogram ..

126

The Matrix ..

131

Pedagogies of African Knowledge Systems ...

133

The Method .

134

Conclusion ...

144

STUDENTS AND COLLEGUES ......

145

The Interviewees .

146

The Students

147

Classroom Setting ...

148

Teaching Method

150

Teaching Transformation

152

Is There Space? ...

153

vii
Chapter
VII.

Page

MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY ..

156

Education .

164

A Watershed Moment .

171

My Experience in This Research

181

CONCLUSION ...

185

Question One ..

186

Question Two ..

187

Question Three

188

Question Four .

189

Discussion ...

191

Implications for Education ..

193

Black Women, Mathematics, and Pedagogy ..

199

Implications

202

Practice

203

REFERENCES

204

APPENDICES .

210

VIII.

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure

Page

1.

Bakongo Cosmogram

127

2.

Ven Matrix

131

LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix

Page

A.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR AUTO/BIOGRAPHICAL ..

211

B.

QUESTIONS FOR FORMET STUDENTS OF

DR. VENERABLE .

215

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR COLLEAGUES OF

DR. VENERABLE .

217

C.

GLOSSARY
Bakongo knowledge system - An intellectual and spiritual traditional knowledge
system emerging from among the Bakongo people of Kongo and Angola.
Dogon - An ethnic group of people who live in the Bandigara escarpment of Mali.
They have a particularly strong and evolved knowledge system given that they ran
away from the Islamic invaders and hid in the mountains. The mountains also
protected them, to some degree, from European invaders and their culture.
Kemet - The ancient name for Ancient Egypt. The knowledge system from ancient
Kemet is called the Ausarian tradition. It utilizes, among others, the mythological
characters Ausar (father), Auset (mother), and Heru (son).
Ifa - An intellectual and spiritual traditional knowledge system emerging from
among the Yoruba people of Nigeria, West Africa.
Izangoma - An intellectual and spiritual traditional knowledge system emerging
from among the southern African Bantu-speaking people.
Ntuology - Ntu is a word from the southern African Bantu-speaking people meaning
spirit. African American intellectuals have used ntuology to mean the study of spirit
or the study of the connectivity between living and non-living things.
Santeria - An intellectual and spiritual traditional knowledge system that was
brought to the Americas by enslaved African people. Santeria, in most cases, blends
with one or another form of Christianity.
Vodou - An intellectual and spiritual traditional knowledge system that emerged
from among the Fon people of Benin and the Ewe people of Togo, Benin and
Ghana.


CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
My personal history as a child of first-generation Jamaican immigrants, who
were determined to keep their cultural memory alive, has for as long as I can
remember, informed me that people of African descent have a unique knowledge
base that differs from the knowledge base that informs European-based cultures.
My initial research in the area of the African knowledge base yielded a surprisingly
high level of information. Researchers such as Abimbola (1997), Amen (1990),
Daniel (2005), Finch (1998), Fu-Kiau (1980), Gadalla (2001), Hilliard (1994), and
Kamalu (1990) argue that Western researchers classify misunderstood elements of
Africas knowledge base as African religion, myths, pagan rituals, and superstitions.
The focus of this study is two-fold. First, I examine the African knowledge base
and its use of pedagogy. Second, I conduct a biographical study of Dr. Grant
Venerable II and his use of African knowledge systems for more than twenty years.
This study examines Africas knowledge base (identified in this study as African
knowledge systems) and its use of pedagogy.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is two-fold. One aspect is to establish that Africa
has indeed produced various knowledge systems that have a set of unique

2
pedagogies. In addition, I wish to introduce the idea that when African people were
taken to the Western world during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the African
knowledge base did not completely fade from their memories, nor did the dominant
pedagogy cease to be the method used to convey information from one generation to
another. The introduction of the life and career of Dr. Grant Venerable II, an
African American professor who was informally and orally mentored in African
knowledge systems, will be examined here as verification of the enduring presence
of African knowledge systems in the Diaspora.
Statement of the Problem
While there are many African-centered authors who address African
knowledge systems, there is limited literature on the pedagogy of African
knowledge systems, its point of origin, and its survival in the Western hemisphere.
Hilliard (1997), in his book, SBA: The Reawaking of the African Mind, does address
the idea of African knowledge systems, particularly those that remain viable in
Africa. He finds that these systems do have a pedagogy that is useful to teachers in
Afrocentric settings. However, Hilliard does not address how the pedagogy
survived the middle passage or how many African American teachers used the
pedagogy before the court case Brown v. Board of Education and continue to use in
limited ways thereafter. In addition, based on my research, there is no

3
research on how the use of African pedagogy impacts students. This study will
address both gaps in the literature.
Organization of the Study
For my Doctor of Education dissertation, I conducted a study of the
pedagogies imbedded in African knowledge systems. The guiding question may be
stated as follows: What are the pedagogies embedded in and arising out of African
knowledge systems? The subsequent questions that follow the central question and
allow for the greatest clarification of it are as follows: How do these methods differ
from Eurocentric methods? How do these methods transform the traditional
structure of the Euro-American classroom? How do they transform the way
students learn? In what ways is there space in traditional Euro-American
institutions of higher learning for the pedagogies of African knowledge systems? In
other words, I wish to examine whether colleges and universities, whose pedagogies
are rooted in the prevalent Euro-American philosophical paradigm of knowledge,
are capable of hosting, teaching, and learning methodologies that are dissimilar to
this prevalent paradigm. Specifically I sought to determine if the prevalent
paradigm is capable of articulating with pedagogies embedded in or related to
African cosmologies and pedagogical approaches.
I framed my approach with the question: What are the pedagogies embedded
in and arising out of African knowledge systems and under what conditions can the

4
traditional Euro-American model of higher education not only allow for but also
nurture the coexistence of African-related knowledge systems and pedagogies
and the students and instructors who actively engage them? Moreover, can any
traditional institution of higher learning rooted in a Euro-American paradigm and
under what conditions and circumstances grant its stamp of approval to the
pedagogies of African knowledge systems? The second focus of my dissertation
research is the teaching philosophy, methodology, and educational achievements of
Dr. Grant Venerable II, a physical chemist, educator, artist, and cultural scientist of
African American descent who, among several significant accomplishments, created
and implemented an African-centered chemistry education curriculum, which
successfully utilized holistic, systems-oriented pedagogies in several mainstream
Euro-American institutional settings.
In this dissertation, I first address definitions and questions surrounding
African knowledge systems. These, of course, include the meaning of African
knowledge systems and their essential nature; their origins, related concepts that
facilitate an understanding of African knowledge systems, and the pedagogies
historically used in the context of African knowledge systems.
Given that the pedagogies, epistemologies, and teaching methodologies of
African peoples are not readily available in the literature, this research uses
archaeology of knowledge as a primary method. Martin (2001) explains the term
archaeology of knowledge as a method of research that mines the truth

5
from information written in diverse disciplines. Second, I offer a relevant review of
the literature and an explanation of the research method that guides my dissertation
research. Third, I will offer a review of the life and career of Dr.
Grant Venerable II; in addition, I include my own life story with an eye towards my
journey to the acceptance of African knowledge systems, and finally I will share my
findings and offer an analysis of the data.
Definition of a Knowledge System
For the purposes of this study, any coherent human group of people defines a
knowledge system as any system that organizes, codifies, and stores the history,
philosophical assertions, natural observations, worldviews, spiritual conceptions,
intellectual sureties, and all of the concomitant rites and rituals it produces.
Knowledge systems are necessarily created from and shaped by the
groups/peoples epistemology, ontology, axiology, teleology, and sense of life
space. Each of these elements will be examined, as they constitute the deep
structure of African knowledge systems.
It is noteworthy that African people did not coin a phrase that translates to
knowledge system. The idea and definition of a knowledge system may be in the
strictest sense a Western construct. For example, while attempting to set up an
interview with a Rastafarian priest, I told him that I was interested in the Rastafarian
knowledge system. He flatly told me that Rastafarians do not have a knowledge

6
system, but rather a way of life (Oppong Wadie, 2005a). In the African experience,
knowledge is felt, knowledge is experienced, knowledge is embodied, and thus
knowledge systems are not necessarily easily reduced to a rugged theoretical base as
might be true in the Western, European knowledge systems, but this may depend on
the people in question. Thus, for the purposes of this research I have had, actually,
to re-package (that is, re-frame) the various ways of life of African people as
knowledge systems. Because generally speaking, holistic ways of life, such as the
African traditional way of life, do not separate their knowledge systems from their
cosmology (their understanding of the universe, their understanding of the heavens,
their myths, their symbols, nature appreciation, deities, and all affirming rites and
rituals).
An African proverb states, Attendants of the sick person know the name of
the disease (Jewel, 1993, p. 71). The proverb tells the reader that those who are
intimately engaged with an experience have the right to name the phenomena.
Furthermore, the proverb subtly suggests that it is arrogance and ultimately
disrespect that prompts others to name an experience that is not from their own
grouping. Things that appear one way to a cultural outsider may be quite another
way to the insider. With this in mind, it is the time-honored cultural right and
obligation of African-identified (or any other) people to name their knowledge
systems.

7
The Deep Structure of African Knowledge Systems
By definition, African knowledge systems are knowledge that emerges from,
and remains consistent with the deep structure of African culture (Myers, 1987).
The deep structure of African culture contains the philosophical assertions that
African people have made about reality (ontology, epistemology, axiology,
teleology, methodology, and cosmology) (Myers, 1987). African knowledge
systems explain reality from the African perspective. African knowledge systems
do not take the position that they are the only right reality (Verharen, 1995).
However, they do put forward the idea that their knowledge will best serve the
needs of their people.
African Knowledge Systems Philosophical Assertions
The fundamental philosophical assertion of the African knowledge system is
that those things that appear to be oppositional in nature are actually
complementary, harmonious pairs (twins) (Kamalu, 1990). Kamalu (1990) states,
African thought has as its central theme the idea that the world is ordered in
accordance with the principles of how opposites co-exist and interact (p. 24).
Ontologically speaking, reality in African knowledge systems is the unity of
opposites (male-female, science-religion, sacred-mundane, divine-human). The
ontology of African knowledge systems stands in contrast to European ontology that

8
suggests that reality is dual. That is that males are different from females, science is
different and even oppositional to religion, and so on. Richards (1981) explains:
In the African experience of the universe, the sacred and the profane or
mundane, the human and the divine are not hopelessly separated. They are
not perceived as antitheses that deny each others existence. One is not
defined as the opposite, [as] in the Western sense, of the other; rather they
are perceived as a part of a unified whole. (p. 220)
From the unity of opposites emerges a program of advancement within
African knowledge systems. Ontologically, African knowledge systems purport
that all of the cosmos exists in a unified, ordered whole. Veharen (1995) explains,
This view which has come to be called Afrocentrism claims that all reality is a
unity and that we divide this unity because of the limitations of our present
knowledge (p. 65).
Consequently, learning is the process of understanding the order and
relationships within the whole. Richards (1981) writes,
Learning is a part of the process in which one comes to understand more and
more of the cosmic order and the nature of the spirit. This enables us to live
more intelligently, more morally, more in tune with our surroundings.
The more we become involved with the process, the more heightened
becomes our power of perception. We reach greater understanding of the
symbolic statements present in ordinary life; the profane becomes evidence
of the sacred. (p. 221)
From Richardss (1981) statement, several ideas germane to African
knowledge systems can be gleaned. First, there is the confirmation of the concept
that knowledge is holistic. From the African perspective, knowledge cannot be
hopelessly severed in the various disciplines that dominate in Euro-American

9
colleges and universities. Knowledge is not only the mastery of any one discipline,
but it also includes the knowledge of how the disciplines converge into a unified
whole.
Richards (1981) further contends that it is only when humans fully
internalize the integrated nature of knowledge that they can be considered
intelligent. It is also at this point that the human acquires self-mastery and becomes
morally in tune with the universe. A student can, from this plateau, understand,
interpret, and articulate the meaning of the symbols woven into his/her lived
experiences and discern the meaning of seemingly mundane events of everyday life.
In Richardss (1981) statement, there is the first facet of the pedagogy of
African knowledge systems. In contrast to its European counterpart, African
knowledge teaches in a holistic manner. African knowledge systems recognize the
relationship among the various disciplines. Hence, in the classic African-centered
paradigm there cannot be a pure math, language arts, or history teacher. Each
instructor must be able to see and teach across the disciplines. If this does not
occur, then it compromises the pedagogy of African knowledge systems. Richards
(1981) also offers insight into how African knowledge systems evaluate
progression. One is considered more learned as one becomes more aware and in
tune to the connections among the sciences. African knowledge systems do not
encourage the development of an individual in a single discipline. Students mature
and progress as they are able to recognize and articulate the interconnections

10
among seemingly unrelated fields of knowledge. Ntuology is a term used to define
the science of interconnections of knowledge among the disciplines.
Ntuology
Ntuology is a term explored and explained by Myers (1987), an Africancentered psychologist and researcher. Ntuology gives name to a long-standing
African scientific position that everything in the universe is interrelated,
interdependent, and is sacredly (spiritually) ordered, or has a non-material logic and
explanation. The science of African knowledge systems is accurately named
ntuology, the study of how the cosmos is ordered, the immutable laws of the
universe. Richards (1981) identifies the study of cosmological order as the oldest
science known to humankind. Myers (1987) describes ntuology as follows:
[In] the process of ntuology, all sets are interrelated through human and
spiritual networks Zahn (1979) notes that things and beings are not an
obstacle to the knowledge of God, rather they constitute signifiers and
indices that revel the divine being. (p. 4)
Ntuology as a science teaches that in order to understand the cosmos, the
human first has to understand him or herself. Knowledge of the whole is grounded
in knowledge of the self (Verharen, 1995, p. 65). This is why the Ancient
Egyptian intellectual community emphasized the axiom, know thyself (Richards,
1981, p. 225). Understanding how the self is an integrated unit and further
integrates into family, society, and nation gives one the appropriate template for

11
understanding how the larger cosmos is an integrated system (Fu-Kiau, 1980).
Knowledge of the self then becomes the foundation of all other knowledge. By
knowing the self, it is possible to know the universe because of the correspondence
between divine microcosm and macrocosm. The need for self-knowledge within
the ntuology of African knowledge systems coordinates with the journey back to
self that African-centered education requires.
Afrocentrism highlights a center in its name because self-knowledge
depends on being centered in ones self, ones own experiences, and ones
history. Afrocentrism highlights Africa in its name because of the
importance for African people resisting centuries-old attempts to displace
Africans from their centeredness. (Veharen, 1995, p. 65)
The ntuology of African knowledge systems also stands in solidarity with
Freire (1992), who advocates that the learner cannot be divorced from his or her
contextual experience. Freire (1992) states,
We must not bypass spurning as good for nothing that which educands,
be they children coming to school for the first time or the young people and
adults at centers of popular education, bring with them in way of an
understanding of the world. Their speech, their ways of counting and
calculating, their ideas about the so-called other world, their religiousness,
their knowledge about health, the body, sexuality, life, death, the power of
the saints, magic spells all must be respected. (p. 72)
Whereas the ntuology of African knowledge systems sees knowledge of the
self as the first building block to greater knowledge, Eurocentric educational
systems have historically insisted that non-European persons must leave their
understanding of self outside of the classroom in order to be properly educated. It is
conceivable, for example, that a teacher from the Eurocentric paradigm might

12
argue that there exists no connection between the magic spells of Vodou and the
textbook science offered in the classroom. However, the perspective of ntuology
argues that such a disconnection is really a perceptual limitation that can be
transcended if desired. Verharen (1995) offers this insight:
If all reality is a unity, then everything must be connected to everything else.
Even where we cannot see or feel a connection, we must look for a
connection. In its deepest and most powerful form, philosophy is a guide to
action rather than a crystalline picture of eternal truths. Where truth is not
yet visible, philosophy pushes us to investigation. Where Eurocentrists
would seek to cut (the Indo-European root of the world science is skeito cut), an Afrocentrist seeks to join. Where a Eurocentrist would seek
apartheid, an African seeks solidarity. (p. 68)
Myers (1987) further confirms the same position:
In ordinary American culture, we are not always aware of the unity of all
things, but have divided the world into separated objects and events.
Western culture assumes this division useful and necessary to cope with the
everyday environment; however, it is not a fundamental feature of reality. It
is an abstraction devised by our discriminating and categorizing intellectual
orientation. In modern physics, the question of consciousness has arisen
in connection with the observation of these subatomic phenomena.
Quantum theory has made it clear that these phenomena can be understood
only as a link in a chain of process, the end lies in the consciousness of the
human observer. (p. 76)
Ntuology then is the knowledge that on some level all things are connected
and interdependent on each other. The connection between things is holy/divine.
Thus, to have knowledge of how and where things connect is to have knowledge of
God. A very loosely related Eurocentric concept would be that of an eco-system.
Hence, if a teacher can only teach from a single vantage point, and demonstrates an
inability to see and offer holistic knowledge, such a teacher dis-educates/mis-

13
educates the students of African descent in his/her charge. Not only is this a
fundamental assertion of the deep structure of African knowledge, but now this
position is being confirmed by the findings of quantum physics (Myers, 1987).
Life-Space
Ntuology of African knowledge systems yields the unity of one of the most
misunderstood and oppositional pairs - life and death. African knowledge systems
recognize death to be a fundamental part of life. Life does not end with death.
Even after death, a person still has influence on life. This line of thinking produces
what Myers (1988) calls infinite and unlimited spirit-manifesting life space. In
contrast, the Eurocentric worldview yields a finite and limited life-space that begins
with birth and ends with death. Within ntuology, death is just another stage of life.
Perhaps this concept is best crystallized in the work of the Senegalese poet Birago
Diop (as cited in Kalu, 2000).
Those who are dead are never gone:
They are there in the thickening shadow
The dead are not under the earth:
They are there in the tree that rustles,
They are in the wood that groans;
Those who are dead are never gone
The dead are not dead. (p. 54)
Kalu (2000) states that death is a mere passage from the human world to the
spirit world. The passage enhances ones spiritual power so that he/she can now

14
operate in the human environment and especially in the human family as a guardian,
protective spirit/power/influence (p. 54). Honoring death as a part of life has been
perhaps one of the greatest points of tension between African knowledge systems
and the imperialistic Eurocentric knowledge systems that invaded Africa and
dominated Africans in the Diaspora and on the continent of Africa. African
knowledge systems such as Vodou, Obeah, and Condomble are ridiculed for their
acknowledgement of the living dead (Turlington, 2002). However, it is within the
acknowledgement of the dead that African knowledge systems gain power and
demonstrate their ability to be relevant in a modern context. More than any other
philosophical assumption, the connection of the deceased with the living endured in
almost every location that African people were involuntarily taken. This fact alone
points out the significance of the philosophical assumption to the people who
created it.
The pioneering work of Robert Farris Thompson (1984) speaks to the
African connection between life and death. Thompson (1984) traveled the North
American south searching the graveyards, documenting, and photographing African
American burial rites, which indicates the interrelated worldview. In the African
American graveyards, Thompson (1984), a European-American, found items that
appeared to be unusually placed. For example, glass bottles inverted on the grave,
plates with a hole in the middle placed on the site, cups with a hole in the middle,
clocks with the hands removed reveal that the deceased is now in eternal time, and

15
even in one case a telephone put on the gravesite as a way of asking the dead to stay
in touch.
The inverted glass bottles are a Kongo tradition kept alive in the Americas.
The glass catches the sunlight and flashes the soul of the dead back to the family. In
the American south, as well as in the Caribbean and Africa, it is not uncommon for
the living to feed the deceased. Offering food on plates with holes indicates that the
doer is aware that the food will not be eaten in a material sense but its essence is
consumed by the part of the human being that the African mind holds can never die
(Thompson, 1984). The living dead are a fundamental, foundational part of African
existence and subsequently African knowledge. Cecil Gray (2001) states that every
time that people of African descent convene for a purpose, including in an
educational setting, it is appropriate to begin with libation (a water ritual which
refreshes the link between the living and the dead). The libation ritual focuses the
African mind and mentally establishes an optimal environment for human exchange.
In this respect, African libation is part of the pedagogy that is unique to African
knowledge systems.
Axiology
Axiology is the study of the nature of what is valued. Myers (1988)
identifies the axiology (highest value) of African people to be the interpersonal
relationship between woman and man-- the unity of opposites. In contrast, Myers

16
identifies the Eurocentric axiology to be on the acquisition of objects. Myerss
definition can be understood to represent the African understanding that all of
human life finds its origin in the coming together of male and female pairs.
Similarly, when male and female cease to come together, human life will also cease
to exist. Furthermore, what African people understand is that families are the most
basic unit of community. Where families are weak, the community is also weak.
Strong communities protect their families from the malignant forces known in the
universe. In a traditional African setting, everyone collaborates to ensure that
families remain strong, particularly the bond between married couples. The
disintegration of the family is seen as the disintegration of the community.
Community
The viability of the community is so prized in the context of African
knowledge systems that according to the research of Fu-Kiau (1980), a Congolese
researcher and philosopher, there are over 50 different phrases and words that define
community in the languages of the Congolese people. Each word or phrase gives
advice on how to keep the community viable. Here are three examples:
Vo zeyi kanda, zeyi Nzambi
If you know the community, you know God. God is only visible through our
attitude vis--vis our neighbors. Our existence creates Gods existence.

17
Simbi bia nsi (bia kanda) mu kilombo binikukinanga
Societal leaders move and act through the masses. A true leader mingles in a
crowd. A leader that stands aloof is a puppet.
Kubungi kumu kia kanda mu kinzenza kiaku ko
Do not try to destroy the reputation of the community/society while wearing
somewhere else the label of being a stranger. Your misconduct, elsewhere, has
direct or indirect impact on your community/society as well as on yourself (FuKiau, 1980, pp. 98-107).
Fu-Kiaus (1980) assertions on the community echo the concept of ntuology.
Everything, and in this case everyone, is interrelated and interdependent. He also
makes it clear that community is the embodiment of that which is holy. More
precisely, it is the unity between persons that is divine. Consequently, humans then
have the ability to create or destroy God by how they
live with one another. Any community leader who does not participate in the
community with the knowledge that he is a member of the community is held
suspect. Male and female pairs are valued for they are the life-generating pairs
necessary for the community to exist. The acquisition of material alone cannot
replace the value of a viable community. The value that an African knowledge
system places on community stands in polar opposition to the Euro-American
emphasis on individualism and in some cases rugged individualism.
In a teaching and learning environment, the African value of community
translates into two important dimensions. First, it yields an obvious preference for
collective, group learning and evaluation over individualized learning. The

18
geometric shape of a circle best symbolizes group learning. Each student occupies a
different position on the circle. Learning can only be considered holistic when each
position has been explored. Furthermore, respecting community in a teaching and
learning environment also means that needs of the community have to take priority.
Euro-American education tends to whittle subject matter down to its economic
value. However, the African value for human life and human development cannot
fit into that narrow confine. The African student needs to understand how every
subject contributes to the lifes journey of birth, maturity, eldership, death, and rebirth (Fu-kiau, 1980). This is also true of the community that students reside in.
Each subject needs to be relevant to the cycles of the community. Fu-Kiau supports
this stand. He emphatically states that there
should be no meaningless curricula. Fu-Kiau (1980) raises the bar for teachers. A
teacher of African students must understand the cycles of life and death in
individuals and in the communities from which they come. In this way, each class
has meaning that extends far beyond economic value.
The ntuology and axiology of African knowledge systems naturally leads to
an ecologically sensitive worldview. The African-centered position accepts that all
natural groups, animate and inanimate, are interrelated, interdependent, and ordered.
This sets the stage for African people to be conservers of nature. Nature and the
natural world are alive and offer us sustenance. Hence, we must respect our
dependence on her by protecting her. Gadalla (2001), a researcher in the field of

19
Ancient Egyptian culture, postulates the idea that the Ancient Egyptians (and all
people who adhere to African knowledge systems) are bound by ancestry to respect
the earth. He cites the examples of the environmental conservation from the 42
principles of Maat, a code of ethical behavior assembled in Ancient Egypt.
According to the code, one would have to make the following confessions upon
death, as he or she seeks entrance into the land of the ancestors: I have not
plundered the neteru (spirit of the land). I have not fouled the water. I have never
cursed (disrespected) the neteru (spirit of the land) (p.151). Buttressing that
position Richards (1981) states, Nature, natural objects and events are understood
as phenomena that make a statement to us about the sacred nature of the universe
(p. 219).
Gadalla (2001) submits, Such respect for the spirits of the land is indicative
of a peaceful (non-invasive) people who will not violate any body or any land
(p.151). This does not suggest that those aware of African knowledge systems do
not engage in war. Rather, it supports the idea that African people steeped in their
knowledge systems function with the understanding that there exists an intimacy
between people and the earth, particularly in the land from which they originate.
This intimacy intensifies with each generation. That intimacy is conceived of as a
neteru (a god or a goddess, a spirit of the land).
The use of nature as the ultimate example in a teaching and learning
environment is a pedagogy that concurs with the deep structure of African

20
knowledge systems. Alesha (2004) confirms that in the primary knowledge systems
of Africa, not only is the natural world revered, but there is great reverence for the
natural bodies of males and females. In fact, Alesha (2004) claims that most
African knowledge systems have at their base male and female partnership. This
should not be misconstrued to only represent the romantic relationship between men
and women. It does include that element, but it also expands to include the
relationships between earth and sky, mother and father, sun and moon, protons and
electrons, and death and life. Education then becomes the exposure to the
relationships of these divine twins. Within African knowledge systems, all parts of
the natural world point to the divine including humans, animals, the heavens' plants,
water, land, and inanimate objects such as rocks or mountains. Mythology is
used in African knowledge systems to create a bond between the human learner and
the natural world. For example, the earth is conceived as a womans body. That
woman goes by the name of Asaase Yaa in the Akan system of knowledge in West
Africa. In their wisdom, African forbearers circumvented the current environmental
crisis for millions of years by classifying nature in human terms. African
mythological speak allows the human mind to endear elements of nature such as
water, wind, and fire. The African student who emerges from this setting is
prepared to live in right relationship with the earth because he or she has been given
inside knowledge of what is acceptable on earth and what is not.

21
Flowing directly from the African value of the natural environment is the
African value and respect for natural placement. Natural placement as described by
Delores Williams (1993), author of the article, Sin, Nature and Black Womens
Bodies, as a respect for the geographical location where people, vegetation, and
animals exist naturally. Within natural placement is the echo of ntuology. Here
nature is not only interrelated and interdependent but there is also an order to the
natural world that must be respected. This means that within African knowledge
systems, the individual does not have the right to disregard natural placement and
drastically violate natural order because he or she is so inclined. Humans do not
have dominion over nature as suggested by Judeo-Christian doctrine. Williams
(1993) explains that because natural placement is not valued in Western cultures, it
opened the door for millions of Africans to be uprooted and shifted to the Western
Hemisphere while having their bodies violated and their natural human energy
exploited in the name of profit. In many ways, the Western world persists in their
devaluation of natural placement as it continues to promote the idea that nonWestern people can achieve actualization in an educational system that disrespects
and disregards the human story to which they genetically belong.
Teleology
One of the final philosophical assertions that distinguish African knowledge
systems from Eurocentric knowledge systems is teleology. Teleology is the study

22
of the ultimate purpose in life and way of explaining natural phenomena by their
design or by their purpose. Teleology in African knowledge systems follows the
African-centered definition put forward by Gray (2001). He states,
The guiding teleology of some non-African people might be to be the
worlds best conquerors and subjugate and absorb all other cultures on the
Earth; or to be prolific consumers, consuming the Earths natural resources
and people made products as fast as possible in quantities as conspicuous as
possible. The teleology of African people is exceedingly different from that.
The essential teleology of African people-as set forth and practiced by
ancient Africans and articulated more or less imperfectly by contemporary
African people-is for humans to become and be like God. Africancentered teleology posits that simultaneous with the major focus of peoples
lives- such as marriage, parenting, career, being a student, or whatever, people are to grow, unfold, and evolve into higher beings. That is people are
to grow and become beings who embody and who are able to demonstrate
the mundane and the transcendent attributes and ideals of (constructive
good) God. Indeed, we are learning rather slowly and quite painfully,
it is the only teleological stance that functions optimally for African people.
When African people practice and work to fulfill non-African teleologies,
we discover that we are not happy as time passes. We lose our joy; we hurt;
and our lives evidence painful disarray. (p. 112)
The teleological stance of African knowledge systems is evident in the
religious nature of its symbols, songs, stories, and mythology. For this reason,
Westerners have labeled many of the African knowledge systems such as the
Egyptian mystery systems, Ifa, Vodou, Obeah, and Santeria, as religions. These
systems of knowledge are, however, not religions. They are religious- having to do
with spiritual and moral development. Ultimately, knowledge systems must work to
fulfill the teleological aims of the people from whose context they emerge. Though
African knowledge systems are religious, they are indeed much more than

23
that. Abimbola (1997) describes all of the elements that go into the African
knowledge system known as Ifa:
Ifa priests in West Africa are the intellectuals of their society. This is
especially true before colonial rule. The Yoruba have woven everything
that is dear to them throughout the full ranges of their experiences from
mythology to legends, to history and contemporary times around Ifa. It is at
the same time an intellectual system because it contains so many ideas with
which the Yoruba people have organized their lives throughout history. In
ancient times, it was compulsory for every Yoruba to have one hand of
Ifa, and everybody studied it for a few years. That was like going to
school for us in the past. (pp. 85-86)
Ever since the Arab and European invasion of the continent of Africa, the
trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism, and now neo-colonialism, African people
have labored to find fulfillment via foreign knowledge systems and their
concomitant governmental structures and societal norms. Gray (2001) points out all
such attempts have largely only produced increased unrest in the African
psyche. On the other hand, Abimbola (1997) describes the knowledge system of Ifa
as being at once academic and sensitive to the teleological needs of African
people. Ifa is a prime example of a holistic African knowledge system. Coming
directly from the African philosophical bedrock, Ifa promotes human spiritual
growth via nature acknowledgement and adoration and ancestral veneration. In
addition, it also is a historical record of the Yoruba people; it contains classic
Yoruba poetry and literature as well as a scientific and mathematical explanation of
reality (Abimbola).

24
African knowledge systems such as Ifa are accompanied by others such as
Obeah, Vodou, Ausarian mysteries, Akan, and the Izangoma system of South
Africa. Ifa stands out among other African knowledge systems because it is one of
the few systems that managed to maintain its structural integrity in spite of Arab and
European aggression. Ifa is still widely used on the continent of Africa as well as in
the African Diaspora, where it was brought in the hearts and souls of enslaved
African people. During his field work, Abimbola (1997) reports finding an Ifa
priest in Cuba who could perfectly recite the holy scripture of Ifa. This is quite
amazing given that the text of Ifa has been primarily oral, until recent times.
Africans brought to Cuba, passed on the oral text from one generation to another,
and continue to do so. It is obvious that human beings living in a captive and
brutalizing situation would not extend the effort of passing on hundreds of verses of
oral text to their children unless they deeply accepted the legitimacy of
the worldview which produced the oral text they had committed to memory.
Unrattled by the claims of European superiority of knowledge, Africans in Cuba,
Haiti, Brazil, and Trinidad persisted in the preservation of their knowledge systems.
In fact, it could be argued that African people survived slavery and savage
colonization because of the internal optimism found in the ways of knowing that
were indigenous to them.

25
Pedagogy
At the heart of this research are questions about the pedagogies used by
African knowledge systems. What pedagogies do teachers within African
knowledge systems use to preserve and pass on knowledge? What are the
advantages of using these methods? Moreover, most importantly, in what way is
there space in traditional Euro-American universities and colleges for use of the
pedagogical methodologies utilized by African knowledge systems? The following
section examines what these pedagogies are and what benefit they provide.
The methods used for transmitting knowledge in African knowledge systems
differ greatly from the methods used in mainstream Western cultures. Whereas in
mainstream Western culture information is primarily transferred in
written and, to a lesser degree, oral (lecture) formats, in African knowledge systems
knowledge is coded and transferred via music (song and instrumentation), dance,
myths, symbols, and proverbs. African-centered educational theory also provides
new principles for understanding how or the method by which knowledge is
delivered, in a manner ideal for the African understanding. Each of these
techniques is explored below. The primary reason for such an in-depth examination
is that Africa has had its knowledge ridiculed and even doubted because of a lack of
reliance on written text (which is not entirely true). However, Africas methods for

26
storing, coding, and transferring knowledge are befitting of the systems of
knowledge from which they emerged.
Music
Music is a significant method of storing and communicating knowledge in
the various knowledge systems of Africa. It is within the song and the music that
the African concept of ntuology is manifest. Holistic knowledge is disseminated via
the lyrics and through the variations in the voices and instruments. Peter Paris
(1995), a theologian and author of the book The Spirituality of African People,
describes the music of African people as containing call and responses, polyrhythms, rhythmic counterpoints, melodic and harmonic sophistication, and slurred
and flat notes. All of the musical variation speaks to the African recognition that the
cosmological order contains varied, harmonious, and interrelated parts.

African

people the world over are known for their affinity to music. Richards (1989)
explains the reason why African people value music as a tool of ontological
revelation:
Few have understood what music is to us. Black music is sacred music. It
is the expression of the divine within us. Remember that in African
religious conception we gain our strength from communication with the
spirits and from being touched by them Our music manifests that
relationship, as it puts us in tune with the universe. It explains to us the
mysterious workings of the universe and ourselves as cosmic beings. (p. 37)
In this sense, music becomes a strategy for allowing ourselves and others to
experience the harmony of life as it is conceived from the African perspective. As

27
such, music is a valued tool in African knowledge systems because it is recognized
as a method of conveying a message without the sometimes-arid nature of lecture.
Steven Biko (1998), an anti-apartheid/community activist in South Africa, reflected
on how music fulfills the axiology of African knowledge systems, that of
interpersonal relationships:
Nothing dramatizes the eagerness of Africans to communicate with each
other more than their love for song and rhythm Any suffering we
experienced was made more real by song and rhythm. There is no doubt
that the so-called Negro spirituals sung by black slaves in the States as
they toiled under oppression were indicative of their African heritage.
The major thing to note about our songs is that they never were songs for
individuals. All African songs are group songs. Though many have words,
this is not the most important thing about them. Tunes were adapted to suit
the occasion and had the wonderful effect of making everybody read the
same thing from the common experience. In war, the songs reassured
those who were scared, highlighted the determination of the regiment to win
a particular encounter, and made much more urgent the need to settle the
score Solos like those of Pat Boone and Elvis Presley could never really
find expression within African culture because it is not in us to listen
passively to pure musical notes. (pp. 27-29)
Bikos (1998) analysis makes the reader aware that using music as a strategy
builds group cohesion and fosters participation from otherwise reluctant persons.
Music is a primary process within African knowledge systems. Indeed as
Biko (1998) points out, African people, who made the involuntary journey into the
so-called New World brought this tool with them. Many people from the
European mainstream have tried to educate people of African descent over the years
without recognizing that African people have knowledge systems that have distinct
pedagogies. Such was the case in Mississippi during the 1964 Freedom Summer

28
movement. Rachal (1998), an adult educator, documents the transformation that
many Eurocentric-trained African-Americans and their European counterparts
experienced when they realized the power of song in teaching African Americans in
the rural communities of Mississippi:
Critical to these mass meetings was music, which suffused the meetings as
well as the movement generally. Andrew Young of SCLC wrote to
Septima Clark in the middle of Freedom Summer that, music has been the
backbone of the Freedom Movement. I dare say that freedom songs have
done as much for inspiring our students [in the Citizenship Education
program] as all the teaching and preaching. At mass meetings, songs
inspired normally unconvinced residents to commit to making the attempt to
register, transcending the commonsense reasons and natural fears that argued
otherwise Several staffers and volunteers have given testimony to the
spiritual uplift gained from singing while in jail or on the way to or from the
courthouse Barry Clemson the only white in a crowd of marchers to
the Biloxi courthouse thought his time was up as he and the lady who had
just given a speech led the group two abreast, straight into a White mob; she
took him by the arm and said, Walk slow and sing loud. (pp. 183-184)
Rachal (1998) also argues that music not only served as a galvanizing and
educational tool, but it also served as a paralinguistic, historical record for the
insiders of the Freedom Summer movement. Rachal states,
In addition to the inspirational and spine-stiffening roles, the songs had other
functions. One was pedagogical. Just as stained-glass windows have
portrayed scriptural narratives visually, freedom songs captured snippets of
the movements history orally, such as, for example, Well Never Turn Back
alludes to the murder of Herbert Lee. Volunteers learned Well Never Turn
Back in Ohio, and according to one it was to the Mississippi workers what
We Shall Overcome was to the national movement Recruiting,
teaching, giving courage, and inspiring, music touched emotions and bound
together the educational, political, social, and economical purposes of the
movement in ways that all the teaching and preaching could not. (p. 183)

29
Music as method is dynamic. It communicates. It changes and sets the mood and
tone in a learning environment. As music is created in reaction to history, it
becomes a historical record of the common experience. Within the various African
knowledge systems, the collection of music and rhythms is vast and passes from one
generation to another in an oral manner. Investigation into the music corpus of even
one of the African knowledge systems is a dissertation unto itself.
Dance
While conducting an interview with an Ifa priest, I asked him why so much
of the Ifas knowledge was encoded in dance. He shared that dance keeps
knowledge close to us and allows us to feel what we know (Oppong Wadie, 2005a).
Dance as a teaching process fulfills the African ontological stance, I am because we
are, rather than the Eurocentric ontological stance, I think therefore I am. From the
perspective of African knowledge systems, it is not enough to think about
knowledge. Knowledge must be embodied--danced. Dance gets our bodies in the
practice of using the knowledge that we have. Group dance, which is used more
often than not within African knowledge systems, allows for collective
demonstration, sharing, and expansion of knowledge. Dance allows the dancer to
exhibit his/her acceptance and internalization of knowledge. No move in African

30
dance is to be taken for granted. Each movement of the body communicates
acquired knowledge.
Yvonne Daniel (2005), an anthropologist and a dancer of the Haitian Vodou
dance text, explains how the African knowledge system called Vodou understands
the human body and uses the dance as a vehicle of knowledge:
In Haitian Vodou, for example, a particular body part is associated with one
of the lowas [elements of nature gods/goddess] and often with one of the
nasyons or nations [various African nations represented in the trans-Atlantic
slave trade]. Madame Lavinia stated that in teaching dances of Vodou, she
discovered that the feet are dedicated to the god of war, Ogoun Ferille; the
hips to the Congos spirit of beauty and love; the chest to the brave warriors,
the Ogouns the spine to the snake god, the water god, and the rainbow
goddess The hands are dedicated to the spider spirit. (p. 74)
Although the dance texts of various African knowledge systems may seem
to be based on random movement, each part of the body is related to various natural
elements and must therefore move in cooperation and harmony with the whole.
Daniels quote indicates that ntuology is present. That is, dance is the
interrelationship of the cosmos artfully acted out. In this case, the dancer is dancing
to make the body remember what the ancestral soul already knows. Daniel contends
that African people the world over, whether they are aware of African knowledge
systems or not, still hold on to dance as a technique for learning. Dance is
knowledge embodied. Daniel explains,
The total wisdom within African American chanting, drumming, and
dancing can be viewed as an accumulation and transposition of many kinds
of knowledge. African-derived performance is easily a transposing of
philosophy, religion, or belief, as well as natural, technological, and social
sciences into the aesthetic and artistic arena of primarily nonverbal,

31
communicative forms. Embodied botany is revealed in an open state with
the sacred chant texts that survived in the minds and healed the bodies of
African and African American performers. Embodied physiology is
revealed in the association of divinities with particular parts of the human
body, and embodied psychology emerges from a history of skilled and
effective performance. Embodied philosophy is read within the
performance behaviors or worshipers and reveals cultural understanding of a
supra human and interactive world with ritual performance. Embodied
mathematical knowledge is buried and assumed within codified drum
orchestrations. Dance performances of Haitian Vodou, Cuban Yoruba, and
Bahian Candomble are more than music and dance; in these religions, more
than singing, drumming, and dancing are present. Praise performance
practices have guarded embodied knowledge for centuries. (p. 93)
Dance keeps knowledge alive, not sealed away from the people in a book. A
Rastafarian priest reminded me that the dance will live on long after its creator is
gone (Oppong Wadie, 2005 b). Daniels (2005) assertions reveals that not all that is
known is explicitly explained in African knowledge systems. Knowledge is not
always plainly explained to each person. This idea transitions neatly into the last
category of methods, that of symbol, mythology, and proverbs.
Symbol, Mythology, and Proverb
Within African knowledge systems, there is the rigidly held realization that
knowledge given to someone who does not possess the requisite emotional, mental,
and spiritual maturity will ultimately result in harm. This is the primary reason why
the teachers in African knowledge systems code information. Notably, this is also
why many of the early anthropologists who went to Africa came to the conclusion
that African people had no knowledge system and were in fact illiterate people who

32
only sang, danced, and carved masks. Perhaps it is more true that the Europeans
were illiterate: unable to read the system of codes of the people whom they
encountered. Symbols, myths, and proverbs code knowledge allow the student to
receive incremental portions, as he or she is ready. Richards (1981) offers this
proverb in support of this idea, The lips of wisdom are closed except to the ears of
the understanding (p. 221).
In the triad of mythology, symbol, and proverb, mythology rises to the top
mainly because myths utilize symbols and proverbs in their corpus. Once one
understands the place that myth holds in the framework of African knowledge
systems, then understanding symbols and proverbs naturally follows. In the West,
African myths are seen as subject matter for childrens entertainment. A great
example of this is how Anansi tales (spider stories from West Africa), Brer Rabbit
(stories found in Africa and among African Americans in North America), and
African folk tales in general exist primarily in childrens literature (Arkhurst, 1992;
Kantor, 1998). Certainly, in European American classrooms myths are not given
the same intellectual importance as is attributed to a science textbook. In African
knowledge systems, the myth or central story is highly regarded because it holds the
cosmological truths, truths of the natural world, and truths of social relationships.
Dona Richards (1981) states, A cosmology is the systematic explanation
of the interrelationship, origin and evolution of natural forces Mythology
involves the personification of this explanationMythological systems are

33
therefore elaborate complex and profound (p. 219). From the quote, it is easy to
extrapolate the idea that myths in the context of the African knowledge systems are
actually human and in some cases animal stories about the interconnections that
exist in the universe. The interconnections are complex and multi-layered, and in
some cases ever evolving, hence the best way to describe them is to make them
manageable for the human intellect via myth.
Charles S. Finch III (1998), medical doctor, scientist, and African-centered
researcher, wrote a profound book entitled, The Star of Deep Beginning: The
Genesis of African Science and Technology. In the book, he takes the following
position on the use of myths in African knowledge systems:
I have come to see that not only religion but science is the offspring of
myth; to fathom the depths of both of these realms of psycho-mental
experience, we are impelled to return to myth. The modern penchant for
trivializing myth has done the world a terrible disservice. But since myth is
intrinsic to human consciousness, or, more precisely, human
unconsciousness, it can never be exorcized in the way modern man has
attempted to; it merely ramifies into bizarre and abnormal forms for want of
appropriate expression. Myth actualizes history- indeed, human existence
itself- and science is but one component of the myth. (p. xix)
Both Richards (1981) and Finch (1998) agree that myth is appropriately used
in knowledge systems because it can host multiple aspects of knowledge. Finch
(1998) also points out that within myth, science is but one of the aspects. Also
included are religion, human relationships, psychology, and mathematics.
Understanding how these multiple aspects relate to one another is key to
appreciating the sophistication of African knowledge systems. Stories in which

34
cosmic ideas are personified keep the relationships among various natural elements
straight. Gadalla (2001), an Ancient Egypt researcher, explains further:
Any good writer or lecturer knows that stories are better than exposition for
explaining the behavior of things, because the relationships of parts to each
other and to the whole are better maintained by the mind. Information alone
is useless, unless it is transformed into understanding. (p. 22)
Gadalla (2001) finds that myth not only crystallizes the relationship between
the parts, it also offers varying levels of understanding. He explains that in Ancient
Egypt, myths were called mystery plays, which offered a compelling story as well
as explained the knowledge system:
The Egyptian well-crafted mystery plays are an intentionally chosen means
for communicating knowledge. Meaning and the mystical experience are
not tied to a literal interpretation of events. Once the inner meanings of the
narratives have been revealed, they become marvels of simultaneous
scientific and philosophical completeness and conciseness. The more they
are studied, the richer they become. And, rooted in the narrative as it is, the
part can never be mistaken for the whole, nor can its functional significance
be forgotten or distorted. (p. 23)
Gadalla (2001) presents the idea that the text of African knowledge systems
stays the same. That is, the myths that are presented to a neophyte are the same
myths that are presented to an advanced learner. What differs is the level of
interpretation that is offered by the teacher. In almost all African knowledge
systems, students undergo an initiation process wherein across a lifetime the student
is exposed to the deeper and deeper levels of meaning encoded in mythology. In

35
this respect, textbooks are not needed because from very early in life the student has
internalized the myth.
Yves Bonnefoy (1991), a French anthropologist, compiled information on
the myths found in the francophone countries in West Africa. Bonnefoy (1991)
describes the African use of myth as methodology and the ability of myths to take a
student into a deeper understanding:
In sub-Saharan Africa, however, the transmission, conservation, and
perpetuation of myths were not done exclusively in writing. African
wisdom holds that learning cannot be dissociated from understanding: it
cannot be acquired and disposed of by those who are not ready for it- or
who are imperfectly prepared; its acquisition should be acquired
progressively, according to the physical and spiritual development of the
individual. African thought is thus fundamentally opposed to the written
form, which without discernment or order, attempts to convey what should,
in its continuity, embrace the maturation of the individual. (p. 25)
Closely echoing Bonnefoy (1991), Finch (1998) quotes from the earlier
work of Griaule and Dieterlen (as cited in Finch, 1998), two French anthropologists
who studied for over twenty years in Mali, West Africa. They offer this insight:
By no means here should the word myth be understood in its ordinary
sense, as a childlike or fantastic, somewhat absurd poetic form. The myth is
for the Blacks, only a means by which to explain something; it is a
consciously composed lore of master ideas It conceals clear statements
and coherent systems reserved for initiates, who alone have access to the
deep knowledge. (p. xvii)
Because myths are such a powerful method of storing and transmitting
knowledge, the storyteller in the African tradition is not just anyone who has
something they want to share. Much has changed as African culture underwent

36
Arab and European invasion. However, historically storytellers are highly qualified
persons (Gadalla, 2001). Furthermore, the storyteller was bound by a code of ethics
that became known in Ancient Egypt as Maa Kheru (true voice) (Gadalla, 2001).
Maa Kheru enforces truth in storytelling. Thus, the storyteller has the responsibility
to share only the unadulterated truth as stipulated by the knowledge system.
Thus, myth as methodology keeps the story of ntuology, the order of the
cosmos, straight by personifying its elements and making it more digestible for the
human intellect. It also allows the student to internalize the story, not needing a
textbook per se. Finally, the teacher is then able to take the student as maturation
merits into the deeper meaning of the original myth.
Symbolism naturally follows as a paralinguistic of myth. Symbols are a
marker for the different stories in any African knowledge system. Bonnefoy (1991)
finds, Not only mask and statuary but also architecture, music, useful objects (from
clothing to household utensils), and even body markings (tattoos, scarification, face
painting) are related to a coherent system of signs that explicate the meaning of
myths according to the particular level attained through initiation (p. 27). In
traditional Africa, and to some extent in modern Africa, symbols of the myths of
various knowledge systems surround the everyday life of people. In this way,
knowledge is alive, visible, and in the ownership of the people.
Likewise, proverbs keep scraps of knowledge in the everyday language of

37
the people. Proverbs are neat packages of knowledge that are close to the populace
because of their efficiency.
A Myth
To the Western mind, the idea that the use of mythology could be used as
effective pedagogy can seem absurd. However, the idea is more easily digested if a
clear example is offered. I have chosen to use as an example, the Ausarian myth
from Ancient Egypt. I have chosen this myth because it is well represented in the
literature on African mythology. In addition, the interpretation of the Ausarian
myth has significant implications for this research on the pedagogical
methodologies of African knowledge systems. It is noteworthy that nowhere in the
script of Ancient Egypt does this story exist in its entirety. This may have been
because the story was so much a part of the oral tradition of Ancient Egyptian
people. The story has been copied from funerary text written on the walls of various
pyramids and temples. An oral version of the story was told to Herodotus, the
Greek scholar who came to study in Ancient Egypt. Herodotus produced the first
written versions of the complete myth that was brought back to ancient Greece. To
share this myth I have had to use the writings of several authors (Ashby, 1998; Cott,
1994; Gadalla, 2001; Green, 1967; McDermott, 1977). As an example of the power
of myth, here is the Ancient Egyptian creation story.

38
It is said that in the beginning there was only blackness and chaos. From
this chaos rose Ra-the shining one. Ra used his personal power to call into being
Shu and Tefunt, Geb, and Nut. Geb was the earth and Nut was the Goddess of the
sky. Geb and Nut had four children: Ausar, Auset, Set, and Nephthys. When Ausar
was born many signs and wonders simultaneously occurred. It is said that a loud
voice was heard proclaiming that the Lord of all has come forth into life. This
prophecy would come to pass. Ausar grew up to become a powerful king in Ancient
Egypt. Likewise, Auset, though Ausars sister, would marry him and become a
diligent and tireless protector of the throne.
On the other hand, Set brought chaos into the world. It is said that Set was
too impatient to wait to come to the world by way of the birth canal of his mother.
Rather, because he was anxious to compete with his elder brother Ausar, Set forced
his birth by creating a hole in the side of Nut, his mother. Set was consequently a
permanent agent of dis-order and confusion. Set married his sister Nephthys and
together they ruled the desert.
It is said that when Ausar took the throne in Ancient Egypt, he found human
beings behaving and living in a deplorable condition. Ausar set out to bring
civilization to the people of Ancient Egypt. He taught them agriculture, how to
make bread from wheat, how to use fruits to make wine, and the immutable laws by
which humans should live in order to have peace and experience human
actualization.

39
After Ausar felt satisfied that the people of Ancient Egypt understood and
heeded his words, he set out to share with the rest of the world civilization. It is
important to note that Ausar did not take any weapons or soldiers with him on this
most important mission. Rather, Ausar only took a band of singers and poets.
Auset was a diligent guardian of the throne while her husband was away. Even Set,
who desired to take over the throne of Ausar, could not do so while Auset was in
charge.
However, when Ausar returned to Egypt with great joy over the success of
his mission, Set saw an opportunity to de-throne him. Having secretly obtained the
exact measurements of Ausar body, Set invited him to a party. During the party Set
had his servants bring out a richly decorated wooden box. So lovely it was that all
of the guests gasped at its splendor. Set offered a challenge to the guests. Whoever
laid in the box and fit in it perfectly would be owner of the beautiful box. Each
guest eagerly tried to fit in the box, with none finding the right fit. Finally, Ausar
himself laid in the box and found that it fit perfectly. Quickly, Sets guards
surrounded the box and slammed it shut. Nails were driven into the box. The
guards hoisted the box out of the meeting hall and hastily carried it to the Nile River
where the box was thrown in.
This box, turned coffin, that contained Ausars body floated down the Nile
River and out to sea. It is said that the box finally washed up on the shores of
Byblos, a city in ancient Syria, where it slammed into a tamarisk tree. Immediately

40
the tree drew the box into itself and grew around it until the box was completely
hidden deep within the trunk of the tree. Almost instantly, the tamarisk tree began
to attract attention. It became especially beautiful and its wood became sweetly
scented. The people of Syria caused a stir about the magnificent nature of this tree.
Eventually, word got to the king of Syria that this most fascinating tree grew in his
country. He ordered that the tree be cut down, and a pillar fashioned out of it. The
pillar was placed in the kings palace for all to marvel at it.
In the meantime, Auset learning of her husbands demise, cut a lock from
her hair and descended into mourning. However, she was resolved to search for
her husbands body. It was known in Ancient Egypt that one could not experience
resurrection and eternal life unless there where specific rites performed over ones
deceased body. This knowledge invigorated Auset and kept her searching. After a
frustrating search along the banks of the Nile River, a group of children told Auset
that they saw the box floating out to sea. Auset followed their lead and soon found
the kingdom of Byblos. Unsure of how to approach the rulers of the land to ask for
the beautiful pillar, which contained the body of her husband, Auset decided to
disguise herself as an older woman. She approached the female servants of the
Queen Astarte (the Queen of Byblos). She saw the maidservants washing at the
river, and she called them and braided their hair, decorating it with flowers. She
also allowed the natural perfume from her body to rub off on them. When the
women returned to Queen Astarte, the queen was astonished. As the story goes, the

41
women outside of Africa knew nothing of hair-art prior to the coming of Auset.
Queen Astarte immediately demanded that Auset be brought to her. She asked
Auset to stay in her palace as a nurse for her young son who was quite fragile in
health.
Almost immediately, everyone began to notice a difference in the young son
of Queen Astarte. He began waxing stronger and stronger. The difference was so
compelling that the queen herself became curious. Her curiosity was peaked by the
information that she was given by her maidservants. The servants reported that
every evening Auset drove all of the servants out of the room and created what they
believed to be a fire. They also reported hearing the sounds of bird, calling out
almost in a crying voice.
Queen Astarte decided to hide herself in Ausets room one night to find out
what it was that she really did. The queen saw Auset drive all the servants out from
the room and then proceed to light a giant fire. Auset took the queens son and
placed him in the fire. Instantly, Auset changed herself into a swallow (a river
bird), and she began to fly around the pillar which contained the body of Ausar, all
the while letting out a mournful bird song. Seeing her son in the fire, Queen Astarte
could no longer hold her peace, she screamed and ran to the fire to retrieve her son.
To her surprise, she found that he was all together unharmed by the fire. In fact, the
boy cried in protest of being taken from the fire.

42
At that point, Auset no longer had a choice; she shed her disguise and
revealed herself as the goddess she was. She spoke to Queen Astarte, Foolish
woman, had you but left your son to my care I would have burned away all that was
human in him and made him one of he gods, even as I am (Green, 1967, p.22).
Auset then admitted her purpose and demanded the box which contained her
husband. The queen and king, having seen the glory of Auset, begged her
forgiveness and implored her to stay. However, Auset insisted on leaving with the
box of her husband.
Once Auset was on the river with the box of Ausar, she asked all of her
escorts to leave her alone. One of Queen Astartes sons, who escorted Auset to the
river decided to secretly stay behind in disobedience to Ausets wishes. However,
Auset realized his presence and turned and gave him a revolting stare which
immediately caused his death.
Auset opened the box, and upon seeing her husbands body, released an earpiercing cry. The shattering volume of her cry reverberated back to the shores of
Byblos and caused the instant death of the Queen Astartes youngest son, whom
Auset nursed to strength. Auset turned herself into a bird once again. Spiritually
and magically she called Ausars spirit back into his body, causing him to have an
erection. The couple copulated and Auset was impregnated. Auset then brought the
body of Ausar back to Egypt and hid it in the swamps so that the current king, Set,

43
would never find it. She kept the body unburied so that she could gather enough
material for the elaborate funeral rites that Ausar needed.
In the meantime, Set was out hunting one night and encountered the box
containing Ausars body. In a rage, he took the body and divided it into fourteen
different pieces. These pieces he scattered all over Ancient Egypt. He did so that
proper funeral rites could never be performed over Ausar, and in so doing Ausar
could never be resurrected and experience eternal life.
Sets actions only deepened Ausets conviction that she must perform the
proper funeral rites for Ausar. Again, she set off on an arduous journey to find
Ausar, this time her task made more complicated by having to find his fourteen
different parts. Ausets persistence paid off, she was able to find all of Ausars
body, with the exception of his genitals, which she re-created out of a precious
metal. When all the pieces of Ausar were assembled, she bound his body together
with cloth. In so doing, Ausar became the first mummy. She performed his funeral
rites and Ausar became the first recorded resurrected god. As an eternal being,
Ausar reigns in the land of the dead.
Having completed her duty to Ausar, Auset focused her attention on raising
the son, which she conceived with Ausar. The boy child was named Heru. Auset
decided to raise him deep within the swamp because she did not want the evil Set to
find and destroy Heru. In addition, Auset knew that she had to create in Heru, a
warrior who would be fearless in the quest to reclaim his fathers throne.

44
When Heru was of age, he assembled an army to battle Set for the throne.
As both men were fierce warriors, the battles raged on and on. After sustaining
great loss, Heru fell back on the wisdom of his elders. Set was brought before a
jury of his peers and it was decided that Heru was the rightful owner of the throne.
Even after the judgment, Set still sought to battle Heru. However, this time Heru
was able to subdue him, though not killing him. Heru was finally able to take back
the throne to which he always had genetic right (Ashby, 1998; Cott, 1994; Gadalla,
2001; Green, 1967; McDermott, 1977).
An Interpretation
The drama and power of human relationships in the Ausarian myth belies its
complexity. One could easily mistake this myth for an elaborate love story.
However, according to Gadalla (2001), on a very basic level the Egyptian mystery
play describes how moisture (Ausar) and Earth (Auset) are battled by drought (Set).
In the end, the child of Ausar and Auset, Heru (vegetation), overcomes and holds at
bay the reign of drought (Set). In this meteorological interpretation we obtain a
glimpse into the possibilities for myths. Similarly, Ausar is seen as the moon. The
fourteen parts that Ausars body is divided into by Set correlates with the days of
the waning and dark cycles of the moon. Every 28 to 30 days Ausar is resurrected
as the new moon. However, this simplistic explanation does not reveal the necessity
of most of the symbols and symbolic behaviors found in the story. Perhaps this

45
explanation is one that would be given to a neophyte. Nonetheless, it demonstrates
the use of myth as method of instruction.
A more complex explanation is arrived at when considering the Ancient
Egyptian the phrase, As above, so below (Finch, 1998), which best described the
rationale for human behavior. That is, astrophysics, the physical properties, and
movements of planets and stars ordered human behavior and expectations for life.
With this in mind, Ashby (1998) identifies the star constellation Sirius A as the
brightest star in the sky. The star Sirius is a binary star that exists with Sirius B.
The family of Sirius stars correlates with Ausar, Auset, and Heru. The movement of
Sirius with its binary dwarf star Sirius B and the little known Sirius C plays out in
the sky the drama of the Ausarian myth. For the people of Ancient Egypt, the Sirius
star family was of great significance as the rising of Sirius marked the beginning of
the New Year and the inundation of the Nile River, which was the source of
sustenance (Ashby, 1998).
Political Interpretation
Myth by its very nature has multiple layers of meaning. Myth is precisely a
story that records cosmic patterns found in human behavior, in the movement of the
stars and in the proclivities of nature. Grahn (1993), an ethnographer, points out, A
myth merely holds information in a verbal memory; tens of thousands of years of
repeated action may go into making a single line of the story (p. 11). The Ausarian

46
myth is true of astrophysics and agriculture, but it also records the political history
of the world and has great significance for education and pedagogy.
Ra Un Nefer Amen (1990) is the founder of the Ausar-Auset Society in the
United States. Members of the Ausar-Auset Society commit themselves to the
study and practice of the wisdom system of Ancient Egypt. Amen (1990) offers this
political interpretation of the Ausarian myth. According to his interpretation, Ausar
represents the most ancient of African kingdoms that discovered a method of raising
human consciousness (educating) to such a high level that it brought about spiritual
power and the ability to create a civilization. The kingdom of Ausar refers to the
kingdoms that characterize the social harmony, peace, and prosperity of Ancient
Africa. The myth details the fact that Ausar left his kingdom and went to other parts
of the world teaching them civilization via music and poetry. This refers to the
historical fact that African people all over the continent of Africa traveled outside
Africa to other surrounding areas such as Asia, Europe, North and South America,
and the islands of the Pacific. Africans did not travel as conquerors; rather they
traveled as cultural bearers. Lucia Birnbaum (2001), a cultural historian who
traveled the Mediterranean searching for clues of the ancient African migration,
confirms this historical fact. She states,
Emmanuel Anat, [I]talian archeologist, thinking on the origins of modern
human in central and south Africa, whence they migrated all over the world
60,000-50,000 BCE, implicitly credits [A]fricans, the first modern humans,
with the origins of world civilization. Primordial [A]fricans held the huge
curiosity from which all knowledge stems, as well as the ability to create art,
to express themselves with an articulate language, and the capacity for

47
abstraction, synthesis, and conceptualization[which form the] bases of
religion, reasoning and philosophy. (p. 7)
She further validates her position by establishing that,
After 50,000 BCE African immigrants walked or sailed to every continent of
the world. DNA research also reveals that large migrations out of Africa
were as recent as 20,000 years ago. From Africa homo sapiens walk or
sailed first west to Asia 40,000-50,000 years ago, then walked or sailed to
western and eastern Europe, then to east Asia and Siberia, whence they
crossed the ice over the Bering Strait reaching the Americas between 30,000
and 15,000 years ago. (p. 5)
As the Ausarian myth records, African people did not just leave Africa on a
casual trip, they were cultural ambassadors who shared with the world, in a nonviolent manner, the culture that evolved in Africa. There is historical evidence that
supports this position. One of the most recorded and enduring cultural imprints that
spread to the rest of the world via the migration of African people is the Cult of
Auset, also known outside of Africa as the Cult of Isis. The Cult of Auset/Isis was
in fact no cult at all. Rather, Auset/Isis came to represent the matrilineal,
compassionate, earth-revering culture that spread from Africa to the rest of the
world. Auset/Isis, the goddess of Ancient Egypt (also called the Dark Mother and
the Black Goddess), became the ultimate symbol for this culture. The following two
quotes confirm this position:
The civilization of the dark mother of Africa is glimpsed In the Ancient
civilizations of Nubian Meroe, matrilineal succession was the custom, yet
genders co-existed peacefully. Some queen mothers ruled alone, many
ruled with husbands or sons. In the mother-centered culture of Africa
religions also co-existed peacefully An egalitarian civilization that
nurtured all life, Meroe was a noted center of learning and commerce that
spread prosperity to all peoples. (Birnbaum, 2001, pp.16-17)

48
Veneration of Isis, according to R. E. Witt, spread from her center in Nubia
to Afghanistan, the Black Sea, and Portugal to Northern England. By the
first century of the Common Era, of her largest temples outside Africa was
located in Rome, while others were located at Ostia and Pompeii.
(Birnbaum, 2001, p. 15)
So appealing was the goddess Isis that over 3000 years after her name
appeared in Egypt her worshippers were building temples to honor her name in
Europe, including temples all the way up the Rhine and Danube Rivers in Germany
and as far north as Britain (Mckinney-Johnson, 1997).
Archeological research clearly supports the truth encoded in the Ausarian
myth. African people (Ausar) had great kingdoms that eventually overflow the
borders of Africa toward the surrounding continents. However, as the myth records,
the reign of the African way of knowing and cultural influence began to wane when
Set usurped the throne by using deception to kill his brother Ausar. Amen (1990)
defines the coming of the kingdom of Set as follows:
Ausar is killed by Set who usurps the Kingdom: This corresponds to the
period since the coming of the Eurasian to Western Asia (Mesopotamia),
India, Africa, the Mediterranean and later to the rest of the southern and
western hemispheres. The conquerors reinterpret the religious teachings and
cultural elements of the ancient civilizations in light of their level of
understanding, biases, and interest etc. Motivation of human behavior is no
longer through moral cultivation but through fear and violence. Spiritual
values are replaced by crass materialism We know the story well. (p.131)
Amen (1990) identifies the cutting of Ausars body into fourteen different
parts as the dispossession of indigenous people from their land and the involuntary
dispersion of African people all over the new world. Amen (1990) also reveals the
connection between Ausars division and the destruction of African knowledge

49
systems and the fragmenting of worldviews that characterized the rise of the
Western world.
Eurocentrism
As Auset carefully searches for and pieces her husband back together in the
myth, African people and other indigenous people are trying to literally re-member
and resurrect their ways of knowing. Like the attractive and sweet smelling
tamarisk tree, which, in the myth, captured the attention of the king of Syria and
won the admiration of many because it contained the dead body of Ausar, the same
applies to the dormant knowledge systems of African people and other indigenous
people. Many people, African and otherwise, look at and admire these systems;
however, there are few who are brave and knowledgeable like Auset to seek them
out and put them back together for the purpose of cultural resurrection.
According to Amen (1990), the way that Auset is able to conceive her son
with her then dead husband Ausar represents the coming of visionary activists who
have the ability to look at their fragmented culture and find the seed within it that is
needed to revitalize that culture. These visionary activists must battle Set (their
oppressor). However, they, like Heru, must learn that this it is not a blood battle,
but a battle of ideas that can only be won as oppressed people break their silence
and make their case to the world.

50
Amens (1990) political explanation of the myth of Ausar establishes the
modern relevance of this pedagogy. Myths are chock full of meaning and have
relevance in almost every sphere of ancient and modern society. I would like to
push the parameters of meaning for the Ausarian myth even further. For me, the
myth has great relevance for addressing the pedagogies found in African knowledge
systems.
Educational Interpretation
All reality is a unity and we divide this unity because of limitations of our
present knowledge. (Veharen, 1995, p. 65)
The Ausarian myth gives us insight into the teaching method of African
knowledge systems. Although the available literature does not confirm this
position, I am exercising poetic license in my educational interpretation of Ausarian
myth. After all, the nature of myth requires the listener to search for its relevance in
all realms of reality. That said, in my interpretation, Auset represents African
people who have suffered the loss of their culture and ways of knowing (their
Ausar). Auset (African people) realize that their knowledge systems are not truly
lost. They have only been dethroned, debased, removed, and divided
into seemingly irreconcilable pieces. Echoes of this sort of loss is heard in the
writings of Molefi Asante (1999) who wrote,

51
I write defensively and as a redemptionist because I have, that is as part of
the African people, been criticized unjustly, threatened in my own house,
and had my own culture regulated to the outskirts of my intellect. (p. ix)
Unlike Auset, many African people, though aware of their loss, are not sure
how to recollect and remember their past. However, African intellectuals,
researchers, and self-directed learners have embarked on a quest to find all the
pieces of Ausar (their culture and ways of knowing). This is Ausets (African
peoples) primary quest: to put the pieces of the ancient knowledge back together.
The division of knowledge in which the arts are separated from science, history is
misaligned with literature and truth (morality and balance), and math and science
are separated from spirituality is endemic to the Eurocentric knowledge paradigm,
not part of African knowledge systems. This is the primary difference between
Eurocentrism and the African-centered methodology of teaching and learning.
While Eurocentric education divides and splinters knowledge, the signature
methodology of African knowledge systems is the remembering of the body of
Ausar. That is teaching across the curriculum, the weaving together of knowledge
from various disciplines, and the presentation of knowledge as a unified whole.
Akoto (1992) reflects on the quest of African people to reclaim their ways of
knowing:
This Sankofa, returning from chaos and perversity of white domination to
the womb of our history in order to birth a new reality of Afrikan freedom,
independence and prosperity, and ultimately a world order consistent with
truth, justice, balance, prosperity, harmony, reciprocity, and order of Afrikan
humanity. That birth shall be occasioned by the fusing of innumerable
institutional and individual energies into a singular collective/whole

52
Heralding the end of this night shaded era of our humiliation and confusion,
and the dawn of our beginning. (p. 199)
Like Auset who released a piercing cry when she finally was reunited with
the body of her husband, similarly, scholars convinced of Africas intellectual
heritage cause an intellectual stir as they encounter research that supports Africas
legitimate place at the intellectual table. Ausets recreation of her husbands phallus
out of precious metal is analogous to African intellectuals forging/re-creating the
connection between who we are and how we exist in the modern world and our
traditional African knowledge systems and ways of knowing. Furthermore, we
must also forge/create a voice for ourselves, one that advocates on our own behalf;
it is the only thing that will guarantee our resurrection.
Dr. Grant D. Venerable II
The central question of this dissertation is what are the pedagogies that are
embedded in and arise out of African knowledge systems? In order to answer this
question, I examined the life and teaching experiences of Dr. Grant Venerable II,
who is currently Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lincoln University of
Pennsylvania. Dr. Venerable has had a long and distinguished career as a professor
of chemistry, technology, and African American studies. He has authored
six books and numerous articles on topics ranging from Kemetic science to systems
management in the silicon chip-based society. Notably, Dr. Venerable is also an

53
accomplished musician and painter, who has received international recognition for
his oil-on-canvas renderings of molecular structure.
I first encountered the work of Dr. Venerable II while conducting a
desperate search for any educators who were using the pedagogical methodologies
of African knowledge systems in institutions of higher education. There were
several examples of professors who taught about African-centeredness, but it was
difficult to find professors who had switched paradigms completely and made the
decision to use the pedagogy endemic to African knowledge systems for teaching
and learning.
One day while online, I encountered an article written by Michael Penn
(1996), a student journalist for the Golden Gater, the newspaper for San Francisco
State University. The article was entitled, The Chemistry Was Just all Wrong. In
it, Penn (1996) introduced readers to Dr. Venerables efforts to introduce what was
described by the author as an Afrocentric chemistry course. At the time, Dr.
Venerable was seeking course credit for his chemistry course from the College of
Science and Engineering at San Francisco State University. The article indicates
that Dr. Venerable made several attempts to have the Kemetic (Ancient Egyptian)
chemistry courses recognized as legitimate; however, each time the College of
Science and Engineering refused to offer him their stamp of approval. In fact, the
dean of the College of Science and Engineering was quoted as saying, In our

54
judgment they were not science classes Maybe its history or philosophy (Penn,
1996, p. 1).
After reading that online article, I became convinced that Dr. Venerable
would be a great person to reach out to in order to answer the central question of my
dissertation. After searching for him at several schools, I was able to locate him at
Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. I left a message for him, to which he
responded. In our initial conversation, I told Dr. Venerable how I learned of his
research, and I described, as best I could at that time, my dissertation interest.
Although my thoughts were not completely well articulated, much to my surprise,
Dr. Venerable immediately recognized what I was talking about. Right away he
opened my eyes to the fact that this pedagogy was not left in Africa during the transAtlantic slave trade, nor was it completely destroyed and forgotten when African
knowledge systems came under attack by colonial powers. It is Dr. Venerables
position that the process of teaching and learning born in Africa came to North
America and continued to be viable in the communities of African people up until
the time of Brown v. The Board of Education. Months later, Dr. Venerable sent me
an article that he wrote entitled, Politics, Pedagogy, and Paradox: The 50th
Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (1954-2004). In the article,
Venerable (2004) clearly laments the pedagogy that was lost, in his judgment, after
the landmark court decision. One of the central questions that Venerable (2004)
raises in the article is if integrated schooling represents the pinnacle of education:

55
Then how [do] I reconcile the superior liberal arts education afforded my father,
his sister, and their classmates at black, segregated Lincoln High School in Kansas
City in the 1900s and 1910s? (p.8) Dr. Venerable states in the article that in
answer to this question he received an epiphany:
Lincoln High School (in the period of 1900-1940), along with its
counterparts in such places as Tulsa, St. Louis, Chicago, Atlanta,
Washington, and other cities were bastions of liberal arts excellence that
were lead by distinguished principals and faculties, many with masters
degrees who could teach most anywhere at the college level. Furthermore
they were epistemological universalists, that is, practitioners of a unity of
knowledge pedagogy that accompanied the African ancestors from the
Gold Coast to America during the slave trade. (p. 8)
To further expand the idea that the African methodology of unity of
knowledge characterized the education of African Americans prior to Brown v.
Board of Education, Venerable (2004) explains,
In the old African American pedagogy that once flourished in the Deep
South (and places like Lincoln High in Kansas City) students were taught by
self-made autodidacts, theorists and generalists sometimes with very little
formal schooling across the standard subject fields With limited
resources and books, these teachers lovingly nurtured and toughly
disciplined their pupils in the art of organizing, sorting and applying
complex information to any number of possible practical ends. They taught
the unity of all knowledge by first inculcating their pupils with key universal
themes for example, geometry, the science of spatial relations The old
African American southern pedagogy made liberal use of analogy to project
geometric meaning upon the spatial aspects of grammar and composition.
The same holds true when geometric axioms are applied to analogous spatial
relationships in biology, or to analogous spatial relations in music (as
between related themes, tempos, tonal structures), or analogous relations of
form and meter in Latin, Greek or Paul Laurence Dunbars poetry. The
point of such a pedagogy is its achievement of educative efficiency by
maximizing learning across several disciplines at once- discovering the
universal ideas in one discipline- and applying them across other disciplines
that might appear otherwise distantly related. (pp. 8-9)

56
From Dr. Venerables assertions, there are clear parallels to the science of
Ntuology, the interconnection between all things. Interestingly, in the American
South the science of geometry was used to replace the folkloric mythology such as
the Ausarian myth. However, the effect is the same. Both approaches emphasize
that the student must first grasp an understanding of how things exist in relationship
to each other (the myth or primary story). Once that basic template is mastered then
one can use it to learn across the disciplines. This approach to learning even
exceeds the boundaries of what is considered education in the Eurocentric sense.
This technique leads one seamlessly into the field of what is called religion and
other worldliness/spirituality, and deep psychology.
What is lamentable about the Brown v. the Board of Education case is that it
assumed that African people in America had nothing to bring to the intellectual
table. In fact, this landmark decision was, and is, celebrated as helping African
American students who were before this point being under-educated. Venerable
(2004) states it this way:
Thus the local districts mandated the closure of formerly black schools, the
dismantling of their unique pedagogies and academic traditions, the
displacement of black teachers and administrators and the reassignment of
black children to formerly all white schools- all in the service of reinforcing
a newly established legal principle of spatial proximity to whiteness. This
was not integration based on a vital and unified whole of complementary
traditions, but a homogenized farce, in which the minority tradition was
forced to mimic the majority. It has left a bitter legacy of loss- the loss
that is, of a universal approach to knowledge and learning that might now
nourish all youngsters, irrespective of cultural or genetic heritage and that no
level of standardized teacher certification or pupil testing can ever restore.
(p. 9)

57
For me, it is optimal that Dr. Venerable is a scientist. As his critics have
suggested, African knowledge systems are often considered relevant to the arts, but
almost never to the hard sciences (Penn, 1996). Although there is an abundance of
research to the contrary, the hard sciences remain the exclusive domain of
Eurocentric thought. The unchecked reign of Eurocentric science is what Dr.
Marimba Ani (1994) identifies as scientism- the use of science to justify oppressive
behaviors of the dominant class. Ani (1994) states, The ascendancy of science
corresponds to other European characteristics and values. It supports a particular
kind of order and behavior and development in a desired direction (p. 517).
Anthony Standon (1950), author of the book Science Is a Sacred Cow, shared his
observation of the unchallenged nature of science. He states, No one ever doubts
what is said by a scientist. Statesmen, industrialist, ministers of religion, civic
leaders, philosophers, all are questioned and criticized, but scientist never The
world is thus divided into scientists, who practice the art of infallibility, and nonscientist (p. 13).
Standon (1950) fortifies his position by explaining, In science teachers,
therefore, the natural arrogance of scientist (collective arrogance be it said once and
for all) is enhanced, for they think of teaching as preaching. They expound their
subject in a spirit of high missionary zeal (p.16). In light of the position that
science holds in the minds of Western-trained academics and laypersons it is of

58
great significance that a culture that has been relegated to peripheral existence in an
intellectual society raises a voice to challenge the way science can be known and
taught. Dr. Venerables research and his teaching experience form an ideal pair to
challenge one of the last pillars of Eurocentric intellectual supremacy. By
examining the life experiences of Dr. Grant Venerable, I can best answer the
question: In what way is there is space in traditional Euro-centric institutions of
higher learning for the pedagogies found in African knowledge systems?
In an effort to answer the central question of my dissertation, I first examine
the literature that describes African knowledge systems. In the third chapter, I
explain the method that I used to conduct this research. Chapter 4 is a biographical
look at Dr. Grant Venerables life and his academic journey. Chapter 5 is an
examination of the Ven Matrix, which is the central diagram that Dr. Venerable uses
to guide his pedagogy. Chapter 6 contains a report and analysis of the data collected
from Dr. Venerables former students and his colleagues regarding how the use of
this method affected them. Chapter 7 is an overview of my own life and my journey
to the acceptance of African knowledge systems. Chapter 8 contains a conclusion
and recommendations for further research and practice.

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The primary focus of this literature review is the establishment of the fact
that Africa and African people have, indeed, had a history of producing knowledge
systems that mandate a particular type of pedagogy. Each book chosen to be
reviewed in this chapter was decided on because either it offers the philosophical
underpinning of an African knowledge system or it directly explores the history and
dimensions of an African knowledge system. It is necessary to explore African
knowledge systems because woven into the history of Africas encounter with the
Western world is the idea that Africans are not the intellectual equals of Europeans
(Maliu, 1985; Nugent, 2007). Shillington (1989) credits the creation of this mindset
in Europeans to the travel journals of early African explorers. According to
Shillington (1989), the travel journals of early African explorers were sent back to
Europe and published for the consumption of the European citizens. The travel
journals became the absolute gospel about Africa in the European mind. A classic
example of the detrimental effects of these journals can be perceived from the
following passage taken from the personal letters of a Dutch trader in Africa:
The Negroes are without exception crafty, villainous, fraudulent and seldom
to be trusted They indeed seem to be born and bred villains. They are
slothful and idle and reluctant to work, besides they are incredibly careless
and stupid. I dont want you to think that I am prejudiced or hate Negroes

60
but there is not a single person who has anything to do with them but also
thinks they are not worth speaking to. (Killington, 1973, pp. 38-39)
Perhaps unbeknownst to Europeans at the time was the fact that the early socalled explorers of Africa were subsidized by a wealthy class of businessmen, who
had a burning interest in the wealth which was fabled to be in Africas interior.
Shillington (1989) identifies one such classical organization as the African
Association that was founded in Britain. These businessmen encouraged a negative
depiction of Africa to justify the execution of European imperialistic influences in
Africa.
However, the assault on African peoples intelligence did not end with precolonial literature. In 1985, P.W. Botha, then president of apartheid South Africa,
made a speech to his beloved, white Afrikaners. The speech was published in the
Sunday Times, a national South African newspaper. Bothas speech is worthy of
investigation because it reiterates the idea that African people lack intelligence, and
it confirms the sentiment of the Dutch trader (mentioned above), who suggested that
all Europeans are aware of African stupidity:
Where is the Black man appreciated? England discriminates against its
Blacks and their Sus law is out to discipline the Blacks. Canada, France,
Russia, and Japan all play their discrimination too. Why in the hell then is
so much noise made about us? Why are they biased against us? I am
simply trying to prove to you all that there is nothing unusual we are doing
that the so called civilized worlds are not doing. We are simply honest
people who have come out aloud with a clear philosophy of how we want to
live our own White life. We do not pretend like other whites that we like
Blacks. The fact that Blacks look like human beings and act like human

61
beings do not necessarily make them sensible human beings If God
wanted us to be equal to Blacks, he would have created us all of a uniform
color and intellect. Intellectually we are superior to Blacks; that has been
proven beyond any reasonable doubt over the years by now every one of
us has seen it practically that Blacks cannot rule themselves. Give them
guns and they will kill each other. They are good for nothing else but
making noise, dancing, marrying many wives, and indulging in sex. Let us
all accept that the Black man is a symbol of poverty, mental inferiority,
laziness, and emotional incompetence. (Botha as cited in Maliu, p. 1, 1985)
Perhaps Bothas (as cited in Maliu, 1985) words could be dismissed as a
relic of Apartheids past, if it were not for the fact that in October of 2007, James
Watson, one of the Western worlds most respected scientists, a Nobel Prize winner
and the so called co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, made a statement that is
remarkably similar to that of P.W. Bothas. Times Online quotes Watson as saying
he was,
inherently gloomy about the prospects of Africa. All social policies are
based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours, whereas all the
testing says not really. People who have to deal with black employees find
this not true. (as cited in Nugent, 2007, p.1)
In the same article, Nugent (2007) quotes from the writings of James
Watson. Watson writes,
There is no firm reason to anticipate [that] the intellectual capacities of
people geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have
evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some
universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so. (as cited in
Nugent, 2007, p. 1)
While the media rushed to condemn James Watson, it is clear from Watsons
statement that, at least based on the scientific research that he had been exposed to,
the intellectual inferiority of African people was confirmed. This literature review

62
includes the research of various writers who not only argue for Africas intellectual
heritage but also contend that African people have extremely ancient and unique
knowledge systems that have been ignored or usurped in order to foster the illusion
of European intellectual dominance and justify the exploitation of Africa and
African people.
Marimba Ani
Dr. Marimba Ani (1994) authored a book entitled, Yurugu: An Africancentered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior. Ani (1994) does
not directly address Africas intellectual heritage or African knowledge systems, but
she does offer definitions and descriptions that are indispensable to this research.
Anis (1994) primary contention is that Europe has succeeded in classifying other
cultures as inferior by establishing their own epistemology as the universal right
way of knowing. Consequently, when other cultures refer to their unique
epistemologies, the mainstream, Eurocentric cultural thought dismisses their
assertions as childish, irrational, and non-sensical. Ani (1994) elucidates this point
by explaining that Europeans characterize their ways of knowing as rational,
critical, scientific, logical, civilized, orderly, responsible, adult, universal, and
White. By contrast non-Western ways of knowing are classified as irrational, noncritical, superstitious, illogical, uncivilized, primitive, child-like, parochial, and
black in color.

63
The above adjectives bring to light the dichotomy of worldviews that persist
in Eurocentric thought. The Eurocentric paradigm requires an imbalanced
view towards Africa and other peoples of color. Hence, it is comes as no surprise
that the intellectual heritage of African people has been intentionally hidden from
the eyes of the masses of the world while African people have borne the painful and
deeply ironic labels of stupid and superstitious.
Marimba Ani (1994) identifies the word desacralization (p. xxvi) as a
process where a culture alienates and objectifies nature. From this prospective
nature becomes adversarial. Desacralization is characteristic of the Eurocentric
epistemology. In contrast, African knowledge systems endear nature. Nature is the
primary giver of intelligence. Africas affinity to the natural world has led to its
primitive perception.
Desacralization leads to materialization (Ani, 1994), which is defined as the
separation of spirit and matter. Materialization is the denial of spirit and the loss of
cosmos (the interrelationship between living and non-living things). Materialization
gives rise to reductionism (Ani, 1994). Reductionism occurs when phenomena are
defined by their most simplistic manifestation. Reality is only what can be seen,
counted, and measured. It is the nature of any science, which emerges from the
materialization and reductionism perspectives, to deny the validity of a science that
recognizes the multi-dimensional nature of phenomena.

64
African knowledge systems accept the reality of the material world, but they
are also able to perceive many more layers of reality that are non-material
(spiritual). All African knowledge systems acknowledge that there are dimensions
of reality that exceed the material level. This is part and parcel of Africas
intellectual heritage. African people cannot ignore their intellectual tradition simply
because the dominant class finds it offensive, superstitious, and primitive. A close
examination of African knowledge systems reveals that although African
intellectuals use a multi-dimensional, non-reductionist pedagogy, they have been
able to arrive at the same conclusions about the natural world as some of the leading
science teams in the West. African intellectuals have also been able to point out
information about the natural world that Western scientists have yet to discover
(Finch, 1998). Ani (1994) comes to this conclusion:
We have seen repeatedly that European epistemological and ontological
definitions are placed by European theorists in the context of advanced
intellectual and cognitive development, as compared with what they call
primitive or pre-scientific thought. What this interpretation does is to
preclude the viability of alternative definitions of reality, in so far as these
same theorists represent a successfully aggressive culture that has the means
to impose its interpretations on others. (p. 312)
George James
George James (1954) is the author of the book Stolen Legacy. The primary
assertion of his book is that the science and philosophy on which Western
civilization is built is in fact not Western at all. James argues that the Greeks stole

65
their intellectual ideas from Ancient Egypt, an African civilization. The implication
is that Africa is the source of Western science and philosophy.
In 1954, when James wrote the book, he stated that his aims were to improve
race relations by revealing Africas contribution to civilization. James predicted
that his book would change the way that the humanities were taught in EuroAmerican institutions. Shortly after the publication of the book in 1954, George
James was mysteriously killed, leaving one to wonder if his research touched the
Achilles heel of the Western academy. James explains,
For centuries the world has been misled about the original source of the arts
and sciences; for centuries Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle have been falsely
idolized as models of intellectual greatness; and for centuries the African
continent has been called the dark continent, because Europe coveted the
honor of transmitting to the world the arts and sciences. (p. 7)
Jamess (1954) research reveals that after the conquest of Egypt by
Alexander the Great, there was a seizure and looting of the royal library. James
identifies Aristotle as the individual who planned to usurp African philosophy.
Members of his school, who included Theophratus, Andronicus of Rhodes, and
Endemus, aided Aristotles plan:
When Aristotle decided to compile a history of Greek philosophy, he must
have made known his wishes to his pupils Theophratus and Eudemus: for no
sooner did he produce his metaphysics, than Theophrastus followed him by
publishing eighteen books on the doctrine of the physicists. Similarly, after
Theophrastus had published his doctrines of physicists, Eudemus produced
separate histories of Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, and also theology.
This was an amazing start, because of the large number of scientific books
and wide range of subjects treated. This situation has rightly aroused the
suspicion of the world, as it questions the source of these scientific works.

66
Since Theophrastus and Eudemus were students under Aristotle at the same
time, and since the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great, made the
Egyptian Library at Alexandria available to the Greeks for research, then it
must be expected that the three men, Aristotle who was a close friend of
Alexander, Theophrastus and Eudemus not only did research at the
Alexandrine Library at the same time, but must also have helped themselves
to books, which enabled them to follow each other so closely in the
production of scientific work. (James, 1954, p.17)
Jamess (1954) contention is that the sudden rise of Greece as the
philosophical and intellectual point of reference for Western civilization was
directly connected to the fall of the Ancient Egyptian kingdom, at the hands of
Alexander the Great. The idea that the Ancient Greeks pulled all of this intellectual
information out of thin air supports the myth that the rest of world waited in
intellectual obscurity for Europeans to evolve and bring intellectual order and
sophistication to the world. It is a revision of history that repeats so often that it is
hardly ever questioned. Aristotles usurping of Ancient Egypts intellectual
property was perhaps the first and greatest calculated attempt to wipe Africas
intellectual legacy from the pages of world history. Asa Hilliard (1994) explains
that it took Europeans (at the time of the Greeks and Romans) a long time to sanitize
their stolen knowledge system from its African origin. Hilliard (1994) writes:
It took years of struggle for Romans to destroy Kemetic education. These
struggles were initiated by rulers with such edicts as those issued by
Theodosius 380 A.D., and Justinian 527 A.D. They had to burn down
African temples or universities, and destroy or tame the priest-professors to
destroy the leadership of KMT [Egypt]. Kemetic [Egyptian] religion and
education was led by a priesthood that was not Roman. Emperors from
Constantine on wanted no foreign leaders as competition, especially for the

67
minds of the people. Christianity became a state religion with a native
Roman leadership. All over KMT [Egypt] today one can see the results of
Greek and Roman conquerors efforts to copy the culture that they
conquered. They rebuilt African temples (church/school) and joined the
African religion. They carved their own images on the African temples.
They showed themselves being blessed by African Gods, wearing African
clothes and performing African ceremonies. A visitor to KMT [Egypt]
today must wonder as he or she gazes on the massive African temples that
were rebuilt by Europeans, why did they go through so much trouble?
Noble Europeans even had their bodies mummified in the African way!
They took home the African religion of Isis [Auset], Osirus [Ausar] and
Horus [Heru] For example, the city of Paris, France is named for Isis (Par
Isidos or Place of Isis). Notre Dame Cathedral is actually built on the site of
the older Temple of Isis! The last Kemetic college, Philae at the First
Cataract was closed under orders from Justinian in 527 A.D. After this, the
classical education of KMT [Egypt] died out or went underground. (pp.
383-384)
The intellectual setting of Ancient Egypt, prior to the coming of Alexander the
Great, James (1954) describes as follows:
The Egyptian Mystery System, like the modern university, was the centre of
organized culture, and candidates entered it as the leading source of ancient
culture. According to Peitschmann, the Egyptian Mysteries had three grades
of students 1.) The Mortals i.e., probationary students who were being
instructed, but who had not yet experienced the inner vision, 2.) The
Intelligences i.e., those who had attained the inner vision and had received
mind or nous and, 3.) The Creators or Sons of Light, who had become
identified with or united with the Light (i.e., true spiritual consciousness)
Their education consisted not only in the cultivation of the ten virtues, which
were made a condition to eternal happiness, but also of the seven Liberal
Arts which were intended to liberate the soul. There was also admission to
the Greater Mysteries where an esoteric philosophy was taught to those who
had demonstrated their proficiency.Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were
disciplines of moral nature by means of which the irrational tendencies of a
human being were purged away, and he was trained to become a living
witness of the Divine Logos. Geometry and Arithmetic were sciences of
transcendental space and numeration, the comprehension of which provided
the key not only to the problems of ones being; but also to physical ones,
which are so baffling today, owing to our use of the inductive methods.

68
Astronomy dealt with the knowledge and distribution of latent forces in man
and the destiny of individuals, races, and nations. Music (or Harmony)
meant the living practice of philosophy i.e., the adjustment of human
life into harmony with God, until the personal soul became identified with
God when it would hear and participate in the music of the spheres. It was
therapeutic, and was used by the Egyptian Priests in the cure of diseases.
Such was the Egyptian theory of salvation, through which the individual was
trained to become godlike while on earth. (p. 28)
James (1954) explains that just like students from all over the world flock to
European and American universities for education today, the same was true of
Ancient Egypt. He cites proof that Greek students studied in Egypt including
Socrates, Aristotle, and Pythagoras. Herodotus records the fact that the Greek
students were put through severe trials, including circumcision in order to be
admitted to the Grand Lodge/University in Ancient Egypt. Many of the students
who matriculated through the Ancient Egyptian system went on to open their own
Grand Lodges in various parts of the ancient world (James, 1954).
Socrates Persecution
James (1954) finds that one of the greatest pieces of evidence that the
knowledge produced by the likes of Socrates and Aristotle was Egyptian in origin is
that the Athenian government actively persecuted these scholars. A case in point, is
the persecution of Socrates. The Athenian government issued this statement against
him: Socrates is an evil-doer, who busies himself with investigating things beneath
the earth and in the sky, and who makes the worse appear better reason and who
teaches others these same things (Aristophanes, as cited in James, 1954).

69
James (1954) concludes that Socrates offended the Athenian government
because he was pursing the study of astronomy and geology, which were strange to
the Greeks and were even considered subversive to their governmental structure. It
is clear the Socrates was introducing information from the Egyptian mystery system.
Who Were the Ancient Egyptians?
The education of Western civilization is in effect a reduction of the Ancient
Egyptian mystery system. It was in Africa that the arts and sciences, philosophy
and mathematics, were identified and systematically taught. In the face of such
compelling evidence many detractors have argued that the Ancient Egyptians were
not black and therefore had nothing to do with African people south of the Sahara
Dessert. Vera Nobles (1996) answers those dissenters. She states,
Being the most ancient of people, the Ethiopians said that Egypt was one of
their colonies that were brought to them by their deity Osiris. Count
Constantine de Volney (1757-1820), as an early visitor to Egypt between
1783 and 1785, remarked that the brown-skinned Copts all have bloated
faces, puff up eyes, flat nose, thick lips, the face of a true mulatto. He
continued that it was then on the borders of the Upper Nile, among a Black
race of men that was organized the complicated system of worship of stars,
considered in relation to the production of the earth and the labors of
agriculture under their own forms and national attributes, was a simple
proceeding of the human mind. (p. 128)
Nobles (1996) further explains that the Ancient KMTs (Ancient Egyptians)
identified themselves as Black. In fact, in that era to be called Black was to be the
chief beneficent gods of Egypt (Diop, 1990 as cited in Nobles, 1996, p. 436).

70
Ivan Van Sertima (1994), editor of the volume, Egypt Child of Africa
concurs with Nobles (1996). Van Sertima (1994) writes,
Nobody would dare to pose questions such as: Were the ancient Chinese
Black or Yellow? Were the ancient Greeks or ancient Britons White or
Mixed? No. No. No. No. No. Everyone would immediately dismiss that
for the nonsense that it is Is the Egyptian Black or White? Why I ask
you, is it not an issue at all in the European or Asian case but becomes the
Number One Issue in the African [case]. The reasons for this are twofold.
First of all the Egyptian as we see him today is as different in his racial
composition from the Egyptian of dynastic times, as we modern Americans
in this room at this moment are from the early peoples who created native
American civilization. We would never dare to question the indigenous
basis of their civilization. For we have not come upon them as we have the
poor African, his world looted and shattered, his empires in splinters, his
peripheral elements focused upon obsessively as though they were the very
center and climax of his cultural development. All through our lives we
have seen the European, and to some extent the Asian in the flower of their
ascendancy. But we have been trained to see and to imagine only one kind
of African-the primitive, the slave, the colonial, the tragic outcast and misfit
on the edge of the modern world. (p. 2)
When Ancient Egypt is safely placed back in Africa, it becomes clear that
there is a definite intellectual heritage indigenous to Africa, most of which the
current intellectual world has yet to fully acknowledge. In reference to Africas
demise as an intellectual giant, a demise that was calculated and deliberately
brought on by over-ambitious Greeks, Asa Hilliard (1994) offers this proverbial
statement. He who steals my purse steals trash. But he who steals my good name,
steals that which does not make him rich, but makes me poor indeed (p.385). In
essence, Africa and Africans have suffered the worst kind of theft. That is, the theft
on the non-material reputation of being the progenitors of knowledge systems that

71
are still being built upon. Even today, African people are being stolen from as their
former knowledge systems are being presented to them without the signature marks
of their ancestry. African people are denied their birthright, the ability to know
themselves via the educational system (Hilliard, 1994).
Charles Finch
The intellectual tradition, which reached a crescendo in Ancient Egypt, did
not fizzle out once Ancient Egypt fell into the hands of the Greeks. Within the subSaharan region of Africa, new knowledge systems emerged that continued Ancient
Egypts intellectual tradition. The best documented example of this occurs among
the Dogon people of Mali. Finch (1998) described the Dogon people as follows:
Indeed, it is not altogether easy to know how to assess the Dogon, in many
ways the most astonishing and enigmatic [known] people in Africa. Their
material culture can best be described as post-Neolithic, nor is there any
indication that, qua Dogon, their culture has ever been anything else.
According to their traditions, their migrations began from northeast Mali
about 1,400 years ago, finally leading them to their present habitat- a harsh
forbidding land abutting the Bandigara Cliffs in southeastern Mali-some 700
years ago. The clear links to the ancient Nilotic system are everywhere
evident in their thought, they seem to have more or less independently
elaborated ideas in astrophysics and cosmology that go well beyond what is
known of ancient Nile Valley science. Such ideas are advanced enough to
compare favorably with certain principles of Einsteinian physics and
quantum mechanics. How could a pre-literate, post-neolithic people
arrive at such a high level of thought? How could such a complex system be
created without benefit of telescope, microscope, mathematics, or any of the
technical paraphernalia that undergird modern science? (p.235)

72
Griaule and Dieterlen
Most of the information on the Dogons science comes from the over 16
years of fieldwork in Mali completed by Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen
(1965). These two French anthropologists spent years doing fieldwork among the
Dogon people. At first, the Dogon people were reluctant to share their knowledge
system with the two anthropologists. However, after 16 years of persistent research
and investigation, the anthropologists were given a watered-down version of the
history of the cosmos, as known to the Dogon. It comes as no surprise that the
Dogon were reluctant to share information with Europeans given that their history
holds that they sought refuge from Islamic imperialism. The Dogon were
intentional about preserving their cultural knowledge; consequently, it took Griaule
and Dieterlen (1965) a full 25 years to get a clear understanding of the Dogon
knowledge system.
Griaule and Dieterlen (1965) first published their findings in a book entitled,
Conversations with Ogotemmeli, named for the Dogon scholar who sat with them
and gave them their first insight into African science. Later, they published a
second book, entitled The Pale Fox (1986) which further gave insight into the
science behind the Dogon mythologies and symbols. Finch (1998) wondered how
these anthropologists could have been made privy to this information in the 1960s, a
time of global unrest and oppression for African people, and not assume the social

73
responsibility of making the world know that they were mistaken in their
assumptions that African people were unscientific and generally did not have the
intellect to govern their own affairs. Finch (1998) states,
Griaule and estimable colleague, Germaine Dieterlen, generally refrained
from exploring or discussing the larger ramifications of the system they
were uncovering. Perhaps they were merely following the accepted rules of
the field ethnology: observe, inquire, record, report, - do not interpret
too much. Perhaps they knew the trouble they would incur if they attempted
to elaborate fully on the epistemological implications of Dogon knowledge.
It is impossible to believe, however, that they were entirely oblivious to what
they had in hand. They must have known that, sooner or later their classic
work would force a paradigm shift in the history of ideas, not merely for
Africa, but for the whole world. It could not have escaped them that they
were looking into a pool of African cosmic ideas and seeing some of the
most advanced Western scientific and philosophical concepts reflected back
at them, concepts that Westerners had always assumed belonged only to
themselves. (p. 236)
Finch (1998) and other writers have made a concerted effort to interpret the
findings of Griaule and Dieterlen (1965). Scranton (2002) offers the most concise
list that I have found on the scientific concepts mastered by the Dogon. Scranton
writes,
This study has demonstrated a consistent relationship between the
symbols and concepts of the Dogon people and modern science. These
examples show, among other things, that the Dogon myths clearly describe
The correct attributes of the unformed universe
That all matter was created by the opening of the universe
The complex relationship between light and time
That matter can behave like a particle or as a wave
That sound travels in waves
That matter is composed of the fundamental components
The correct counts of the elements within each component category
of matter
That the most basic component of matter is a thread

74
That this fundamental thread vibrates
That under some conditions threads can form membranes
That threads give rise to the four fundamental quantum forces
The correct attributes of these quantum forces
The correct attributes of the four types of quantum forces spin
particles
That atoms are formed from smaller particles
That electrons orbit atoms
That component particles other than electrons make up the nucleus
of an Atom.
The correct shape of an electron orbit
That electrons can be stolen by other atoms to form molecular
bonds
That light is emitted by changes in the energy level of an electron
The correct electron structure of water and copper
That hydrogen atoms form pairs
That sunlight is a result of the fusion of hydrogen atoms
That water goes through phase transitions
That the emergence of matter in the universe is related to phase
transition
The correct steps in the water cycle
That the first single cell emerged spontaneously from water
That cell reproduce by mitosis to form two twin cells
The correct sequence of events during sexual reproduction and
growth of the embryo
That female and male contributions are required for sexual
reproduction
That children inherit genetic characteristics from each parent
That there are 22 chromosome pairs
That sex is determined by the X and Y-chromosomes
That chromosomes move apart and spindles form during mitosis
The correct shapes and attributes of chromosomes and spindles
That sexual reproduction starts with the formation of germ cells
That germ cells reproduce by a process unique to themselves
The egg lives longer than other cells
The correct configuration and attributes of DNA. (pp. 190-191)
Scranton (2002) points out that people like Carl Sagan have tried to attribute
the Dogons scientific knowledge to its contact with modern cultures. However,
Scranton argues that such an opinion is not consistent with the facts:

75
Given the tribal nature of Dogon society we might be inclined as was Carl
Sagan to ascribe any apparent Dogon scientific knowledge to recent
contact with modern cultures. However, upon closer examination we see
that this point of view simply does not hold water. The Dogon cosmological
system conveys scientific meaning through a complex system of
mythological themes, symbols, storylines, and words. Time and again, we
have shown that these same symbolic elements existed in similar form
among the 5000 year-old mythologies of early cultures from widely
separated regions of the earth. The suggestion that this science was
conveyed to the Dogon through modern contacts does not adequately
explain the presences of these same well-known symbols in ancient myths.
The Dogon also profess knowledge of a number of scientific facts that
were not known, and others that were not even proposed by modern
science when they were documented by Griaule and Dieterlen in the
1930s, 1940s, and 1950. (pp. 191-192)
Scranton (2002) indicates that what reveals the authenticity of Dogon
scientific knowledge to their knowledge system is beyond the history of this
information; it includes the pedagogy, which the Dogon use to convey their
understanding of the universe. In other words, African scientific knowledge
distinguishes itself by its presentation, which is in most cases counter to the
scientism, reductionism, materialization, and desacaralization stance that the
Western explanation of science adopts.
Myth of the Po
Finch (1998) has done an outstanding job of showing how the Dogon myths
in some respects speak directly to some of the ideas that are present in Western
science, but in many ways, the myths point to things that Western science is
unaware of, or only now becoming aware of. A perfect case in point is the Dogon

76
Myth of the Po. Finch (1998) describes the Dogon understanding of the Po as
follows:
There is probably nothing in Dogon cosmogony more fundamental than the
po-seed The po is many things but in all the many things that it is, it is
always the smallest thing. In Dogon oral records recounted by Griaule we
are told, concerning the World egg of Amma the Creator The oval po
was created, which placed itself invisibly at the center [of the egg].. It is
said: When Amma broke the egg of the world and came out, a whirlwind
arose. The po, which is the smallest (thing), was made invisible, at the
center; the wind is Amma himself. It is the po which Amma let come out
first. Ammas creative will was located in the po, the smallest thing.
(p. 236)
In terms of making the Myth of the Po comprehensible in the language of
modern science, Finch (1998) explains:
Lest there be any doubt concerning the possible atomic significance of this
facet of the po, we are informed that in the Dogon system, the po is the
image of the origin of matter. Modern physics has arrived at the same
conclusion: In the structure and behavior of the very smallest thing lies the
explanation of all matter. (pp. 236-237)
One facet of po, as explained by the Dogon, directly matches the modern scientific
explanation of the atom. For example, as modern science puts forth the explanation
that within the atom, there is a nucleus of protons and neutrons that is orbited by
electrons; similarly, the Dogon explain that within the po there is a movement that
is modeled by the spiraling motion of the stars (Finch, 1998).
The Dogon further explain that when their creator-god Amma created the po,
it became the origin of space and time. Modern science affirms this Dogon
assertion. Finch (1998) credits Alexander Friedmann and Georges Lemaitre with
the Western discovery that all the galaxies are moving away from the earth in

77
all directions, at ever increasing speeds, and also moving away from each other in
all directions, in exactly the same manner. Hence, modern scientists have
concluded that all space and time were once concentrated in kernels, or specks
smaller than a proton (the po). The modern scientific name for this phenomenon is
called singularity.
Existence
The Western scientific concept of the big bang holds that whatever was
present prior to the big bang, because it cannot be measured or determined by the
laws that govern our present universe, is irrelevant to the present space-time (Finch,
1998). The Dogon do not agree with that assertion. In fact, the Dogon intimately
weaves into their cosmology the concept of existence before the current universe of
existence. Prior to the current space-time was the existence of pre-matter (Finch,
1998). The idea of pre-matter, which precedes the coming of space-time, is one of
the major links between the science of Ancient Nilothic (Ancient Egypt) and Dogon
science. In Ancient Egypt, the idea of pre-matter was described as follows:
Thus, spoke the Lord of the universe: When I came into existence, existence
already existed. I came into the existence as the Existent, which came into
existence at the first Occasion. Having come into existence as the Existent,
I existed. Thus it was that existence came into existence, because I was
before the first god that was made, because I had priority over these gods,
because my name was prior to theirs, because I made the first time as I made
the first gods. (Rhind Papyrus, as cited in Finch, 1998, p. 239)

78
The Ancient Egyptians named the scientific approximation of the big bang
the first occasion. The Lord of the Universe/the first principle of existence realized
that although he was the first of current existence, existence/pre-matter already
existed prior to the first occasion, which brought him into being.
Scientific Language
Given the reductionism and desacralized language of science that Westerntrained students are used to, the science-based language of the Dogon and Ancient
Egyptians can seem convoluted and cumbersome. However, the Dogon insisted that
their ideas must be expressed in a mytho-religious way- it is the only way for the
coherent themes of creation to be explained. The mytho-religious language contains
the signs given to human kind by Amma (the Dogon male-female creator). The
Dogon contend Just as Amma began the world by sign, it is by destroying the signs
that he will annihilate it (Griaule & Dieterlen, as cited in Finch, 1998, p.245).
What is interesting is that as the field of quantum physics (a field that
concerns itself with the origin of matter) expands, Finch (1998) notices an increased
use of mytho-religious language use. Finch writes,
In a modern scientific description of the primal explosion of the universe
into existence where matter is created and galaxies start to form, we find the
same terminology More and more we find mytho-religious terminology
creeping into the theorizing of modern scientist in order to give coherence to
concept that emanate from investigations into the deepest nature of things.
At the outer limits of modern science, myth and matter are merging.
(1998, p. 238)

79
Finch (1998) gives good examples of how modern science is slowly
incorporating mytho-religious language into their scientific speak. Finch compares
the language of the Dogon to that of George Smoot and Keay Davidson (1993), an
astrophysicist and Nobel Prize winner, who authored the book Wrinkles in Time.
This book has as its central focus the search for the origins of the universe. The
Dogon explain that Amma created and re-created the world. As Amma recreated
the world, he first drew the marks, called yala. George Smoot and Keay Davidson
(1993) also found that at the origins of the universe there are primordial wrinkles,
which he explained as wispy tendrilsthe ripples, [which] are no less than the
handwriting of God (Smoot & Davidson, as cited in Finch, 1998, p.240).
Evidently, the reductionist language of Western science did not offer the richness
that Smoot needed to explain to his readers the compelling wrinkles (yala) that exist
at the very outskirts of the universe.
The Dogon study of the universe and the origin of matter do not constitute
useless intellectual pursuit precisely because of the concept of ntuology, as it is used
among the Dogon. Finch (1998) calls ntuology among the Dogon planes of
correspondence. The planes of correspondence is a hermetic principle which Finch
(1998) explains originates in high cultures of Africa going as far back as Paleothic
times (Africas stone age). In essence, it means that existence mirrors and remirrors itself on many different planes; the microcosm is the measure of the
macrocosm (pp. 245-246). Put simply, as above so below, so below so above

80
(p. 245). The Dogon study of the origin of matter gives them profound insight into
the phenomena happening in their immediate environment. According to Finch,
Ammas egg from which space-time emerged is not inherently different
from the female ovum from which springs human life. The ritualistic blood
flow of the sacrificial victim that, in death, renews life is but another version
of the cosmic current of blood generating and conveying the heavenly
bodies in their perpetual streaming through the universe [Milky Way]. In
sum, depending on which way you are looking at, the universe is man writ
large or man is the universe writ small. (p. 246)
Star of Deep Beginning
Researchers such as Finch (1998) can only speculate on how the Dogon are
able to tell Westerners, with accuracy, about the phenomena that take place on the
outer edges of the universe, without the benefit of a telescope. However, no one
knows for sure how exactly the Dogon have come to know what they know.
The Dogon, in their 700-year-old lore, refer to a star which they call Po Tolo
(this star is known to Western scientists as Sirius B). Western scientists did not
discover this star until 1914 (Finch, 1998). The star Po Tolo is central to the Dogon
account of origin of the universe. They call it the star of deep beginnings (p.
249). The Dogon accurately describe this star, which is virtually invisible to the
naked eye, as being the heaviest and densest of the all the non-neutrons stars. They
also state that the star is the heaviest and densest because its core has been
converted to a metal, not present on earth, called salaga. This metal is so heavy, by

81
the Dogon accounts, that not all the beings on earth could lift a small part of it. The
Dogon identify Po Tolo as the mother-seed of all stars.
It is in fact possible, that the assertion of the Dogon is correct. Our solar
system, including the earth and everything in it owes its existence to Po Tolo (Sirius
B), since that is the closest white dwarf to our solar system. A white dwarf is a star
that is at the termination of its 10 billion year life span. A white dwarf in its death
throes makes possible the birth of other stars and star systems as all the new stars
are created from the dust of older stars (Finch, 1998). In reaction to this knowledge,
Finch writes,
We might be forgiven a little amazement: How do the Dogon know this?
That white dwarves are composed mostly of an iron-like metallic substance
has been documented in the last generation or so by spectrographic
analysisWe are confronted with a people who, in certain domains of
astronomy and cosmology have no historical peer. There is nothing that
comes down to us from the ancient Nile, Chaldea, Greece or China or the
medieval Arabic world that remotely [resembles] this caliber of astronomical
knowledge. We are too conditioned by the dominance of the NewtonianCartesian paradigm to be prepared to accept that, clearly, there is more than
one way to receive or acquire complex empirical knowledge. The word
primitive therefore makes no sense in this context for we are faced with a
primitive people who in certain respects seem to operate at a level of
cosmic understanding that is comparable to modern scientists. It is as if
Einstein, the quantum theorist and modern astrophysicist had but re-cleared
a road previously opened by an obscure African people tucked away in a
half-forgotten corner of Mali. (1998, pp. 250-251)

82
Ntuology
Speaking in general of knowledge systems coming out of Africa, Finch
(1998) finds that the beauty of those knowledge systems is that ntuology (a unity of
knowledge) is always present. He states:
In the truest sense, each domain of knowledge can be compared to the facet
of a diamond, imbedded in a whole that was greater than the sum of its parts.
There is a theme of oneness, of interrelation coursing through the realized
wisdom of old Africa; no specialty ever subsisted in compartmentalized
isolation, no expert ever narrowed his lens on a single branch of learning.
(pp. 199-200)
To date Finchs (1998) book provides the deepest examination that I have
found into a current and viable knowledge system of Africa. The conclusions of his
research are staggering to a mind that has been eurocentrically trained. His findings
beg the question, why has the academy not acknowledged these alternate knowledge
systems. Why have not the pedagogies of a people like the Dogon, been brought to
Eurocentric institutions of higher learning, worldwide, in an effort to offer another
way of knowing?
Finch (1998) emphatically states that there are many more people like the
Dogon all over Africa. The reasons we are not aware of other African knowledge
systems is because no anthropologists have been willing to approach African people
as intellectual equals and really find out what knowledge systems they have.
Dieterlen (1991) confirms this by stating that the knowledge system used by the
Dogon are also used by all the members of the Mende people, of which the Dogon

83
are just a sub-set. In addition, similar knowledge systems are also found among the
Ewe people of Ghana and Togo and the Guramanche people.
Further Research
Even within the Dogon knowledge system, further investigation is required.
Laird Scranton (2007), whose second book on the subject, Sacred Symbols of the
Dogon, came out in October of 2007, pushes the parameters of Finchs (1998)
research. Scranton (2007) finds that among other things the Dogon have accurately
named and described the four quantum forces including gravity (mono),
electromagnetic force (sene gommuzu), weak nuclear force (sene urio) and strong
nuclear force (sene benu).
Scranton (2007) further confirms what Finch (1998) only speculates on in
terms of quantum physics and string theory. String theory is a theory of physics that
has developed in earnest since 1984 (Finch, 1998). The theory holds that matter is
not composed of particles, rather it is composed of strings that have no dimension
except length. Finch speculated that Africans have been aware of string theory
hence their use of spiders and spider stories that explain reality. For example, the
Akan people of Ghana have a canon of stories about Anansi the spider and the
Dogon have several stories of Dada the spider. Scranton (2007) confirms that
Finchs speculation was in fact correct:
Although many of the specific details of string theory have not been
exhaustively proved, we find that the parallels presented by the Dogon

84
cosmology do not fail us in regard to string theory. Rather, the Dogon myths
specifically confirm what string theorists propose. The myths tell us that the
formation of matter begins with tiny, vibrating threads woven by a
mythological spider named Dada. As in string theory, which describe more
than 200 quantum particles, [according to the Dogon] these threads are said
to be the source of the 266 primordial seeds or signs that combine to form
larger components of matter that seem to be the counterparts of protons,
neutrons and electrons. (Scranton, 2007, p. 34)
It is safe to say that Africa and African peoples knowledge systems are
under-examined. As more researchers delve into the cultures and ways of knowing
of African people, amazing things will doubtlessly be uncovered. Much of what the
Western intellectual mind has dismissed as bizarre cultural traditions of Africa are
in fact the celebrations of the body of knowledge that the Western-trained mind
wrongly assumes belongs only to itself. African people have clocked science in
myth, symbols, and rituals. Seeing the profound benefit of the African position
Finch (1998) concludes his book by stating, The rupture that divorced myth and
science simply could not last and this means that Western science, realizing it or
not, has simply been chasing its tail for the last 350 years (p. 270).
Finchs (1998) work beckons us to take a deeper look at Africa and African
knowledge systems. We have to peel away the prejudice that has been so ingrained
in our consciousness as students of Eurocentrism. We have to look at Africa again,
for the first time, and see her knowledge systems for what they are. Finch leads
groups of adult learners to Egypt in order for them to take this new look at Africa.
In the appendix of his book, he includes a letter from one of the participants of such
a trip, who was able to transcend his prejudice and realize that Africa mirrors many

85
of the intellectual leaps taken by Westerners while holding the answers to many of
the questions that baffle the Western mind. A part of the letter goes as follows:
What really happened to me out there is that I saw everything that I learned
in eighteen years of engineering practice and formal training, in which I had
to study a lot of mathematics, simply melt before me. As an example, while
observing the workmanship of the sacred pool [Karnack Temple] and
underground waterways, I remembered the hydrostatic paradox I studied in
physics. Physicists for a long time were unable to understand why a liquid
poured into a number of vessels of different shapes and connected in a
sequential fashion will stand at the same level. Today we can explain the
hydrostatic paradox. However, this could not have been a paradox for the
people of Kemet because such an understanding had to have been reached in
order to build the waterways which we still can see today How could they
have cut and constructed stones with such accuracy if there were any
limitations in their mathematics? In the United States around the turn of the
century, three out of every four bridges collapsed shortly after construction.
Yet I saw in Kemet structures which have been standing for thousands of
years with symmetry and balance unmatched today I went to Kemet with
the idea that I would observe the works of a primitive people, but there was
nothing primitive about what I saw. I could not help but think that NASA
would do well to study the way the stones were shaped and interlocked in
forming the walls of the temple in Kemet. This knowledge would enable
them to see as a way of securing the tiles in the nose of the space shuttle to
enable safe re-entry into the earths atmosphere It all stands before you
with such clarity that one comes to realize that it may well be that the
development of civilization may have been brought to a full stop, and started
all over again with someone else claiming the original works and
developments of the past. This sort of realization is not easy to take.
(Ferreira as cited in Finch, 1998, pp. 280-281)
That idea that Africa was a place of intellectual obscurity has never been
true. More accurately stated, it represents an aggressive and imperialistic vision of
reality. As more people and researchers pursue African knowledge systems, the
world will have to come to terms with Africas intellectual history.

86
Kimbwandende Fu-Kiau
Fu-Kiau (1980) wrote the book, Untying the Spiritual Knot: African
Cosmology of the Bantu Kongo: Principles of Life and Living. The book highlights
the African knowledge system that survived and even thrived in the Lower Congo,
until the time of French colonialism. Fu-Kiaus book is a treasure and valuable to
this research because he is himself a graduate of one of the systems indigenous
institutes. Fu-Kiau (1980) described the school as follows:
The teachings of the Kongo were offered at the Lemba Institute in
Manianga, the Lower-Congo where I was born. This institute was one of the
five main institutes that existed in the ancient Kongo kingdom prior to the
Colonial Era. The four others were Kimpasi, Kinkimba, Bwelo, and
Kikumbi. Because of their closed door policy to the non-initiated
[biyinga], colonial powers decreed these institutions as dangerous to the
survival of colonialism. Consequently, these institutions were destroyed
without taking into consideration their social, cultural, educational, spiritual,
or moral values. Many of their unyielding leading masters took these
institutions underground for hundreds of years for fear of reprisal from both
the colonial and religious power. It is at the feet of some these underground
masters that I learned not only about the V the basis of all realities.
(pp.127-129)
Fu-Kiau (1980) attests not only to the existence of institutionalized African
knowledge systems, but more importantly he describes how the these indigenous
schools were attacked by colonial masters. His accounts lend credence to the idea
that Europeans classified and continually classify African people as ignorant as a
political strategy to prevent the world from having human compassion for Africans
as they raided that continent and reorganized it as a moneymaking machine for
themselves.

87
Fu-Kiau (1980) further explains that women had a very special part in the
African knowledge systems. In fact, women were the only ones who were given the
holistic understanding of the system- that is, they were told what all the signs and
symbols meant in non-mythological terms. Fu-Kiau elaborates on this process:
Kikumbi that requires one major condition for any female candidate to enter:
The condition to enter the womanhood institution is to be of age. This
means to have had ones first menstruation It is at this stage that a female
candidate of the Bantu culture in the Kongo area is introduced to the secrecy
and sacredness of the first V, in both its biological aspects to life and
living in the inner environment of any life to be [Fu-Kiau, 1991]. The
Kikumbi was the only institution that disseminated not only the secrecy and
sacredness of the first V to its candidates, but its mystic meaning as well.
To illustrate to these candidates that the teachings were highly powerful,
secret and sacred, all candidates were painted with the tukula (red), the
symbol of both danger and death, maturity and leadership. (p. 128)
From Fu-Kiau (1980) an important theme emerges that will reoccur
throughout this dissertation. It is not surprising that in the Kongo women were the
only ones who were given the complete understanding of the entire knowledge
system, because as will be described in the explanation of the Ven Matrix, African
knowledge systems were born from a feminine way of knowing. This stands in
sharp contrast to the Western knowledge systems, which are described as being
born from male enlightenment. With women at the helm of African knowledge
system in the Kongo, men also enjoyed the right and privilege to study and to know.
Fu-Kiau (2001) gives no indication that there was a struggle between the sexes for
knowledge acquisition.

88
The knowledge system of the Kongo, known as the V system, can well be
classified as a prototype of the major diagram that Dr. Grant Venerable uses in all of
his classes. It is one of the oldest African knowledge systems that have surfaced in
North America because of the writings of authors like Fu-Kiau (1980) and
Thompson (1984). A full explanation of the V knowledge system is examined in
the context of the Ven Matrix (Chapter 6).
Muata Ashby
Abhaya Ashby (1998), author of The Ausarian Resurrection: The Ancient
Egyptian Bible, includes in his script passages from the ancient scripture of Egypt.
In it, there is an informative definition of intelligence spoken from the divine mother
to her divine son:
And how do souls become intelligent, O mother mine? And Isis answered
the faculty of intellect, my son, is swathed in wrappings. When these are
dense and thick, the eye is dim; but when they are thin and light then is the
sight most keen. So it is also for the soul. For it as well has envelopes
incorporeal appropriate to it, just as it itself incorporeal. These envelopes
are airs which are in us. When these are light, thin, and clear, then is the
soul intelligent; but on the contrary when they are dense, thick and turbid,
then vision and intuition is as in bad weather, the soul sees not at a distance,
but only things which lie about its feet. (p. 103)
Isis defines intelligence as vision (here meaning the ability to comprehend)
and intuition (the ability to access the structure of mind). This idea is key to this
dissertation because, from the perspective of African knowledge systems,
knowledge (everything that can be known) exists as a field that can be accessed by

89
anyone. Thus, the most important job of a teacher is not to give students
information, but to aid in thinning the veils that obstruct the minds natural process
of knowledge acquisition. More than half of Venerables teaching methods are veilthinning exercises. These exercises prepare the mind to see what was/is there (in
the field) all along. Hence, in African education there is a strong emphasis on
preparing the mind. Ashby (1998) reached back into the ancient text to offer a
definition of intelligence that is a radical departure from what we know in the
Western world. In general, Westerners accept that intelligence can be gained if one
is in good schools, has good teachers, and is given quality information. African
knowledge systems do not dispute that, but they also add that the student
him/herself must be made ready to receive such information.
Veil-thinning exercises, in the African world, begin at birth; in some cases
even before. The veil-thinning exercises survived the middle passage. They
encompass how a child is held, how a child is spoken to, what a child is exposed to
and not exposed to; they also have to do with how the world is defined for a child.
More research needs to be done to catalog what these exercises are and to describe
if, how, and why they continue to endure in the African American family.
African Knowledge Resurgence
In 2006, the Washington Posts Book Notes column reported that manuscripts
that contain Africas intellectual heritage were now being un-earthed in Mali

90
(Vales, 2006). Grandparents and great-grandparents of the current generation
buried the manuscripts to hide them from the French colonialists who were
deporting thousands of precious intellectual volumes to Europe (Vales, 2006). To
prevent such theft, Vales writes, 19th century Malians stashed their treasures
away. Some sent their collections into the Sahara and others built false fronts over
the entrance to their libraries. And some, like the Haidara family dug deep pits and
buried their manuscripts in metal trunks (p.1). In August of 2007, the New York
Times reported that there is currently a rush among Western intellectuals to house,
catalog, and digitize these manuscripts in order to make them available to scholars
around the world (Polygreen, 2007). Who knows what kind of information will
come out of these tens of thousands of books. Manuscripts have not only emerged
in Mali but also in Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal, Nigeria, and Ghana (Vales, 2006). It
is becoming clear that the sleeping giant of Africas knowledge systems is stirring.
African scholars, now more than ever, have to contend for their place at the
intellectual table of the world. As African people worldwide awaken and use their
knowledge systems and their pedagogies, the past and present misconceptions that
regulate African people to the lower rungs of human development will have to
dissipate. It is for this reason that this dissertation centers on the efforts of Dr. Grant
Venerable to do just that. In the next chapter, the methodology used for this
research is detailed.


CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
The purpose of this study is two-fold: to explore the pedagogies that are
embedded in, and arise out of African knowledge systems and to examine the life
and career of Dr Venerable and his use of African knowledge systems. Specifically,
I seek to answer the question: What are the pedagogies that are embedded in and
arise out of African knowledge systems? How do these methods differ from
Eurocentric methods? How do these methods transform a traditional Eurocentric
classroom and the way students learn? And finally, in what ways is there space in
traditional Euro-American institutions of higher learning for the pedagogy of
African knowledge systems? I answer the central question of this dissertation by
examining the life of Dr. Grant Venerable and five of the students and colleagues
touched by his work and his message.
Dr. Grant Venerable was chosen as the subject of this research because he
has successfully used the pedagogy of African knowledge systems in the chemistry
courses that he has taught at several traditional, Euro-American universities in the
United States of America. More importantly, Dr. Grant Venerable is steeped in the
oral tradition, as it pertains to African knowledge systems and their distinct
pedagogies. Dr. Venerable credits his non-formal exposure to the pedagogy that is
specific to African knowledge systems to his mentor Dr. Therese Braithwaite, who

92
is herself a recipient of the African oral tradition on the how-to of teaching and
learning. Hence, Dr. Venerable is not only a practitioner of African pedagogies, he
is also a retainer of the teaching methods as preserved by oral tradition in the
community of African people brought to North America to work as slaves. As such,
Dr. Venerable is himself a unique resource. His life reaches across the widening
gap between the intimate culture of African people as an oppressed community in
North America and the academic world. Interestingly, Dr. Venerable negotiates the
gap between these two worlds with science, a subject matter that has been
historically used to justify Euro-American, intellectual domination (Ani, 1994).
Research Design
In this study, I used biographical and historical methods. I examined Dr.
Venerables journey to the acceptance of African knowledge systems. In addition,
the central focus of this dissertation is Dr. Venerables encounter with the
pedagogies of African knowledge systems and the way he chose to use these
methods in his career as a professor. Finally, I used historical inquiry to ascertain
the impact of Dr.Venerables use of African pedagogies from five of his former
students and colleagues. Merriam and Simpson (2000) confirm that historical
inquiry is of greater service to a field when it is used to examine the impact a
practice has had on peoples lives (p. 77).

93
Biographical Research
Michael Erben (1998) establishes that the specific purpose of the
[biographic] research will be the analysis of a particular life or lives for some
designated reason (p.4). Hence, Dr. Venerables life is examined for its connection
to the pedagogies of African knowledge systems and how that connection offers a
definition of the said methods, their parameters, and their potential use in
Eurocentric universities. Biographic research also allows for a greater
understanding of why an individual like Dr. Venerable chose to remember this form
of culture-based teaching and learning. Doubtlessly, many people have been
exposed to African-based pedagogies. Many teachers use parts of this style of
teaching and learning without being aware of its history or having a specific name
for it. Dr. Grant Venerables life story is of value because it contains his quest to
understand these pedagogies, use them in a holistic manner, and credit Africa as the
origin of these teaching and learning ideas. Furthermore, a biographical
examination of Dr. Venerables life reveals why he chose to risk his credibility as a
University of Chicago-trained chemist in order to bring this type of teaching and
learning into the classroom.
According to Erben (1998), Although there is no concrete set of research
methods for biographical research there is nonetheless, a sufficiently integrated
complex of approaches that most researchers will need to follow ( p. 5). Erben
identifies the necessary complexes of approaches for biographical research

94
as being: specific events, local context of specific events, societal context, and
documentary (public and personal sources). Specific events include the events that
give the research its purpose. Local context of specific events contain life areas
such as family, significant persons, places, community, education, home, childhood,
marriage, sorrows, anxiety, and hopes. Societal context examines the social,
geographical, and economic characteristics of the wider society. The documentary
strand of biographical research includes the transcribed interviews, private and
public documents, and biographical encyclopedias and dictionaries. Erben states
that all of these categories bleed into one another. It is a futile effort to sever the
categories. Human lives end up being a complex convergence of all these
categories.
Biographical investigation must involve the continual examination of the
interplay of family, primary group, community, and socio-economic forces.
To explore one without the others is to impoverish interpretation.
Nonetheless, it is legitimate to accent or stress a single feature rather than
another to uncover a particular route into life. (Erben, 1998, p. 8)
Biographical Data Collection Strategies
The biographical techniques that I used for Dr. Grant Venerable were oral
interviews and inspection of all relevant documents including course syllabi,
publications, and letters of correspondence between himself and his mentor and
people who have supported him in his quest to bring the pedagogies of African
knowledge systems to the forefront in the various universities where he has worked.

95
In terms of interviewing Dr. Venerable regarding the history and dimensions
of the pedagogies of Africa, which were brought to North America by enslaved
West and Central Africans, I rely strictly on oral history. This method is most
sensitive to the oral tradition in which these methods of teaching and learning were
preserved. Frisch (1994, as cited in Kridel, 1998) explains how giving legitimacy to
oral historical accounts challenges oppressive structures:
What is most compelling about oral history is a capacity to redefine and
redistribute intellectual authority, so that this might be shared more broadly
in historical research and communication rather than continuing to serve as
an instrument of power and hierarchy. (p. 117)
Historical Inquiry
In an effort to flesh out the biography of Dr. Venerable, I examined the
experiences of three of his former students and two of his colleagues who have been
impacted by or who are familiar with his particular teaching methodology. For this
part of the study, I used historical inquiry. That these students and professors were
eyewitnesses to or observers of the pedagogical methodologies of Africa and to the
general attitude of various universities toward this pedagogical approach makes
them valuable subjects for this research. The students and colleagues of
Dr.Venerable are primary sources of information. They have proximity,
(Merriam & Simpson, 2000). Merriam and Simpson (2000) explain:
Historical and philosophical research are in fact the most effective
methodologies for understanding practice. They provide the sort of
perspective that lets us determine where we have come from, what we are

96
doing and why, where we appear to be going, and how we might influence
events in a human direction While not ignoring these questions, adult
educators would focus on issues of participation and actual impact. (p. 76)
The goal of this research is to use historical inquiry to find out about the
practical use of the African pedagogies. Furthermore, I examine what impact the
use of the methods had on students and what impact the presence of this very
different type of teaching and learning had on the university climate and the larger
academic climate.
Data Collection Strategies for Historical Inquiry
The primary data collection strategy for this research is written interviews
that I sent out to each of the students and colleagues either by standard mail or by
email. Each of the students and colleagues of Dr.Venerable were asked about their
experience with Dr.Venerable, with an eye towards his teaching methods. This
approach was best for this study because it allowed the subject to build context
around specific experiences with Dr. Venerable. In addition, many of his former
students and his former colleagues are now in extremely busy, high-profile positions
and thus found it more convenient to have the questions and answer them at their
own pace. All of the written interviews were prefaced by a phone call to each
participant. During the call, I introduced my research and myself. I briefly asked
them about what they remembered of their experience with Dr. Venerable in order
to get the wheels of their mind going. After our initial conversation, I then sent

97
them the interview via standard mail or email. The questions were open-ended yet
focused enough to encourage responses that would speak to the central question of
this research.
Participants
In the oral interviews that I conducted with Dr. Venerable, I asked him to
recount his life experiences and explain his journey as an educator. All of the
interviews took place in face-to-face sessions at the home of Dr. Dolores Cross in
Hyde Park, Illinois. All of the interviews were schedule to take place over the
course of a weekend, with the possibility of follow-up or clarification interviews
over the phone. As it turns out, I had to meet with Dr. Venerable for an additional
weekend in order to gain optimal clarification about this unique method.
Dr. Grant Venerable recommended all the additional interviewees of this
study to me. He nominated three of his former students and two of his colleagues
who could offer further insight into our subject matter. This group includes two
African American males, two European American females, and one European
American male. Given that most interviewees live in various parts of the country,
when the interviewees agreed to be a part of the study, they were mailed a consent
form. Once the consent formed was signed and returned, the interview questions
were sent out via standard mail or email. The consent form included the statement

98
that allows the subjects protection of privacy, if that is what they desired. This
study involved the use of audio recording during the oral interviews with Dr. Grant
Venerable.
Data Analysis Procedures
All of the interviews collected from this study were transcribed verbatim.
Then I used an axial coding procedure to find the themes that emerged, which
pointed to an ideal that transcends the limits of human life, particularly as it
concerns the educational traditions that emerged out of Africa and the unique
methods of teaching and learning.
The autobiographical and historical inquiry necessarily means that the
answers to these questions are couched in human narrative. This fact is perhaps
most suitable for this study because the subject matter I sought to define and explore
is not so much written and preserved in books as it is alive in the human memory of
people of African descent who clung to this information during what is arguably one
of the bleakest and most tragic periods in human history. In addition, these methods
are alive in the people whom they have touched or who have been recipients of
these pedagogies.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines analysis as 2. Separation of
something into its constituent elements. In the case of biography and to some
degree historical inquiry, the emphasis seems to be more on the bringing of

99
elements together rather than taking them apart. Biographies and historical accounts
allow the researcher and reader to peek into what Glesne (1999) calls the webs of
souls. There are strands/themes and answers which can be extrapolated, but the
researcher cannot lose sight of the fact that the strands compose a web. That is,
each theme and answer comes from a person who has been conditioned by his or her
experiences, their societal context, and what they accept as real and valid.
To begin my glimpse into the souls that inform this research, the next two
chapters offers insight into my own life and the life of Dr. Venerable. My own life
is informative because I am, as we all are, motivated by certain factors in my history
and upbringing to seek out the answers to the questions that are occasioned by my
experiences. That is, I research information in this vein because it speaks to who I
am and it brings me closer to my ideals. In addition, there would be no way to fully
explain Dr. Venerables teaching method without giving some insight into his own
life and his intellectual journey. Chapter 4 contains the biographical story of the life
of Dr. Grant Venerable.

CHAPTER IV
GRANT D. VENERABLE II BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Venerables journey is a rare dance between science and art. It is indeed
uncommon to find a person who is a devoted math and science professor and a
world acclaimed artist. His acceptance of the pedagogy of African knowledge
systems makes perfect sense in the context of the twin manifestations of his genius.
Once I had a chance to sit down and interview Dr. Venerable, it became
clear that what is remarkable about him is not so much the details of his life, but
rather the method of organizing reality that was bequeathed to him by his mentor.
He has made that method his own and used it to become an extraordinary professor,
lecturer, and author. However, true to the African construction of reality, his life
offers insight into the context that made his experience possible.
As a way of introducing the significance of his own beginnings, Dr.
Venerable found it noteworthy that he was conceived around the time of the
bombing of Pearl Harbor. It was a time when his California-based family, along
with others who lived along the California coast, had to endure World War IIrelated electrical blackouts. Moreover, perhaps due to the uncertainty of the times,
his parents were closer to their own spirits and the spirit of the ancestors. Sporadic
reports of Japanese submarine attacks on coastal areas and fear of air strikes caused
widespread panic up and down the West Coast, as citizens were ordered to turn off

101
lights in their homes to render the cities invisible from the air. Grant Venerable, Sr.,
a CalTech graduate in the field of engineering, thought it important to read news
articles on science to his unborn child in utero. Dr. Grant Venerable II connects this
pre-birth priming to his attraction to the field of science and ultimately to his
aptitude for chemistry and physics.
Family Life
Dr. Venerable describes his upbringing as middle class. His father, an
applied mathematician specializing in civil engineering, and his mother, Thelma
Scott Venerable, an accomplished pipe organist and homemaker, were the children
of parents who migrated to California from Kansas City (MO) and Topeka (KS),
their ancestral origins in the more race-conscious Midwest region. As early as the
1920s, Los Angeles, California, offered thousands of families of diverse ethnic
heritage, including the Venerables and the Scotts, a Mecca of relative racial amity.
Young Grant II remembers that he, his sister, and brother attended grade school
with classmates who were of European, Asian, Latino, and African American
descent. Their classmates were raised in diverse faith traditions including
Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist,
Mormon, and others. As a teenager, Venerable was admittedly part of the Mickey
Mouse generation by the time Disneyland opened in 1955.

102
However, there were deeper levels of meaning at work in the Venerable
family. Venerable describes his parents as a diminishing population of Blacks
who had been Republicans since the end of slavery and stayed Republican after the
election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His parents valued fiscal conservatism,
equal opportunity, small business development, and free higher public education.
His family would remain Republican until the advent of Goldwater and Reagan.
Additionally, his parents were well connected to the Whos Who in the African
American community. Venerable recounts that his familys friends included the
likes of Olympics track and field gold-medalist Jesse Owens, performer and activist
Paul Robeson, and Louis Blodgett and H. Claude Hudson, founders of the first
Black savings and loan associations west of the Mississippi, United Nations
Undersecretary Ralph Bunche, nationally renowned Black scientists, prominent
judges, civil rights pioneers, as well as the revered African American composer
William Grant Still. This rich, social, political, and intellectual environment
influenced Venerable during his formative years. Even though Thelma Scott
Venerable, his mother, died (of hypertension) when he was eight years old, he
quickly points out that the role of a mother in his life was never left vacant. Key
aunts, cousins, close friends, and eventually a stepmother (Ida Walls Lee) filled the
void.

103
Social Awakenings
Into this comfortable setting came social events that shattered Venerables
innocence. He lists those events as the Supreme Courts landmark decision to
outlaw school segregation, the United States involvement in the Korean War, the
Montgomery Bus Boycott, the inauspicious desegregation of Little Rock High
School by the Little Rock Nine, and the savage lynching of Emmett Till. Of all of
these events the murder of Emmett Till hit closest to home. After all, Emmett Till
could have been any African American young man in his age group. Venerable
clearly describes how the image of Emmett Tills mutilated face and body,
evaporated instantly my childs innocence of race in the Disney Fantasyland that
was 1950s California (2004, p. 2). Looking back on his life, Venerable now
realizes that the 1950s Brown v. Board of Education decision marked the end of a
special teaching and intellectual tradition in the African American community. The
1950s were a sobering time for Venerable.
Education
Venerable received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of
California, Los Angeles, in the field of chemistry. Here he notes that he was a
research student of Mostafa El-Sayed (his freshman chemistry teacher) and the late
Willard F. Libby, who won the Nobel Prize for his development of carbon-14

104
dating. He then went on to complete a Master of Science and Ph.D. in chemistry
(with a concentration in chemical physics) from the University of Chicago.
Venerable describes the intellectual atmosphere of University of Chicago as
one that easily cultivated many Nobel Prize-caliber teachers. Teachers encouraged
students to seek out personalities and theories that used new and different ways of
explaining reality. Given that many of his teachers were on the cutting edge of
science, they were aware that great intellectual leaps are only made when the
scientist is willing to think outside of the norm. Venerable recollects that
University of Chicago, unlike any other top ten academic cultures in the Western
world, encourages diversity of dichotomous views in all fields of study. That is the
singular basis that University of Chicago evidences with more of its students and
professors winning Nobel Prizes except for Cambridge (UK). Consequently,
Venerable graduated from University of Chicago with a desire to think differently
and approach problems from a new perspective.
The Artist
Perhaps being a world-class artist is the best indicator that Venerable was the
kind of person who mastered the linear thinking characteristic of the Western world
and the circular thinking that is ubiquitous in non-Western systems. Venerables
earliest artistic memories were of the paper, pencils, and crayons that his mother
packed for his sister and himself so that they would not become too impatient during

105
the two and a half hour service in their home African Methodist Episcopal church.
Young Venerable would draw anything that fascinated him. He drew planes, buses,
and propeller planes.
In addition to being a budding artist, Venerable was also trained in music
from the age of three upward. His teacher, Ms. Dovie Steward, warmed up her
students by having them walk around her living room in rhythm to the music she
was playing. She also made her students turn their backs to the piano while she
played a note that the students had to identify by ear alone. Venerable credits this
type of discipline with thinning the veils of his mind and preparing his brain to
realize that he did know many things, which he was not always conscious of
knowing.
By the time that Venerable was in the sixth grade, his watercolor paintings
were gaining him notoriety. A painting that he made of a forest and a mountain
river came to the attention of the 10th district art supervisor. The supervisor insisted
that his painting be given a permanent home in her office.
In junior high school, Venerable began making posters. One of his posters
earned him an award from the American Legion. The poster featured a patriotic
expression that honored the war dead of Flanders Field in France. As a graduating
ninth grader, Venerables art teacher, Mrs. Wildred Hough, named him to receive
the annual PTA funded art scholarship to the Otis Art Institute of Los Angeles
County.

106
In the Otis program, Venerable studied under the tutorship of the worlds
premiere studio painter, Joseph Mugnaini. Venerable was allowed to work in
watercolors, oil on canvas, and even had the chance to paint live, adult, nude
models. Although nude models were controversial, Mugnainis artistic vision
greatly enhanced Venerables practical art skills as well as his appreciation for life.
During his high school years, Venerable found that he did not care for art as
it had been taught in school. Thus, he only maintained his private music lessons.
He had a rare chance to study with Mrs. Harriette Williamson, an Afro-Canadian,
who was mentored by the great composer Robert Nathaniel Dett. Mrs. Williamson
taught Venerable music, but more importantly, she taught him musical
interpretation. Williamson insisted that music should not be interpreted literally
because the original composer was most likely in a different setting, with different
circumstances, than those the student was in. She told Venerable that it was up to
the musician to interpret the music in the manner that was most fitting. Reflecting
on this type of teaching, Venerable states,
Authens, can you imagine how heretical it is to most orthodox classically
trained musicians of todays world? It is a license for all manner of
debauchery and intellectual promiscuity why you might fall under the
influence of who knows what that might lure you into all manner of ungodly
nontraditional interpretations of perfectible acceptable knowledge forms.
The next thing you know youll be believing in nonsense like African
knowledge systems and cosmologies.
Venerable admits that this type of artistic training primed his mind to be receptive to
a teacher and mentor like Dr. Therese Braithwaite (described later in this chapter).

107
As a freshman at UCLA, Dr. Mustafa EL-Sayed and Dr. Kenneth N.
Trueblood mentored Venerable. At this point in his life, his love of chemistry and
his passion for the arts came together. Dr. El-Sayed, who was an Arab, fresh out of
Egypt, informed Venerable that he should groom himself to become a doctor of
chemistry. For Venerable, just the idea that a professor could tell a member of the
colored lower class that he could become a professor of chemistry in a respectable
university amounted, at least at that time, to heresy. Because El-Sayed believed in
him so much, Venerable decided to do his summer research project, which was
funded by the NSF, with El-Sayed in the area of spectroscopy. Venerable credits
his summer research with El-Sayed as the thing that made him eminently qualified
to enter a graduate chemistry program at University of Chicago.
As for Dr. Trueblood, Venerable remembers how he would bring colored
chalk to class and use it to so beautifully draw the molecular structure of simple
molecules conforming to simple three-dimensional geometries. Truebloods artistic
depictions suddenly woke up the memories of the Otis Art Institute in Venerable.
He immediately went home and began practicing some of the art techniques taught
to him by Joseph Mugnaini. He would finger paint a deep Prussian blue
background and allow it to dry before adding bright iridescent yellows, oranges,
reds, and purples. The pictures were mostly about atoms and electric bonds in
molecules. By 1963 Venerable had become quite good at molecular art expression
and had began to show his work. The professor of his department began to

108
commission pieces from him. What came together for him in his paintings was his
artistic expression (the ability to create a suitable landscape) and his love of
chemistry (his ability to portray the scientific details of the molecular structure and
its reactivity with other substances). Also at play in his art was the liberation to
interpret that he learned from Harriette Williamson.
By the time Venerable arrived at University of Chicago for graduate school,
he had developed quite a reputation for his chemistry oil paintings. He had been
commissioned to do paintings for professors at the University of Wisconsin
Madison, Michigan, Rice University, Princeton, Perdue, Iowa State, University of
Illinois, and other universities in Europe and Russia.
The international acceptance of his art caused Venerable to paint a picture of
molecules reacting in a topic for his preliminary oral exams. His desire was to use
the painting as a visual to help explain the mechanism. The supervising professors
of inorganic chemistry were not amused. It led to what Venerable describes as a
humiliating failure of the preliminary exam. He was even invited by a younger
professor for whom he had worked as a teachers assistant, to leave the university
because he was not doctoral material. That same professor went so far as to tell him
that he was incapable of higher order intellectual thinking, thus he should try to
teach at a junior level college. Venerable did not take his remarks to be reflective of
the whole staff. Rather, he used those remarks to inspire an Ill show you attitude.

109
Just to prove that professor wrong, Venerable continued in the program and
received his PhD in chemistry.
Dr. Therese Braithwaite
Venerable carried out post-doctoral research in radiation biology with
Lawrence S. Myers, Jr., at the UCLA Laboratory of Nuclear Medicine. While Dr.
Venerable was completing his post-doctoral research at UCLA, he often enjoyed
intellectual conversations with his neighbor Mr. Robert Zanger, who was a
professional psychologist. One day he happened to mention to Mr. Zanger that he
was headed for Berkeley for the weekend. Zanger impressed upon him that he
should take the time to meet his former high school geometry teacher, Dr. Therese
Hance Braithwaite. The meeting of Venerable and Braithwaite would completely
change his life. It was Braithwaite who united the artist and intellectual in
Venerable, showing him that they were both parts of the same whole. Braithwaites
philosophy was genuinely interdisciplinary, not just the lip service. It was Terry
Braithwaite who immersed Venerable into the holistic systems approach to thinking,
a fundamental feature of African knowledge systems. She would also mentor him
in the pedagogies needed for optimal delivery of knowledge and information. For
Venerable, Dr. Braithwaite was the epistemological bridge between the more
consciously linear, formally compartmentalized (either-or) approaches of traditional

110
Eurocentric educational praxis to the more free-form, multidimensional, relativistic
(both-and) spaces that characterize African knowledge systems.
Dr. Venerable describes his mentor Dr. Braithwaite as a vivacious,
handsome, almond-complexioned African American woman of medium build. He
observed that she was not a self-described Afrocentrist, nor was she one who
associated herself with the Black Power movement (1970s), which characterized the
period in which they met. What was unique about Braithwaite was that she had a
sound understanding of herself and her culture and heritage, in addition to having
great proficiency in the language of mathematics, and as such was able to describe
mathematically the nexus between the worlds of European and African thought.
This she was able to convey to her students, irrespective of cultural or racial
heritage.
Venerable summarized Braithwaites life for me as follows:
THB was born of African American parentage and raised in West Virginia to
a brilliant attorney father and mother whose father and grandfather were
former governors of Virginia in the 1800s. While attending public schools,
she was tutored by her parents in the art of thinking and in body awareness.
Her parents sent her to Howard [University] in the expectation that the
race conscious atmosphere there would be a useful insurance policy for
young Thereses maintaining her own individualism as opposed to acquiring
a more race conscious identity. This ploy proved successful as Terry studied
mathematics while she majored in philosophy with Alain Locke as her
mentor. Following her graduation at a young age she matriculated at
Atlanta University and earned a masters degree in mathematics and then
arrived at the University of Chicago to study for her doctorate in abstract
algebra with Abraham Adrian AlbertThis was during the time of the
Manhattan Project at Chicago, which played mysteriously in her discovery
of her powers of discernment of hidden realities and ultimately led to her

111
abandoning her studies and moving to California to teach high school
mathematics.
Even though Braithwaite did not complete a doctorate at University of
Chicago, her grasp of abstract algebra would be crucial to her recognizing the unity
of knowledge as described by African knowledge systems. Years later, she was
able to use the unity of knowledge to complete a Ph.D. (1973) at the University of
California, Berkeley, in the fields of mathematics, philosophy, and education
combined!
Algebraic group theory was Braithwaites Rosetta Stone to decipher the
unity of knowledge not only in the different branches of mathematics but also in all
disciplines. This perspective stood in sharp contrast to many of the dominant
theories of education in the 1970s, when Braithwaite was teaching and completing
her doctorate. Venerable admits that Braithwaite had this strong masculine energy
that allowed her to push her very feminine theory of the universe. I saw her deliver
her ideas to predominantly male audiences and then observed their vigorous debate
and for most, an ultimate acceptance of her positions. Although her views were
not always popular, Braithwaite did not budge on her method, and she set out to
mentor others on the use of this method, thus her mentoring of Grant Venerable.
As it turns out, Braithwaite was not the only African American in the 1970s
who felt that higher education was dicing up the disciplines that belonged together
in close communication. Venerable recounts the 1970s climate in higher education
for African Americans:

112
V. This gets back to a lot of the debates and discussions that we had in the
70s, where people trained in the traditional education systems were having a
pain of cognitive dissonance, because they sensed a basic truth in the
holistic approach, which they could not allow themselves to accept at risk
of losing a lifetime investment in the traditional ways. The notion of the
structure of the whole was in conflict with what they had been trained in,
and what they got their PhDs in. And those who survived the pain and
could sit with it for a few months, and a few years found that their minds
began to, in their own ways, integrate what they already knew into the
structure of the whole. Braithwaite often visited the renowned Polytechnic
University at San Louis Obispo and presented seminars with faculty and
students.
A. So you would think that she was one of the persons who integrated it?
V. She integrated it the two sides of human duality. She did her doctoral
dissertation on it. That cannot be disputed by any traditionally educated
system, because it is in the halls of U.C. Berkeley, the most prominent
fortress of public academic tradition. Is the Braithwaite dissertation
African? Well that is always [up for] debate. But it has to do with whether
you believe in a people and their own integrity to know where they are from.
It is like Indian tribes you have to listen to them, you have to compare
what they say to what anthropologists tell us. I mean, we believe the
Hebrews, so logically, we must believe other people, if we are intellectually
honest.
Dr. Braithwaite, who passed away in 1993, left those whom she mentored
with the ability to express the unity of knowledge in the language of mathematics.
This ability is undeniably African in its conception and in its process. This subject
is further explained in the next chapter.
Venerable and Braithwaite
Venerable explains that once Braithwaite met him, she decided that she

113
wanted to mentor him; they would study together for the next seven years. He
described for me their learning settings.
The learning setting was her family-sun room that overlooked the Golden
Gate, usually beginning by seven or eight in the evening with intense mental
explorations into one or another principle of algebra or analytical geometry.
She would pose problems and issue directions on approaches to solving
them. She would keep me awake until 3 to 4 in the morning until she
finished her last inputs. I would fall asleep on the sofa. I always awakened
by 7 am as it took only three hours for my mind to process all that that had
taken place the previous night [while] new and vibrant insights on science,
math and my self would come forth. She would appear like clockwork to
facilitate the debriefing process and prepare breakfast. As I was an assistant
professor of chemistry at Cal Poly (SLO), I would frequently take students
with me to participate in the weekend. Twice a quarter, Terry B would visit
San Luis Obispo and conduct 8 pm to 4 am sessions for small groups of 20
students and a few faculty colleagues. All left quite excited and fulfilled.
When I asked Dr. Venerable why he gravitated to Braithwaite and went
along with her idea to mentor him for seven years, he explained that in many ways
Braithwaite reminded him of his father, who was a mathematician and also taught
him a lot about mathematics. People gravitate to what makes them feel at home or
something from their past. And, that is what happened to me, he shared. It is
perhaps also the case that Braithwaite united in Venerable that which was
hopelessly separated by his formal education, his love of art and his love of science.
Braithwaite would tell him years later that when she met him she knew that he had
this brilliant mind and she felt that she had to work with him. Her exact statement
was, I have to save him from his formal education.
After seven years of study, Venerable felt anxious to move on. He took
Braithwaites understanding of algebraic group theory and her taxonomy of unity

114
and transferred it into the language of chemistry. Today, Venerables evolution of
Braithwaites concept is called the Ven Matrix. The Ven Matrix is the bedrock, and
one of the foremost distinguishing factors in how Dr. Venerable teaches chemistry
as compared to his colleagues.
Teaching and Administrative Career
Dr. Venerable has had a long and distinguished career that is still, it appears,
far from over. He has taught at the University of California--Santa Cruz, San
Francisco State University, and at Chicago State University, where he also served as
Associate Provost and Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs. Only once in
his long teaching career did he admit to facing a mild depression based on felt
alienation coming from his colleagues because of the concepts and methods that he
used. One of his students, whom I interviewed, shared with me that as a chemistry
lab technician, she would often hear other professors ridiculing the strangeness of
Venerables teaching methods. The student was very offended by this, as she
enjoyed Venerables style of teaching. This may be, in part, why Dr. Venerable has
focused more on administration in the latter part of his career.
In 1998, he moved to Morris Brown College in Atlanta to serve as Provost
and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Currently he is the Vice President for
Academic Affairs at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

115
Core Academic Beliefs
Although Dr. Braithwaite never gave the exact origin of her teaching
philosophy in Africa, Venerable said that he once questioned her. Where did this
knowledge come from, he asked. Braithwaite easily and naturally told him that is
was from Africa. In order to add more substance to that assertion, Venerable has
done the research that provides the historical backing. He wrote about his findings
in his 1999 publication, Managing in a Five Dimension Economy: Ven Matrix
Architectures for New Organizations. As Venerable (2007) suggests, the other title
for the book might have been, Ancient African Structures of the Whole in a
Postmodern World ( p.20).
Venerable begins with a timeline of the world, which evidences the fact that
humans, when placed in perspective in the entire history of the world, have only
been here for a relatively short time. Homo sapiens hunter-collector culture began
only 100,000 to 200,000 years ago on the universes 12 billion to 14 billion year
time line of biogenesis of human cultural and organizational development. Like
most anthropologists, Venerable agrees that human beings migrated out of Africa
into what is now called Europe, Asia, North, South and Central America, and as far
away as the Pacific Islands. While most anthropologists make no reference to what
African people brought with them on their migrations by way of culture and
knowledge, Venerable contends that the basic structure of African knowledge
systems accompanied Africans on their migration. He explains,

116

A model of the human mind naturally made its first appearance where
humans first appeared, in South-East Africa. And where people moved
across the earth, that same mental structure walked with them. But in
different climates and environments they were obliged to develop different
survival skills, which is the basis of culture. That then [influenced] how
they utilized their mental structure, so that by the time those first folks
reached Australia to become the ancestors of the current day Aboriginal
peoples they had already made some modifications on their model of the
human mind. But loosely speaking, we can say that since humans are
originally African, that the African structure of knowledge is still there.
Venerable further asserts that what we call indigenous knowledge systems in
other parts of the world is just a more faithful memory of the original African
knowledge system.
To support his point, Venerable references the findings of a colleague,
Nicolas Faraclas (1995). Faraclas is a linguist, who has extensively studied African
languages. In an article entitled, They Came Before the Egyptians: Linguistic
Evidence for the African Roots of Semitic Languages, Faraclas finds that the
original languages, including those that form the mother languages of Western
languages, were and are still spoken in Africa. Faraclas agrees with the recent
ascendant hypothesis that these languages migrated with African people out of
Africa and to the various regions of the earth. He explicitly states,
This essay traces the origins of Ancient Egyptian, Hebrew, Babylonian,
Assyrian and Arabic languages back to a Central African homeland. It
suggests that many of the speakers of the languages, from which these
languages developed, may have participated in a black civilization that was
driven out of Central Africa by the expanding Sahara Desert some 7,000
years ago. (p. 175)

117
Faraclas (1995) expands upon the idea that the original structure of knowledge
emerged from Africa, specifically Central Africa. He points out:
When we study African history, we are first told that our species originated
in Sub-Saharan East Africa hundred of thousands or even millions of years
ago. Then, before we know it, it is 3000 B.C. and the pyramids are going
up. But what occurred in Africa between 100,000 B.C. and 3000 B.C.?
Where was the cultural fabric woven that allowed the Egyptians to organize
their society in such a way that it could take on gigantic public works
projects? Where was the science developed that gave the Egyptians the
ability to build the pyramids? (pp. 175-176)
Faraclas (1995) makes it clear that there is a gaping hole in the history of
human kind, namely the complete history of Central Africa. Like Venerable,
Faraclas agrees that a powerful knowledge base developed in Central Africa. This
knowledge base and its language patterns migrated with Africans out of Africa.
Venerable explains that it is clear that the knowledge base emerging from Central
Africa, in this case Nubia, was powerful and pristine because it gave rise to the likes
of Ancient Egypt, a society that produced inventions still marveled at by modern
scientists. Both Venerable and Faraclas (1995) agree that the reason why Nubia and
the other countries of Central Africa are not given credit for their contribution to
what we know today as knowledge is precisely because they are purely African,
meaning of dark-skinned people. Most Western-trained archeologists and
researchers are not comfortable with that idea. Faraclas (1995) states it this way:
It is difficult for biblical scholars, or specialists in Ancient Hebrew, Ancient
Egyptian, or Ancient Mesopotamian languages and culture to accept the idea
that the Chadic language group, most of whose languages are spoken in
Nigeria and neighboring countries, belong to the same language family as
the classical languages that they had identified as the mother-tongues of

118
Western Civilization. Paul Newman, a leading Afroasiatic, and Chadic
Scholar described their reluctance to come to terms with the evidence: If
Chadic languages had been spoken by Semitic-looking people in scattered
oases in North Africa, their membership in Afroasiatic would have been
settled long ago. But this is not the case. Black people speak Chadic
languages in sub-Saharan Africa and thus there has been not just
reluctance to accept Chadic, but rather a deep-seated resistance to the idea.
(p. 180)
The Middle Passage
Repeatedly I asked Dr. Venerable if the African structure of knowledge
could have survived the middle passage, and ultimately the 400 years of slavery and
brutality that characterized the involuntary journey of Africans to the West.
Venerable maintains his gentle insistence that the structure of African knowledge,
which is best explained as a holistic view of life, and knowledge of its structure, did
survive the middle passage and chattel slavery. A few of his statements on this
subject follow:
I had often speculated on how it was that I had acquired an innate sense of
the structured whole, even though I did not have a name for it. But upon
meeting Therese Braithwaite after the completion of my doctorate at
Chicago, my higher education took off into new dimensions First, I had
to recognize my personal orientation toward constructs of wholeness, and
then there was the shock of recognition whenever I discerned the traits of
wholeness in various and sundry systems. But I sometimes puzzled over
how I came by my fascination with mathematical expression of wholeness
My father, Grant Venerable had the same trait but from whence did it come?
Perhaps from his father, who was but an infant (1867) after the end of
slavery in the United States? How does someone so close to a human
episode like slavery that stripped people to the bare core of their existence,
still retain such a profoundly developed sense of cultural realities? How did
he, as a 1932 graduate engineer of the California Institute of Technology,
conceive and actualize the structure of the whole? Where did he get it?

119
Possibly from his mothers mother or his fathers father. But however it
came about the structured whole lived quietly within the mental structure of
the African people who were loaded onto ships to the Americas. They in
turn transmitted it from generation to generation. But they were not, we
suppose, privy to the intricacies and formalisms of college algebra. So what
did the Ancestors teach their children? How do people who were
removed from one continent to another re-member profound, intellectual
ideas that were innate to their origins for thousands of years? While such I
deas may not always have been formalized in their cultural processes, they
were obviously innate in the brains of the diasporic descendants. This is
along the lines of Noam Chomskys universal grammar embedded in the
human mindAll families handle and bond with their infants and older
children in ways that are generally dictated by the biological and cultural
precedents, societal and educational practices, and various necessities
imposed by their environment whether physical or political. As the structure
of the whole is historic and intrinsic to African mythology and culture, one
would expect African families to handle their infants and children in a way
that within a critical time window of opportunity activates appropriate
cognitive structures in the brain. These structures are then prerequisites for
the instinctual sense of wholeness and holistic, complementary concepts
exhibited by present-day Africans both on the continent and in diasporic
locales. (Venerable, 2007, pp. 7-9)
Venerables comments provide a glimpse into the durability of African
knowledge systems. What African people knew was not only a part of their
intellect; it was also in their behavior and their approach to life. To put this idea
into concrete terms, Venerable reflected on the movie, Miss Jane Pittman, a movie
about an African American woman born into slavery and then raised during the age
of Jim Crow. In the movie, Miss Jane Pittman, a woman over 100 years old, takes
her cane and taps a tree and she tells a reporter, who was dispatched from the New
York Times to interview her that the tree has more knowledge than all the books at
Tuskegee. For Venerable, this is a mathematical and scientific statement. It is the
type of statement that African American parents and grandparents would

120
tell young children during that time when their minds are still malleable and able to
feel the truth in that statement. Venerable explains that although Miss Pittman
would probably not be able to call formally her assertion mathematics or science,
she is nonetheless stating her awareness that there is more to a tree than its obvious
physical components. Venerable offers this insight:
That tree has been there for over 200 years. That tree has made up of
elements it absorbed out of the atmosphere, soils, and the rains. The atoms
in that tree have come from all over the world and many of them have come
from distant galactic systems. And so the old people are saying that there is
a one-to-one correspondence between atoms and particles in that tree and
knowledge itself. Indeed, the atomic and molecular structure is an entity
brimming with information. It is information in chemical form.
Thus, we can conclude that African knowledge systems first emerged in
Central Africa and profoundly affected what is known as the knowledge and
languages of the world today. Furthermore, African people who were taken from
Africa did not lose consciousness of the structure of the whole, a fundamental
feature of African knowledge systems. Today, African knowledge persists in the
African American community as is evidenced by the mentor-student relationship
between Dr. Therese Braithwaite and Dr. Grant Venerable.
In the following chapter, I describe the Ven Matrix. The matrix was created
by Dr. Venerable to be a map or template for all holistic systems. The Ven Matrix
is expressed in scientific language although Venerable admits that he created his
matrix based on Dr. Braithwaites taxonomy of unity concept and diagram. The
basic idea that the diagrams communicate is that all is known can best be described

121
in a circular, rather than linear fashion. Within that circle, there is ntuology, which
means all points are connected, in relationship with each other, and interdependent
on each other. Hence, all of reality is unified. This is the most fundamental
assertion that underpins all African knowledge systems Reality is falsely perceived
as being divided into parts, because of the limitations of our present knowledge
(Veharen, 1995, p. 65). The Ven Matrix is, then, a tool and a symbol to help
students perceive and engage holistic reality.

CHAPTER V
THE VEN MATRIX
In this chapter, I examine the Ven Matrix. The Ven Matrix was created by
Dr. Venerable as a result of his study with his mentor, Dr. Braithwaite. Venerable
says of Braithwaite that she had a very feminine vision of the universe. African
knowledge systems are based on a feminine way of knowing. Hence, in order to
understand African knowledge systems and more specifically the Ven Matrix it is
important to first examine the history, origins, and creation of the prototypical
African knowledge system. At the mention of Africas history and knowledge, the
Western mind usually shuts down, as those three words are not usually used in
combination. Here I implore the reader to suspend judgment and try to comprehend
a non-Western construction of the universe.
An important note is that the African and thus the feminine construction of
the universe cannot be said to stand in polar opposition to the Western, or what
some may call the masculine, linear, and logical way of knowing. Rather, it is more
true that the African and feminine way of knowing demands that there must be a
constant balance between the male and female ways of knowing (Maat) in all of
human pursuits. The Ven Matrix and all of its preceding manifestations are merely
a depiction of a unified universe where masculine and feminine ways of knowing
that exist without separation or conflict. In the Western world, feminine ways of

123
knowing have been suppressed and belittled. Oba T Shaka (1995), author of
Return to the African Mother Principle of Male and Female Equity, explains why:
Marimba Ani is correct when she states that western man has feared the
feminine because he knows he cannot control the intuitive and emotional.
The way to freedom is not through the control of others, the way to freedom
is through masculine-feminine synthesis, and male-female complementary
equality. (p. 125)
The basis of African and feminine acceptance of a unified reality can be best
understood by looking at its origins.

The History
In the book, The History of Africa: The Quest for Eternal Harmony, Molefi
Asante (2007) asserts, Maternity was probably the first real scientific laboratory for
early humans. They watched the transformation of a woman and the birth of an
infant with awe (p.19). Asantes position does not lack scientific backing. The
researchers Bogoshi, Naidoo, and Web (2007) report that the oldest mathematical
artifact, about 35, 000 years old, was discovered in the early seventies during an
excavation of Border Cave in the Lebombo Mountains between South African and
Swaziland. The artifact itself is a bone, a fibula of a baboon on which there are 29
clearly defined notches. The bone is called the Lebombo Bone. Archaeologists
agree that the bone was most likely used by a woman to record the time elapsed
between the occurrences of her menstrual cycle. A similar bone was also reported
by Bogoshi et al. (2007), called the Ishango Bone. This bone, which

124
dates from about 9000 B.C., contains a much more detailed reckoning of the
females menstrual cycle. The research points to the fact that it was the females
menstrual cycle that gave birth to the first form of mathematics, time reckoning, and
historical records. Matomah Alesha (2004), author of a book entitled, The First
Book of the Dark Goddess: A Study and Reflection of the Primordial Dark Mother,
addresses the idea that menstruation was the first human academic subject matter:
Ancient women who designed the first calendars based their information on
their menstrual cycles and its correspondence with the moon. These early
calendars, which represent some of humanities first forms of mental
abstraction, consisted of long notches on bone or wood marking lunar
changes. This is where native people get the ideas that menstruation created
the underworld, earth, and heaven. The correlation of menstruation with
lunar observation and calculation is humanitys first form of measurement,
orientation, and abstraction. Women used the lunar calendar as healers,
midwives, priests, and agriculturalists. The reverence for the moon is
closely allied with the healing arts, and concerns for fertility and agriculture.
(p. 59)
In Africa, the birthplace for humanity, the first system of knowing emerged
from the females experience. It was literally based on her observation of her body,
and her bodys correlation to the heavenly body called the moon. This abstraction
was undoubtedly a giant intellectual step for humanity. Women had a personal
clock that correlated with the moon, which everyone could see. The passage of time
was no longer obscure. More importantly, the feminine body yielded the knowledge
that time was not moving in a linear fashion, where the human had to experience a
seemingly unending chain of days. Rather, time was deemed cyclical, thus life
repeated itself in a predictable pattern that could be figured out by any observant

125
person. Judy Grahn (1993), author of Blood, Bread and Roses: How Menstruation
Created the World, informs us that, in European languages, it is from the word
menstruation that we get words such as measure, rule (law), regulate, regular,
regalia and regal. That is, menstruation was the first law discovered by scientific
observation. Moreover, even today scientists use the same process. That is, they
observe and measure phenomena, which if it repeats itself, are then no longer a
theory; it is a law, or scientific fact.
As mentioned in the literature review of this paper, Charles Finch (1998)
describes that the second great abstraction in the feminine way of knowing was the
realization that the cycle that was happening in the female microcosm was also
happening all around her in a macrocosm of the world. All things in the universe
were also involved in a cyclical process. Humans, the earth itself, plant life, the
astrological bodies, bodies of water, and even stones where all engaged in a cyclical
process. Finch describes this as the planes of correspondence, meaning that
existence mirrors and re-mirrors itself on many different planes. Thus the locution,
As above so below(p.245). The microcosm is the ultimate measure of the
macrocosm.
Grahn (1993) further informs us that once the female realized that
everything around her was based on cyclical timing, she also realized that one
human female could entrain another. Entraining occurs when one woman spends
significant time with another so that their menstrual cycles become synchronized.

126
This allowed women to participate in a collective menstrual Sabbath before
returning to their various family and social obligations. This was the birth of
womens culture in Africa, and a profound pedagogy emerged out of it. Women
learned that relationship was the best way to pass information from one person to
another. Like the menstrual cycle, most human, holistic systems could be entrained.
This included language, music, dance, food ways, and all human behaviors. Today
relationship-based learning (apprenticeships or internships) remains one of the best
ways for a person to learn any art or science. To include men in this process of
teaching and learning, women had to externalize the collective mind (observations).
This was the most probable reason for symbol creation and rock and cave wall
paintings (Jefferies, 1997). These external symbols allowed for the public
discussion of the cycles of life and time that began among women.
As Fu-Kiau (1980) described, the Bakongo cosmogram of life was one of
the earliest symbols which emerged out of a womans understanding of the world in
the Congo. The Bakongo cosmogram is amazingly like the Ven Matrix. Thus, it is
useful to examine the Bakongo cosmogram in order to have a basis for
understanding the Ven Matrix.
The Bakongo Cosmogram
I first studied the Bakongo cosmogram (figure 1) as a student of lay
midwifery. It was a great tool for understanding and teaching the dynamics of a

127
womans menstrual cycle and teaching the dynamics of pregnancy. As Fu-Kiau
(1980) tells us that even today, the Bakongo cosmogram is best understood among
women, who on special occasions ritualistically paint their entire body with red
ochre to symbolize the fact that is was the female blood that brought this knowledge
system to human kind.

Figure 1. Bakongo Cosmogram

When we examine the Bakongo cosmogram as shown in Figure 1, the
horizontal line is the line that separates the material and living world (the upper
half) from the immaterial and spiritual world (the lower half). The vertical line cuts
through the horizon to indicate that though separated the upper and lower halves are
mirror images of each other. The upper half of the diagram can loosely be called
the masculine half and the lower half could be classified as the feminine half. This
is loosely true because both halves are interrelated and flow naturally into one
another. The Bakongo have several ways of understanding this symbol, the most

128
popular being the four moments of the sun. To understand the cycle of the sun,
begin at the circle that is on the tip of the horizon on the readers right-hand side.
That circle is called sunrise and is also considered the point of birth. The circle at
the top of the vertical line is called high noon, or the point of human maturity. The
circle at the readers left side of the horizon line is called sunset or death. The only
circle below the horizon in called night, or the point of transformation and
reformulation for re-birth. In the direct center of the circle is the immaterial essence
of all things. Using the same pattern, one could easily chart the cycle of the moon,
which has phases of a new moon, a full moon, a waning moon, and a dark moon.
As a student of lay midwifery, I learned that the Bakongo cosmogram could be
depicted as presence of vaginal fluids as sunrise, ovulation as high noon,
menstruation as sunset, and the resetting of the bodys hormones as transformation
or night.
Two things become clear from the Bakongo cosmogram and its various
interpretations. First, this is a holistic system. Whereas the Western world might
define the cycle of the sun as being sunrise, high noon, and sunset, the cosmogram
pushes us to accept that night, although characterized by the suns absence, is still a
vital part of the suns cycle. Similarly, although the moon cannot be seen during the
dark moon, it is nonetheless still part of the moons cycle. In addition, the perceived
silence in a womans uterus in the period directly following menstruation does not
indicate that she has moved out of the range of her cycle, she is merely in the

129
Sabbath of her cycle, which is though silent and passive still a fundamental part of
the cycle. Alas, even death does not mean that one is absent from the cycle of life.
It merely means that one is transforming during a necessary Sabbath, surely to
appear again. It is this knowledge that necessitates ancestral veneration.
The second thing that can be extrapolated from the Bakongo cosmogram is
that life begins below the horizon, in the realm of the feminine which is
characterized by silence and darkness. Fu-Kiau (1980) describes the only point
below the cosmograms horizon as lifes dark room. If life is constructed as a series
of rooms, the dark room is a necessary, painful, and confusing time in life when
human resolve is made or broken. As we know, morning begins long before
sunrise. Similarly, the estrogen in a womans body actually begins to build long
before she sees presence of fluids. Moreover, as my midwifery teacher taught me,
for every baby there is a pre-baby; actions that a couple consciously or
unconsciously say, think, or do that set the conditions for conception, the point here
being that the first circle above the horizon is the not the point of beginning. It is
only the first material manifestation of an unending process. Fu-Kiau states it this
way, Here is what the Kongolese Cosmology taught me: I am going-and comingback-being around the center of vital forces. I am because I was and re-was before,
and that I will be and re-be again (p. xi). The author is here expressing that what
his Bakongo teachers most firmly impressed upon him is that all things, even the
human being, is involved in a cycle.

130
African knowledge systems relish this idea that life is cyclical and selfrenewing. For this reason Alesha (2004) explains that two of the animals held
sacred by most African knowledge systems, including Ancient Egypt, are the sacred
serpent and the vulture. The snake was held as sacred for many reasons, one of the
main ones being that it could shed its skin (die) and without external prompting,
create a new skin for itself. In the mind of the ancients this was very much like the
females uterus, which sheds its lining every 28 days and, without external
prompting, begins the process of creating a new lining. The vulture was held as
sacred and is often present with the snake on the crown of the pharaoh because the
vulture understood that life begins in the realm of death. The vulture is a bird that
literally lives off the dead carcasses of other animals. What the vulture understands
is that even though something is dead, the process of life continues, and life thrives
in the realm of the dark room. Alesha (2004) reminds readers that the vulture was
held as sacred because of how it encircles its carcass of choice several times before
landing. The circling of the vulture is metaphoric of seeing the whole, recognizing
the male and female parts in any situation. African knowledge systems insist that
knowledge has its male and female parts. The male parts are what we can actually
see and measure. The female parts are the intuitive, visionary, and inspired ways of
knowing. The Ven Matrix endeavors to show both parts of knowledge.

131
The Matrix
The Ven Matrix was created out of the recognition that nothing in the human
experience, not even the academic organizations of European American universities,
can exist outside of the eternal cycles of African knowledge systems. Venerable
defines the Ven Matrix as a structure of the human mind, which is knowingly or
unknowingly present in everything that humans create.

Figure 2. Ven Matrix.

From Managing in a Five Dimension Economy, by G. D. Venerable II (1999, p.109)
Westport, CT: Quorum Books. Copyright 1999, Greenwood Press.
Reprinted with permission.

132
The Ven Matrix as depicted above has the same basic cross formation as its
predecessors. It also has the four circular discs as each of the cardinal points and a
central disc in the center. The center disc is explained as the organizing principle of
the entire system. As a tool for understanding science as a holistic field, disc B at
the extreme left of the horizon line is defined by Venerable as being the only visible
or material (masculine) domain in the whole system. The other four domains, E, A,
C and D, Venerable has regulated to the realm of the invisible, passive and
feminine. Even though there are differences in the division of the male and female
realms, the Ven Matrix is still a diagram that was designed to show that masculine
and feminine ways of knowing are complementary and part of the same whole. In
fact, Venerable states that Domain B is best defined as the universe and all things
that are in it. Domain C at the right side of the horizon is biology, or the study of
and laws of how all things come into being. Domain A at the top of the vertical line
is defined as physics or the laws and study of movement. Domain D, which is the
domain below the horizon, is of course chemistry or the laws and study of change
and transformation. Domain E is defined by Venerable as being mathematics, the
organizing principle, or even deep theology. Why mathematics? Math is at the
center of a scientific cosmogram because it was observation (notation of patterning,
and sequencing) and measurement (numerical tracking) that brought into existence
all laws and fields of science. It is Venerables assertion that the study of
mathematics in its masculine and feminine dimensions probes the deep theological

133
questions like why are we here? and what makes phenomena happen?
Mathematics, especially in its manifestation that balances the male and female ways
of knowing, is much more than a set of rules; it is literally a study of how the
universe is organized. Presented in this manner, the field is suddenly less
threatening, more intriguing and inviting, and even more accessible. All humans
understand the curiosity of how things come into being (biology). We are all
experiencing chemistry or the laws of transformation in our daily lives. Likewise,
we are all subjected daily to the laws of physics. Science taught this way is no
longer a chalkboard full of undecipherable equations that, frankly, can confuse
people. The feminine is about the power of relationships. The Ven Matrix is an
effort to relate science to the student. It is tool that deciphers the interdisciplinary
world of science for students.
Pedagogies of African Knowledge Systems
An examination of the Ven Matrix leads us to ask the question what kind of
pedagogical methods emerged out of African knowledge systems that embrace the
feminine vision of the universe. To answer this question I interviewed Dr.
Venerable for hours. I wanted to know how he taught awareness of the masculine
and feminine ways of knowing in balance in institutions that have historically
ignored the feminine, the dark room, and the un-seeable elements of reality.

134
After going through several hours of transcripts, it is clear that Venerable
uses a holistic system that cannot adequately be described on paper because much of
it is felt. However, there are some major phases or elements of the pedagogical
methodology that can be described. It is with great reservation that I describe these
phases or elements. Foremostly, I seek to avoid the impression that this pedagogy
can be used in a quick and easy seven-step process.
The seven steps that are listed here are given to describe the African
pedagogical methodology used by Venerable. It cannot be separated from its
cosmological basis and its holistic framework and still be an effective method.
The Method
The first phase of the method demands that the teacher start by teaching the
universals of the subject matter. Venerable describes the first day in any of his
chemistry classes as follows:
It doesnt start with good morning class. This is Dr. Venerable. This is
Chemistry 121. And these are your prerequisites. These are the goals of the
course. And then I give you your syllabus and your schedule of
examination. In our American system, that is what we call the formal
approach. I let my teaching assistants handle all of that. [And then]
I would stand up and I would say something like, Ive Known Rivers. Ive
known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in
human veins. And my soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the
Euphrates when dawns were young. By this time the students are looking
at me like I was crazy, but others are like oh, oh, and others are getting into
it. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon
the Nile and raised pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi
when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and Ive seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset. Ive known rivers. Ive known ancient

135
dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. That is what
chemistry was about. What is that poem about? I would say write a
paragraph. Braithwaite got me to that point- start with the universal- the
harmonious significance where the student begins to feel his or her harmony
to the cosmos and to one another.
In the first phase of this method, we see that Venerable begins each class
with the wisdom of the vulture. To begin with the universals is to begin below the
horizon, in the realm of stillness. The vulture teaches us that we cannot correctly
begin any holistic process in the realm of the visible and tangible. Just as the
morning begins before sunrise, learning also begins in the realm of invisible
(spiritual) at the place where the human feels. Universals are simple, those things
that appeal to every human culture regardless of location. Thus, Venerable chooses
poetry and artistic expression that is present in all cultures. Venerable makes it
clear that the recitation of just any poem will not do. In order to fulfill step one in
an adequate manner one must be what I have chosen to call an, okomfo (a Twi word
from Ghana meaning high priest or an adept). Only an okomfo, who truly
understands the subject matter from a holistic perspective, can teach its universal
harmony or felt realities. Venerables choice to recite Langston Hughes poem on
rivers is remarkable given that all early human communities are known to have
arisen out of river communities. Furthermore, it was the river of menstruation that
gave humanity the key to create Africas original knowledge system.
Venerable tells me that Dr. Braithwaite would introduce calculus with what
was in essence a dance.

136
She had a black board up there that she would put up front, and then she
would be doing one kind of dance as she disappeared behind the board. And
this board would represent the limit. [As if] you go to the limit of smallness,
while there is a change taking place that you cannot see. Then she emerges
on the other side in a completely different stance, and she asked the students
what happened. Then they would start sharing their experience of what
happened between her going in on one side and coming out on the other
side. And then from there she would introduce the theory of limits.
It is Venerables position that any teacher who is interested in using this
method can intuit much of what okomfo's do. However, there are certain elements
that can only be awakened in an okomfo by having contact with a mentoring
okomfo.
The second phase of this approach involves what I have called the preaching
of the gospel. Venerable calls this step autosuggestion. In short, it has to do with
words and how they are said. Words pertaining to the subject are spoken with
power in order to awaken the relevant areas of a students mind. Venerable offers
insight.
I might say that the definition of chemistry is the flowing together of
cosmic energies and the natural harmony. Ultimately [it is] human
transformation. It is about you. Terry Braithwaite made a big deal of me
using those particular words because they awaken. If you say them in a
particular way with confidence, you cant just mumble them. You have to
say them with confidence [as] you have reached the point in the holy
Eucharist where you are reading the gospel passage. In a way we are
pronouncing the gospel, except, we are not in church. Why should the
church have a monopoly on the gospel? It is the same mind that people take
to church and school.
In Venerables judgment, that is what Barack Obama did during the presidential
campaign of 2008. He essentially offered the gospel of the Democratic Party in

137
such a powerful manner, that people could not help themselves; they had to do what
he asked. This then is the value of using the gospel. It draws a student in. It
intrigues them and leaves them wanting to know more. Many teachers become
stuck reading from the same textbooks, and repeating the same phrases in the same
mundane voice. This is primarily because such a teacher has possibly only been
exposed to the material elements (the masculine) of the subject she is teaching. It is
the feminine, the spiritual element that gives birth to inspiration, vision, and innate
enthusiasm. This is something that media advertisers are deeply aware. It is nearly
impossible for a consumer to become excited about buying a product if the person
explaining it has no enthusiasm. Similarly, a teacher cannot entrain a student if she
is not inwardly inspired by what is beautiful, artistic, and infinitely possible about
the subject matter that she is teaching. As the snake sheds its skin, in order to grow
another, the teachers love of the subject has to be fresh, renewed, and present in
each class. The pedagogy of African knowledge systems, in its embrace of the
feminine, brings that missing element of joy and passion back to teaching.
The third phase is keying in. At this point the okomfo (teacher) has to stop
and take an assessment of where students are. I ask are the methods effective, or is
there a need for a change? Venerable asserts, If I come in and see that learner is
over here and I thought they might be here, I have to modify my approach.
Venerables assessment is not necessarily formal, like giving a quiz or a test, even
though it may involve that. However, there is much more space that is intuitive.

138
I am improvising, that is how I know where to go. I am keying in on where
the students are. I am keying in, so each class is different. I may do
something [very] different to the next session. I am going on the vibrations I
am getting from the general chemistry from that group. So I am doing
African storytelling basically. And that is what spiritual teachers do. They
feel the people there and they know what to say to them. I have learned
not to censor, at least not as much anymore. So, if it hits my mind I go with
it, and I put it out there. I dont know where it is all going. The African
knowledge system does not worry about how you got there; it worries about
where you end up.
This step in the process gives teachers permission to step away from their
curriculums and their strict course outlines. Phase three asks the teacher to feel,
that is, treat the student as a subject and not as an object into which information is
poured. As the granny midwife that I studied under always reminded me, our way,
the African way, is about relationships. The teacher has to relate to the student and
figure out if the students are following her lead or whether there is an obstruction.
Venerable describes a situation where a teacher while teaching will have a
seemingly irrelevant idea come forcefully into his/her imaginative space. These
ideas are not to be censored; they are to be shared because they are necessary for
holistic learning.
Phase four of the process involves keeping students away from the concrete,
didactic, or cognitive that they think they are coming to get until they are ready. As
discussed earlier in this paper, students should feel the essence of a subject before
they are exposed to the concrete. When I asked Venerable how this is done exactly,
he said:

139
Well I just deprived them of assignments in the book, while I was giving
them exercises in class, speaking words in gospel manners, and giving them
homework to do to develop- like preparing the terrain first. That is [the] part
that takes faith, because my colleagues dont like that. You must keep it
suspenseful so that they start craving the detailed facts. Some start to look
ahead. They start to read the book. And they start to say yes this goes with
that.
Here again, Venerable is employing the wisdom of the vulture. He begins
teaching in the realm below the horizon of the cosmogram, and he remains in that
dark room until he is absolutely certain that the students are ready for the concrete
explanation of the subject. Before they are ready for the concrete (the masculine) he
consistently gives them exercises that thin the veils off their minds, so that when the
concrete is presented the mind is fully conditioned to comprehend it.
In phase five, the teacher advances based on definitions. This step occurs
after the teacher is certain that the students have felt the essence of a subject and are
now ready for the concrete. One begins teaching the formal area of a subject by
giving what Venerable calls lean and bedrock definitions. Venerable is careful to
say that it should be definitions and not descriptions of the material world. I
struggled to understand this step, and I asked what would be a lean, bedrock
definition of the 2008 presidential election. He said that he would define it as a fullscale social revolution. That definition helped me understand. A lean, bedrock
definition is one that defines things and phenomena by their most universally
applicable form. The teacher is introducing the students to a new world, and he/she
must define the things in that world based on what the student might already know,

140
or universally recurring themes. Venerable shares that at this stage he often uses
Greek or Latin for definitions because they are pragmatic languages, or the original
language from which the European words are derived. Venerable gave the example
of the word rubric, which in an educational setting usually refers to the decidedupon learning standard. However in Latin the word means red earth, harkening
back to the ocher (red paint) used on the wall of caves in South and Central Africa
to indicate symbols of importance in the original African knowledge system.
This phase employs the power of relationships that undergird African
knowledge systems. The teacher is being asked to slowly and deliberately lead the
students above the horizons by introducing the material elements of subject in a
pragmatic way that relates back to the original environment and experience of the
student. The teacher is asked to build on what the student is already certain of,
given their backgrounds. To illustrate this point, Venerable challenged me to give
him a definition of African/holistic lay midwifery that would allow him to instantly
understand its essence. After giving several rote definitions that did not open his
minds eye to the meaning of the science, I finally said that holistic, lay midwifery
is sisterhood in pregnancy. Upon hearing this, Venerable proclaimed that he
understood holistic lay midwifery. It distinguishes itself from professional
midwifery and doctors in the same way that a casual acquaintance is different from
a sister. A sister is interested in your general well-being while an acquaintance is
only concerned about the facts that inform the experience that you both share. In

141
phase six of the process there is testing or evaluating of the students. Once again,
this may involve a formal written test. When it does involve a written test,
Venerable always gives the answers as soon as the test is done. And he requests
that the students who did not get the right answers change their answers. Therefore,
the point of the test is really for students to see what they know and for them to be
made aware of their mistakes and the correction to the mistake. More often than
not, though, Venerable describes how he would set up sink or swim scenarios in
which the whole class participated in an oral test. Although this was very
frustrating for the students, in the intensity of those moments many of them would
catch on.
In this phase, we again see the power of relationship at work. Here the
teacher tests students in the same way a mother leads her infant to walk and then
gradually lets go of him to see if he is confident enough to take a step on his own.
The point of this test is not to see and grade failure. In fact, the teacher very much
wants everyone to succeed. The point of the test is to build the confidence of the
student in using the tools that they have been given. If a student does fail, they are
corrected and given another chance to try again.
In the seventh phase the teacher uses simple repetition. This involves the
okomfo repeating the poetry, song, dance, or story that he/she began the class with
because, as Venerable shares, the repetition of the universal is what seals the
learning experience in an African knowledge system.

142
I think of it as making new neurological pathways form in the brain. Things
that had been cut off, neurons that hadnt spoken to each other now are
starting to talk to each other. And as they do, [students] start connecting the
dots.
He further compares the repetition in the class to the repetition found in
liturgy: In the liturgy, the liturgy repeats until it gets into the brain. It becomes
unconscious it is so deep.
In addition, the okomfo must also repeat the definitions, repeat the intuitive
assessment of students, and repeat the oral and written test. Dr. Venerable is
convinced that if the students do enough chemistry they will memorize the
formulas, without any need for forced memorization. He explained that it is like
playing the same score in music; eventually you will learn it. Venerable agrees that
repetition until the point of saturation is absolutely necessary. When chemistry is
learned in this way, it becomes a Rosetta Stone for students to use in any other
subject. For example, Venerable points out how the periodic table can be used as a
unifying paradigm to teach history, art, and other subjects.
If you start with gold, silver, and copper these were important in ancient
societies, so you ask why. It is a cue to studying what was happening
historically. That is how the periodic table can be an organizer, even though
you are not studying it technically. All I am saying, as a chemistry
professor, is that silver and gold were important in the coinage systems.
This is your cue to go and study the coinage systems. This opens the door to
economics, and it opens the door to class stratification in society.
A. How do you use it to teach, lets say, the arts?
V. A lot of these elements here have what we call metals in the salts. Like
lead sulfate makes black paint. And a lot of these transition elements put in
certain ammines and they make salts that have a color.

143
It is Venerables contention that this is how Black teachers in the American South
were teaching prior to Brown v. Board of Education. He states his case as follows:
That is what Black teachers in this country taught for decades and decades
and decades. It is African knowledge systems that came from across the
ocean and confronted the conditions in this country, and people instinctively
reached for that when they studied English and taught English and math.
A. Is that what you mean by developing that Rosetta Stone because you
talked about how teachers in the South used geometry?
V. Yes, thats how a good [teacher] like my aunt would have used geometry
to help [students] understand other areas In the old South, they taught
everything in every discipline. They kept teaching the same thing in all of
them.
In short, the pedagogies of African knowledge systems force the recognition
that even in education there is a profound connection between the material and
spiritual or structure of mind. As described by Venerable, the teaching method is
designed to shift the learners reference systems so radically that they cannot hang
on to anything normal Once they are completely disoriented they can learn on
a whole new basis.
What Venerable is doing is also offering a historical corrective. He tells the
story of how at the beginning of a new class he has the students move all the chairs
to the center of the room and then in unison they step in a counterclockwise
direction while he tells the story of how the original knowledge system was brought
up the River Nile and into Ancient Egypt by the Nubians. Venerable calls this
exercise feeling the Nubian Vortex. It is an endeavor that uses words and

144
movement to clear the way for the acceptance of the ancient memory that
knowledge systems originated in Africa.
Conclusion
Western scientists have successfully noted that the right and left hemispheres
of the brain learn in very different ways. The right brain is intuitive and artistic. By
contrast, the left brain is more quantitative and concrete. What Western scientists
have not done, to the best of my knowledge, is create a method of teaching both
sides of brains simultaneously. African knowledge systems engage the right (the
female) and left (the male) parts of the human mind. Dr. Venerable has used
African pedagogies that engage this balanced vision in his years as a professor of
chemistry.
The following chapter examines how the former students and colleagues of
Dr. Venerable experienced this method. How did it impact them? Moreover, how
were they transformed by it?

CHAPTER VI
STUDENTS AND COLLEAGUES
In this chapter, I examine the responses of colleagues and former students to
the unique teaching methodology of Dr. Grant Venerable. I was able to interview
two of Dr. Venerables colleagues and three of his former students. I conducted an
initial telephone interview with each participant in order to introduce more formally
the project and myself. My goal was also to allow them to explain their personal
connection to Dr. Venerable. After our initial conversation, I emailed out the
interview questions, which they completed and returned to me. The questions used
in of all of the interviews are attached in the appendices of this paper.
Dr. Venerable recommended all of the students and the colleagues who
participated in this research for participation. His colleagues were both from his
teaching experience at universities other than the one that he is teaching at now. His
former students were all from the undergraduate chemistry courses that he taught
while at University of California, Santa Cruz, or California Polytechnic State
University, San Luis Obispo. It was amazing to find that all of the students were
still in touch with Venerable, even though they were twenty or more years removed
from his class.
After reading the responses of each interviewee, four dominant categories

146
emerged from the data. Venerables former students and colleagues spoke about the
effectiveness of his classroom setting, the impact of his teaching methods,
how those methods transformed them, and they speculated on whether there is space
for this type of method in traditional European American institutions of higher
learning. These categories guided my explanation of the data. The interviewees
names have been changed in this document to protect their identity.
The Interviewees
The former colleagues of Dr. Venerable who participated in this research are
Dr. Amoah and Professor Mensah. Dr. Amoah is an African American man who is
a senior faculty member at a major university. He is also the director of Black
studies. He and Venerable were colleagues together at the University of California
Santa Cruz during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Professor Mensah is an African American man who received his doctorate in
1976. He has since then worked at two major universities in the United States. He
met Dr. Venerable while he was part of the search committee looking for a provost
at Chicago State University. He had a chance to interview Venerable and since that
time has gotten to know him better and followed his career with great interest.
The responses from these two colleagues produced meaningful information
but very little that applied to the categories in this paper. This was primarily

147
because Venerables colleagues never really had a chance to be a part of any of the
classes that he taught. They were by and large informed about his teaching methods
from conversations they had with him and from attending any number of the
different lectures that he offered on the subject matter.
The Students
The three students whom I interviewed each possessed a uniqueness that
informed the way Dr. Venerables class impressed itself on them. Yaa, a European
American woman, is currently a newspaper journalist. Her first encounter with Dr.
Venerable occurred before she went to college. She writes, I met him when he
gave a lecture at my high school in 1973, I was sitting in on a friends chemistry
class. When I went to college, I took his freshman level chemistry course. Yaa is
unique in that she was so intrigued by what Dr. Venerable told her class that she
made sure to take his class when she went to college. Clearly, whatever Venerable
said to her class piqued her interest and stirred her desire to learn more from him.
Kweku is a European American man who is a free lancer, an artist and selfconfessed ardent follower of the Bahai faith. Kweku is unique because Dr.
Braithwaite and Dr. Venerable have both mentored him. Dr. Braithwaite
recommended that he take Venerables class at University of California, Santa Cruz.
He narrated the story of how he got on a plane one day and looked around for an

148
interesting person to sit next to. He finally decided to sit next to an older, petite
African American woman. He said that the first thing that she told him was, I
proved the existence of God through mathematics. The older woman was Dr.
Braithwaite, and that singular statement was enough to draw him under her
mentorship for several years. Kweku has a profound understanding of the whole
and he expressed his answers to the questions in complete holistic and spiritual
language.
Ama, a European-American woman, is a scientist who holds a Ph.D. in the
field of chemistry. Her story is unique because Ama began college in fall of 1973
as a home economics major. She writes, I listed on my college application [that
there was] only one subject I did not like in high school chemistry. However,
because she registered late, she found that the only class available to her was a
freshman chemistry course taught by Venerable.
Classroom Setting
The interviewees reflected on what they remembered of Venerables class.
They each agree that because of the very different method that Venerable used, his
classroom setting was very different. Ama remembered:
Grant spent the first period calling roll- with each persons name. The next
class, even though people sat in different places- he called on people by first
name. It really got peoples attention. There were no sleeping students in
his class. The classroom was more interactive with problem solving skills
taught first without chemistry, and then with.

149
Yaa reflected on how the classroom was physically arranged, which affected
the learning environment. She states, We didnt sit in rows, it was much more
convivial and people kind of clustered their desks together. [The] intellectual
atmosphere was very fertile lots of wild ideas and brainstorming and the like.
Kweku was profoundly affected by the classroom setting and expressed the
idea that that the setting was part of the learning experience:
[The classroom was] that of openness; which I found highly engaging The
classroom settings that I sought to experience were in direct relation to my
personal quest to discover the whole. Venerables class was unlike
anything that I had ever attended. I began to know why I had to be here
now. The vast majority of us have experienced walking into an
educational setting and following the preconceived order of how this is to
be. We find our seats, we find our friends- if any, and we wait for
instructions, often writing on some board at the front wall. And often we
seat ourselves in rows waiting to be seen, heard [and] acknowledged. Are
we in attendance = do we attend the dance? Grant Venerable is keenly
aware of his environment and that of his students; therefore, he shifted
chairs, desks, positioned spaces, timing, [with] music playing while setting
up. Yes this was a chemistry course, but the course was played through a
chemical environment to be observed, explained, and mapped out inside of
the classroom experience. Grant Venerable would habitually tell the
students to just show up, that we may not see it now; we may not get it now,
[but] through showing up the process reveals its information. Never give up
on yourself while you are discovering your journey. You may never become
a chemist; this is not the intent. Our intent is for you to experience you
being you and discover in this process the fabric of life and you in it, wholly
holy. The profoundness of this message transcended the messenger.
Each student reflected on a classroom setting that struck him or her as very
different. Kweku even went through the pains of describing what it is like attending
your standard European American classroom. The students experience a breath of
fresh air in Venerables class because he was in relationship with them, he

150
remembered their names, and he adjusted the physical environment so that it was
more inviting. The setting definitely primed the students for learning. Furthermore,
he spoke to them, and reminded them that chemistry was not about becoming a
chemist, it was more about them, the students understanding how chemistry was like
themselves. This sort of setting differs drastically from the standard European
American setting and it sets the tone for a radically different approach to learning.
Teaching Method
Venerables colleagues remembered that his teaching methods were indeed
holistic and to some degree shared by other colleagues who were aware of the
benefits of holistic thinking. Professor Mensah offers this insight:
Dr. Venerables pedagogical methods are learner centered, interdisciplinary
and culture based. He uses a very sophisticated Ven Matrix process to
incorporate all branches of knowledge in the teaching/learning process. My
own pedagogical process is also learner centered and similar to Dr.
Venerables in that they both approach teaching and learning from a holistic
perspective. This essentially means that the learner is seen as a part of a
cultural process that encompasses the total teaching environment and is
required to become an active part of the learning process. Traditional
teaching methods in most college classrooms use the lecture format to
convey information/knowledge to students. Dr. Venerables methods shift
the traditional paradigm, which requires a paradigm shift (as well as cultural
grounding) within the student/learner and teacher as well. The traditional
Euro-American classroom sees the classroom as a neutral environment.
Pedagogy is used as if it is culture and value free. Dr. Venerables pedagogy
utilizes the students culture and cultural background as an integral part of
the learning process.
Professor Mensah recognizes that the origin of Venerables teaching
methodology is the matrix which forces a holistic rather than linear approach to

151
knowledge. In addition, he notes that Venerable is intentional and deliberate about
bringing cultural relevance to his class.
Professor Amoah classified Venerables teaching method as one that was
designed to remove the affective filters that students have. He also credits
Venerable with using holistic framing of the course content, taking a systems
approach to the course itself, and storytelling. He admits that generally these
methods are not used in traditional European American classrooms.
Among the students, there was the admission that Venerables teaching
method was not always fully explained, but it certainly was felt and experienced.
Ama shares her memory of Venerables approach:
Grant did explain that we would not be getting the typical memorize this and
that chemistry class. He told us that we would learn a method of thinking.
About 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through the class the chemistry part was added
and it just fell into place. I was like, Wow how do I understand all this
stuff? A light bulb would go off in your head. The method was totally
different. Other classes required a lot of memorization of the periodic chart
and formulas. This was a method of thinking.
Yaa, like Ama, remembers Venerables method as a way of thinking and
learning. She shares I dont recall him being explicit about the different method
of teaching part, but he was very clear about providing a different method of
learning and a different method of thinking about problems. Both women agree
that Venerables approach was anti-rote memory. Yaa states, What I remember
very clearly was that there was no memorization or rote learning. Kweku reflected
more on the philosophy that brought Venerables methods into being, which is not

152
surprising given that he studied with Dr. Braithwaite and Dr. Venerable. In terms of
method, Kweku said, The patterns are knowable in all fields of human endeavor
and creation. This is not a new methodology nor is this unique; this is a clear
understanding of the methods of the cosmos.
Kweku echoes the ancient truth that once the Ancient African woman
understood her menstrual cycle she made the intellectual leap in figuring out that all
things natural and human created are all part of the same cycle, and thus their
patterns are knowable if approached in a holistic manner.
Teaching Transformation
Although each student was, as might be expected, affected differently by
Venerables class, each student experienced a meaningful impact. Venerables class
was not one that they could easily forget. Ama shared this story of her
transformation:
For me as a home economics major at the time, chemistry became
interesting as a way to make the whole world make sense. After my year of
chemistry with Grant, I became his TA and tutored other students. By the
end of my sophomore year, I changed my major to chemistry. After my BS
degree, I worked at IBM for four years. I then went on to the University of
Massachusetts for a PhD [in chemistry]. I think the problems solving
methods have been extremely helpful in my success as a scientist in the
industrial settings. I have five patents and enjoy the creative process.
Yaa remembers that she was positively transformed by Venerables methods, but
there were other students in the class who were not.

153
For the first time I understood both the value of outside points of view and
the power of analogy as tools for learning and understanding complexity, in
a way that I never would have been taught in a traditional setting. It left a
lasting impression on me as a journalist and later as a champion of
interdisciplinary research and collaborative problem solving. Frankly, it
was very confusing to science students. As I recall they had to be coerced
into trying the method. They seemed to be much more comfortable with the
idea of memorization and regurgitation.
Kweku remembers how Venerables class changed his self-perception, his view of
the universe:
I began to see myself within the all that is creation/cosmos. This was the
transformation for us, regardless of background, we began to experience
shaping our foreground- our present structurethat of mind. This type of
teaching teaches that the abilities, capabilities, and expectation to transform
are within us.
In each student, we see that there was a great appreciation for the life as a
whole, not just chemistry. One student commented that Venerables method gave
her a way of making sense out of the world, which is the original intent of African
knowledge systems, to show the connectivity between whatever whole system is in
our microcosm to the larger macrocosm of the world.
Is There Space?
When asked if there is space for this type of teaching in traditional European
American colleges and universities, there was only one person, Professor Amoah,
who gave a hearty yes. All other interviewees carefully conditioned their answers.
Professor Mensah said, I strongly feel that there is space in the academy for Dr.
Venerables approach to teaching and learning, however, full acceptance will

154
require a major paradigm shift. Kweku deferred the question to Dr. Braithwaite,
who always told him, The way that we educators must prepare our students for the
future that is totally unpredictable is to show them how to consciously manipulate
their own reality field- that of mind. For Kweku, even though this is not what the
academy is doing, it is what they should be doing. Yaa said no, there is no space for
this method. She adds, It is an important way to facilitate real critical thinking
and the lack thereof is the critical failing of education- but the results are too
unpredictable to be accepted as traditional degree coursework. Ama offered this
insight:
Attending a traditional university, Grants methods of teaching was not
received well. I worked in a chemistry stock room at Cal Poly and often
heard other professors question his methods saying that without the typical
memorization of basic chemistry information, a student could not be
successful. I disagree. I think the method is especially useful for students
that are not part of the science mainstream from high school. There would
need to be a prototype set up to work with a group of teachers.
It is interesting that the one person who strongly felt that there was already
space for this type of teaching in the academy also admitted that as a professor, the
administration is mostly unaware of what happens in the classroom. Hence, the
perceived space may be created by the administrations lack of attention to each
class. What is clear is that both students and professors have found the methods to
be useful. However, they are just not unsure of how it would be reconciled with
what they understand to be traditional European American institutions of higher
learning.

155
In the next chapter of the dissertation, I examine my own life and the path
that led me to acceptance of African knowledge systems.

CHAPTER VII
MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY
In this chapter, I examine my own life story specifically to illuminate the
events that have shaped my position as an African redemptionist and as an educator
who embraces African pedagogy. Who I am and will remain is strongly influenced
by my socio-cultural upbringing and my unfortunate encounters with the American
school system and the American system of policing. In addition, and perhaps most
importantly, the course that my life has taken reflects my hopes for a world where
African knowledge systems can be integrated.
I come from a community of immigrants. Both of my parents are
immigrants who traveled to America in their early twenties from the Caribbean
island of Jamaica. The community that I grew up in lived and still lives in the
Rogers Park and Evanston/Skokie area. My elders worked as domestic workers,
landscapers, and blue-collar trade workers on the wealthy, North Shore of Chicago.
My elders would define themselves as rural, agricultural people who came to
America with high hopes of attaining the American dream. They were all bornagain, Pentecostal Christian, which in the Caribbean usually means a type of
Christianity that is blended with a deep-felt, African, spiritual memory.
My father discovered quite early that there was no church that would serve

157
the specific needs of the Jamaican people living on Chicagos North Shore. As a
result, he and my mother opened a Jamaican church in our home in Evanston. Our
home was always full of beautiful, large, colorful, and loud Jamaican women and
men who shared stories and songs. There were old and young men who took pride
in teaching the children born in America about the life of farming, animal
husbandry, planting, and the bounty of the tropics. It was what they remembered
and what they considered worth telling. My earliest memories were of being in my
parents living room having church with a number of other extended family
members. Everyone present was necessarily a family member. It was under the
sound of those rich voices, thick with a Jamaican patois accent and the words and
sounds of Africa, that I first came to recognize myself as a human being. The
stories, the laughter, the spirited worship, and the food-sharing ways of the
Caribbean community would last way into the night. On Friday nights and during
the whole weekend, church services and social gatherings were most memorable.
As a small child, I witnessed the song and dance intensify to the point of spiritpossession. I heard the sick testify that they were spontaneously healed, and I felt
the energy shift from the sadness and emotional heaviness that comes with doing
menial jobs, to joy and happiness. Although, there is no space in academic settings
to share the miracle of these experiences within me, I know they are real. I am
someone who can never deny that there is a spiritual world that can and does affect
the material world.

158
It is impossible to measure the effect that this small Jamaican church
community had on my life and worldview. To put it mildly, I was profoundly
affected. Most important, was the sound of the human voices in story and song. At
a time when I was preschooler and had no other contact with the outside world,
these voices shaped my cognition and colored my imagination. My Jamaican elders
spoke of Jamaica, a place affectionately called back home. They told my two
brothers, my sister, and me of a very beautiful island made up of hills and deep
valleys. They spoke of the food, the flowers, and most importantly the people who
carried in them something much more valuable than money. We are not Yankees,
they boasted. This was not meant to denigrate Americans. Rather it was a way of
preserving and valuing a way of life that was severely challenged by the American
mainstream culture. My elders also spoke of the humiliation of poverty and the pain
of being a disposable and unprotected people. They questioned why they were
always over-looked. Why did no one speak of what made them unique?
Nowhere were the joys and sorrows of my elders expressed more than in
worship. Friday night was reserved for all night prayer and song. Into the early
hours of the morning they prayed and wailed, and sang aloud, with robust and
melodic voices. Their sorrow was a result of the loneness they felt being away from
the loved ones they left behind, from the poverty, broken households, and ill health.
When I was much older and doing research on the African retentions of religions in

159
Jamaica for a masters degree in theology, I would learn that almost all of
the songs that we sang on those Friday nights were slave chants and field hollers,
sung perfectly on the African pentatonic scale. Those echoes of my ancestors run
like an unending stream in my mind.
Saturday was a planning day for the big celebration on Sunday. Being a
home-based church, we did not have fancy, formal instruments. What we did have
were imported goatskin tambourines, which were dried in the sun so that they would
be firm and taut for playing. We would practice Bible verses and songs to sing.
Sunday all day, we sang and danced to the point of saturation. My older sister
recently reminded me how my parents neighbors, who were Italian Americans,
used to stand and peer into the living room window during worship service, and
how they used to point and laugh at my elders in their dance and rhythmic
celebration. Although, my parents often invited the neighbors to come in and join
the great celebration, they always declined.
It was in this context that I first realized that African people had something
worthy of the worlds attention. My elders fostered in me a connection to the spirit
world that would prove unshakable. They taught me that the secret to their survival
was their ability to remain optimistic even in the face of great odds. Their genius
was their connection to the immaterial world, from which they drew tremendous
power. Although their lessons were greatly entangled in Biblical language, the
essence of what they were saying was that for them life was material and

160
immaterial, physical and spiritual simultaneously. To experience life without its
spiritual component was to be empty. For my elders to be fully human meant to
have a good grasp of the spirit world and to be able to communicate with that world,
especially in the time of need.
I must also explain that both my father and mother were first-generation
Christians. All persons born in Jamaica were automatically, and possibly still are,
members of the Anglican Church as a result of the British enslavement and
colonization. However, both my paternal and maternal grandmothers practiced
Poko-Kumina, a spiritual retention of Kumina, a knowledge system from Ghana,
blended with spiritual elements from the Kongo. My paternal great-grandmother
was greatly known for her ability to heal mental illness using strictly the methods of
Poko-Kumina. When my father became a born-again Christian, he desperately tried
to convert his mother and grandmother. His mother eventually converted, but his
grandmother, who died when I was in third grade, never once accepted the idea that
a Christian God could offer anything equivalent to the power she experienced inside
her tradition. My mother converted my maternal grandmother to Christianity. I was
close to my maternal grandmother because she traveled to America to help my
mother raise her children. During my first masters thesis research, I sat down with
my elderly grandmother and asked her about her upbringing in the residual retention
of African traditions in Jamaica. I was very surprised at her anger and
unwillingness to talk to me about her experience. She sharply rebuked me and

161
demanded that I focus on my schoolwork and forget about that old time
stuff. Although I urged her to tell me about her legendary ministry as a balm healer,
she just remained silent. However, before she died three years ago, she shared with
me that she was often sick as a child and fell into many trances. She would never
regain a state of health until she spent time with an older traditional healer learning
the African healing traditions. After studying for a while, she began to practice.
My uncle, my grandmothers oldest child, recounts how my grandmother held
gatherings in the yard, in which the people drummed, sang, and conducted rituals.
My uncle, who was born to my grandmother when she was fifteen years old,
told me that my grandmother was a water child. This is an African tradition that
holds that some children are taken by water spirits and taught to be healers. A water
spirit took my grandmother when she was a child. This story is a source of great
shame for our family. If we as children asked about this event, we were flatly told
to stop the conversation. As a child, I just believed that this was a myth, with no
bearing on reality. However, as I began to immerse myself into Afrocentric
thought, I wondered why Africans must be ashamed of their traditions just because
they do not fall in line with the Eurocentric definition of reality. I asked my
grandmother repeatedly to tell me about the water spirits. Maybe she saw naivet in
me; whatever it was, she never said a word about it. About three years ago I came
across an academic article by Penny Bernard (2001), entitled, Ecological
Implications of Water Spirit Beliefs in Southern Africa. In the article, she states

162
that international agencies such as the United Nations and its educational arm
UNESCO are calling for the recognition of indigenous peoples rights to selfdetermination, the value of their knowledge and the need for strategies to protect
and preserve this knowledge (p. 1). International agencies have come to this
conclusion as a result of global environmental crisis. Bernard (2001) further shares
that her research in South Africa has revealed that there are persons of great value to
their community and to the environment because the water spirits has educated
them. She states,
This experience of being taken under the water, often by a wind or a snake
can happen in a dream, but this is merely notification that the individuals
ancestors are calling him/her to become a healer. The calling is usually
preceded by the candidate suffering an illness (ukuthwasa) although
sometimes, especially in the case of children, they just happen to be playing
near the water at the time. Individuals who have had such experiences
commonly report seeing snakes, mermaids, or even their ancestors. Skills in
healing, sacred knowledge, psychic abilities and medicinal plants seem to be
the gifts that are imparted to those chosen people by water spirits. It is the
spirits that choose the client, not the other way around, and resistance to the
calling usually leads to misfortune. (p. 1)
This article was very sobering for me. I read it about a year after my
grandmother passed away. I was struck by the profoundness of the dilemma that
my grandmother had endured throughout her life. She was in fact a product of
African higher education. However, in order to be seen as decent and worthy
woman, she had to hide that part of her self and embrace Christianity and Western
values. To be her authentic self, she would risk being called a witch and being
stigmatized by her peers. She was born before the time when international

163
organizations realized that their paradigm was sorely lacking, and that they were
indeed in need of women who had my grandmothers educational background. The
questions that go through my mind are: How do we heal this earth? How do we
reconcile the obviously broken covenant with the earth, without going back to the
traditions of those who understand the importance of living in harmony with the
earth? Most importantly, how can those with the answers hang their head in
perceived shame, while the planet and people suffer? That day, I took up my
grandmothers mantle. I am a student of the water, of the African tradition of
connectivity between human and nature. Even at the risk of being called Pagan or
Vodouist, I am resolved that my authentic existence will offer more good than harm
to others and myself.
From the path of my elders, I emerged as one my parents and elders could
barely understand. As I learned more about my history and culture, through
personal research and study groups, my elders earnestly questioned why I chose to
embrace my African roots, when I had enough education to integrate into the
mainstream society and never look back. Why, they wanted to know, did I want
the culture that had a stigma that they tried so hard to escape? I tried to show them
how being raised in the kind of spiritual environment that they provided for me,
only opened my genetic memory and appetite for the most authentic version of
myself. None of my arguments washed well with them, many of them are still
angered and perplexed today. A Vodou priest gave me the most amount of peace

164
about this rift in my family. He told me that Vodou, the mystery and secret of who
we are, and who we will become, passes from one generation to another only by
means of the bloodline. In other words, a person can only be what is in their genetic
coding. It is schizophrenic to attempt to be anyone else.
Education
My formal education began in preschool. This was no ordinary preschool; it
was the effort of communal church in Evanston. The church, Reba Place of
Worship, was serious about communal living. All of my teachers lived between two
huge houses in south Evanston. Having visited, I remember they shared communal
meals and had communal prayer in the evenings. The preschool they collectively
owned was one of their many efforts for financial independence. The teachers were
very much a product of the various social movements of the 1970s. My teacher,
Doug, was a white male, with a long, untrimmed beard, and even longer hair. He
was a natural woodworker, and his interest became our interest. At four years old, I
could hammer and saw with ease. In many ways, this kind of school was safe for
me. The teachers were not xenophobic or hostile to difference. There was not a
heavy emphasis on rote memory of numbers or letters. Children were free to be
children. I thrived in this environment, where the teachers all found my short thick
braids a thing of art, and they often told me that they loved the accent that my
parents spoke.

165
My preschool experience set me up for a shock when I went to kindergarten.
The very first day I noticed that Ms. Whale, who had been my sisters teacher the
previous year, was not a free-spirited person. She was very formal and had a
noticeably arid style as compared to that of my mother and the other large and
colorful women who had shaped my life experience thus far. There were no songs
to sing, in this new setting, expect for the ABC song, which seem to be sung for its
information and not for the joy of singing. I rebelled right away. I sat by myself
and remained quiet. Ms. Whale kept a little book with her all the time and she
would write something down every time she observed my behavior. I was aware
that she was very pleased with a few students, particularly the couple of Caucasian
girls, who often had hair ribbons. I tried to no avail to tell my mother that
something was just not right. She would hear none of it. The teacher has her
education already, she would tell me, and you are trying to get what she has.
Every Monday, Ms. Whale would ask the class what they had done that
weekend. In Evanstons 1970s environment, many middle-class and wealthy
Caucasian families trusted their children in the public school system. I was
genuinely shocked to learn that most children traveled with their families on
weekends. Most of my schoolmates went camping in the Rocky Mountains or they
went to Disney Land. My weekends were just not that interesting. Therefore, I
never raised my hand. However, one weekend, my dad drove us to Canada to visit
his cousin. This was a huge event for everyone in the family, and I could not wait to

166
get to school and share my story. I ran into the classroom before the bell rang.
Ms. Whale, I shouted, my family drove to Canada this weekend! She stood
there with her book against her chest and narrowed her eyes. Then she said in
hoarse whisper, Authens, you are such a liar.
This was a defining moment for me. This moment would repeat itself
through much of my formal educational experience. Ms Whales stare and her
voice contained volumes. In my own small mind, I understood that even though
Evanston boasted about its diverse population, this was a thin veil that covered the
reality of sharp class and race difference that still dominated Evanstons, and for
that matter, this nations social fabric. Needless to say, I was driven further into my
shell after that day. Eventually, Ms. Whale recommended me for psychiatric
evaluation, and my mother, in a state of fear, took me to talk to people who sat
behind desks with note pads and empty eyes. However, when my father got wind of
this, he charged into the school building screaming at the top of his voice that he did
not have any crazy children and that in fact it was she, Ms. Whale, who was crazy.
The teacher said very little to me after that, even though she continued to take notes.
I also learned that I had at least to pretend to go along with the teachers agenda.
However, there was something else at stake in the encounter that I had with
Ms. Whale on that Monday morning. From where I stand now, I can clearly see that
any adult who had even a minimal understanding of the North American map,
would know that it is really no large feat to drive to Canada. No special intelligence

167
is needed for that. However, the point of her remark was to inform my
impressionable mind that I did not have the right to a story. A Black girl with nappy
hair had no voice in a Eurocentric setting designed for the perpetuation without
glitch of the current social class structure. As a five-year-old, my mind was
confused, but my heart understood her intention. She was a gatekeeper, she
understood that her words could permanently damage, and I believe that was the
effect she was seeking. It would be several years before I had the courage to stand
intellectually, toe-to-toe with my Caucasian schoolmates. If her intent was to kill
my spirit, natural curiosity, and enthusiasm for learning, she succeeded in part that
day.
I never spoke about myself again for the rest of the primary school years. I
became a not self. I just did what the teachers asked of me. This position was
painful for me, but I understood that no one cared about what I thought, strangely
enough, not even my parents. They were only concerned about the final grades.
When I went to high school, I had the chance to work in the deans office.
There I came across my file, a composite of all my records since kindergarten. I had
to read it. My suspicions, at the time were confirmed: Ms. Whale had written
dreadful things about my family and myself. There were records of my visit to the
psychiatrist. Many of the subsequent teachers wrote that I did seem quiet; however,
I was not a troublesome child. These notes infuriated me. As it turned out Evanston
High School was the right place for me to channel that anger. Around sophomore

168
year, I began to transform many of my feelings into poetry. I submitted them to the
Black student newspaper, and I was very surprised that they gladly published them.
As a poet, I was asked to join the editing board of the newspaper. This was a great
opportunity for me to share my story and hear other stories from other African
American students who matriculated through the Evanston school system. I was not
the only one with horror stories about the infamous Ms. Whale. As students, we
were sure that the pen was our liberating weapon. Having an independent paper
allowed us to explore and share the teachings of various organizations that promoted
African resistance. By senior year, my family life was falling apart, my parents
were undergoing a painful divorce, and the influence of our family church was
waning in my life. I was an emerging poet, celebrating Kwanzaa, and the liberation
of Nelson Mandela from prison in South Africa. On the campus of the University of
Illinois at Chicago, I immediately joined the Black student poetry group. For me
this was the first time that I would be going to school with African American
students from Chicagos inner city. These students implored me to join a Black
community organization. They argued that poetry without political action was not
respectable. I found myself involved in the issues of the inner city like ending gang
violence and the quest to infuse culture into schools that were clearly overlooked by
the state of Illinois. The students also organized African University, which was a
community-based learning effort. Students selected and taught the classes. All
members of the community could attend. Classes were taken very seriously, with a

169
very long reading list. In this environment of serious African-centered scholars, I
found my own voice, one that had been silenced for such a long time. The
community embraced me as a poet and scholar. In some cases, class would spill out
of the classroom into an all-night, south-side restaurant, where the discussion went
on for hours about the plight of African people in America and worldwide. It was
not uncommon for our discussions to be led by a 60-year-old, former follower of
Malcolm X, a former Black Panther, a jazz musician, or political leaders. I was on
fire with a new vision of Africa and an appreciation of my Caribbean heritage.
By senior year in college, I had one ambition; I wanted to go to Africa. I
had taken African studies courses and I was fascinated and attracted to the
philosophy of Afrocentricity. It made the most sense to me given that I had come
from the clutches of Eurocentrism. My love of Africa smothered my need to
practice Christianity. I bought my first African dress and practiced the art of headwrapping until I perfected it. I tried and failed to be accepted in the Kenya program.
However, I later learned of the Temple Universitys graduate student program to
Ghana. Once accepted, I had to beg and borrow to get sufficient funds for travel.
My efforts fell short and the deadline for payment grew closer. One night my
mother had a dream; that a strange, and finely dressed, black woman knocked on the
back door of our house and told her to let me go to Africa. My mother was deeply
moved by the dream, as most Caribbean folks maintain that dreams are messages
from the spirit world. My mother signed for a loan that enabled my trip.

170
Ghana profoundly affected me from the very first moment. I was in Africa,
the place where I belonged. The first thing that struck me in Africa was that I did
not stand out. While this may have created despair in others, I found great comfort
in it. Out from under the common, scornful glare of America, I could breathe. I
lived on the campus of University of Ghana, where I took classes on African history
and culture. The graduate students from Temple University, being part of the only
doctoral program in African American studies in the United States, were world-class
scholars. They called themselves Africanists. They were some of the sharpest
intellectuals I have ever encountered. I was not really a graduate student yet. I had
just graduated from undergrad and I was not sure of what I wanted to do with my
life. I had been offered a chance to do theological studies at Northwesterns
theological seminary, but I had not made up my mind on that. However, being in
class with those students made it clear that more study was needed. I wanted to
have a full grasp on African cultural thought, the way that they did.
As African Americans, we encountered our match in the Ghanaian students
studying history and culture. They were also sharp intellectuals who had the
advantage of living the reality that we could only partially claim. This was
particularly true of the Ghanaian Rastafarians on the college campus. They made it
clear to me and others that Africa was the only place that African people could ever
dream of exercising full self-determination. The reverence for Africa was religious,
and I was easily swept up in spirit of that setting. One of those men, with whom I

171
held lengthy discussions, would become my husband. To this day, my mother
believes that he worked a charm on me. Nevertheless, the truth is that there is no
way to explain the impact of Africas welcome on a misunderstood and stifled soul.
Both men and women in Africa constantly told me and the other students that we
were so beautiful and that we reminded them of their brother, sister, or sometimes
even their children. Combine that with the smell of the earth, the rich taste of the
food, and the music and I guess you do have what would amount to a charm. Even
today, thirteen years later, Africa still holds that charm over me.
I must mention that while in Ghana I went to El-mina, the mine. This was
the first church and first slave dungeon built on the coast of West Africa. Of course,
there were tears and angry words at the site of such a startling monument of pain,
family separation, and loss of culture. Most significant to me was a narrow staircase
that started in the side of the dungeon where the women were held, twisted its way
through the church sanctuary on the second floor, and ended just beyond a trap door
in the masters bedroom on the third floor. The stairs needed no explanation.
However, the patient tour guide described how African women were trekked,
sometimes twenty or more a night, up the stairs, through the first Christian church in
West Africa and into the bedroom of a rapist! The stairs removed in me my ability
to honor whatever Christian residuals were left in me. I was so distraught. I had to
do something to compensate for the violation and loss I felt in me. In addition, I
needed to materialize the political resolve that I came to at the Door of No Return,

172
the last threshold that Africans passed through before being loaded onto ships. That
day in July thirteen years ago was the last day that I combed my hair. Since then I
have left my hair to grow, as it wants to, as a natural extension of my souls quest to
be left alone and return to its natural state. My decision to renounce Christianity
and let my hair exist as is has caused a huge rift in my family. At times, I wish that
it did not cause them so much pain, but you cannot un-ring a bell. My history is
what has shaped me.
A Watershed Moment
I returned to America in the fall of 1995, leaving my husband behind with a
promise that I would apply for a visa for him to come to America. Once in
America, I took the scholarship to study at Garrett Evangelical Theological
Seminary, at the behest of my mother who thought that this would surely change my
mind about Jesus Christ. Instead, I quickly recognized that I had re-entered Ms.
Whales class. I was certainly naive to think that I could carry out Afrocentric
research at Northwestern, one of Illinois (and for that matter the nations) most
prestigious schools.
I quickly clashed with Rosemary Ruether, the leading feminist theologian in
America. I did not know that even as a woman I did not have the right to tell my
own story. I was told that a paper that I wrote on my own religious experience
could not be accepted because, according to Rosemary Ruether, women were not

173
ordained to preach in the Black church experience. I immediately went to see the
dean about this. She flatly told me that Rosemary Ruether brought the most money
into the school, so if she had rejected my paper I should simply re-write it on her
terms. Oh, so this game had nothing to do with the truth. It was true that in the
denominational churches in the African American experience, women usually did
not preach. But I was neither. I was called to preach when I was ten years old. As
a female child preacher, my church family embraced me. Furthermore, I was of
Caribbean heritage, and I was from what, in American culture, would be called a
non-denominational church. Our family church was in the classic sense a stand
alone, independent church. Yet my voice was over-shadowed once again.
Graduate school was hard for me. It was hostile, and created an intellectual,
choking experience for me. More importantly, I missed my husband, and his
application for a visa was repeatedly denied. In the second year of the program, I
told my thesis chairperson that I wanted to write about the retention of African
religions in the Diaspora. She told me that if she was going to approve that topic I
had to submit a supporting bibliography of one hundred books. She politely offered
me two book titles that could start me on my way. I was much too mature to give
up on my vision. I spent several hours in the Herskovits Africana library at
Northwestern. After many weeks of researching, I found one hundred books. This
research made me stronger. I developed a firmer grip on concepts that I could

174
barely explain before. My committee went over every book with a fine-tooth comb
asking me to give my justification for its inclusion. I was ready for them, and my
topic was approved.
In December of that year, I decided to take a trip back to Ghana to reunite
with my family there. I traveled from Chicago with my younger brother, who was
going to represent our family. Ghana to me was like the memory of a wonderful
dream. It was good to be back with my husband and his parents. I also met many
friends I had made on campus in 1995. My soul began to recover from the blight of
Northwestern. My brother returned to Chicago one week earlier than I did because
he had to return to work.
A week later, I had a tearful, heart-wrenching good-bye from Ghana and my
family there. All of my thoughts were focused on how to bring our family together
during my ride from Ghana to Germany, where I had a five-hour layover. I was one
of the only Black persons on the flight back to Chicago. Most of the other
passengers were Germans. I carried a stack of letters that my husband had written
to me during our year and a half separation and read them repeatedly.
Once back at the international terminal of OHare Airport, I got my luggage
and headed for customs. I guess I was naive and somewhat dazed by the warmth of
the reception I felt in Ghana. However, I was quickly shocked back into reality
when a woman of Asian origin, possibly Philippine or another ethnicity called me to

175
her line. I did notice that she was angry. She asked me why I was traveling alone.
I explained that my brother traveled with me but came home earlier. She asked me
what did I go to Ghana to do. I told her I went to see my husband and his family.
She asked me where I worked. I told her I was full-time student, who used my
student loan to pay for this trip. I guess my story was not believable. She opened
my suitcases and shook out the contents on the conveyer belt and the floor. That is
when my anger started to rise. I questioned her motive. She said nothing but
continued to rummage through my things like they were trash. Her actions and the
volume of my voice attracted the attention of the German persons whom I flew into
Chicago with. Quite a few of them took out their cameras and took pictures of the
immigration police pulling and throwing my things into a stack on the floor. This
must have appeared as a shock to them given that they were just waved through
customs.
The Asian woman officer then took my purse and dumped out the contents
onto the belt; all the while radioing unclear messages to someone on her radio. I
was angry, and my shouting only invigorated her. She took my stack of letters and
began reading them. This singular act burned me on the inside like a raging fire. I
asked to speak to her boss and she radioed for someone to come. Another woman
officer came and paid no attention to me. Instead, she helped the first officer read
my letters. This went on for about thirty minutes. Their search yielded nothing.
Yet, she radioed for additional permission to do a body search on me. This message

176
I did understand. It was only then that I fully realized that these were real police,
with real guns, who could really kill me.
I decided to be quiet and follow their orders. I followed both women to a
room that had no windows and a door with a dead bolt. They told me to strip down
to my underwear. I began to use my spiritual tools to call on the power of ancestors
as I took off my clothes. They could easily kill me and make up a story, I thought.
They searched my dress, my shoes, and my bra. They told me to take off my headwrap. My un-combed hair was matted together, and the look of it probably really
surprised them. I heard one of them say to the other that the drugs must be in my
hair. That is how I got wind that this was a drug search. One officer put on gloves
and began to pull my hair apart. Each time she pulled my hair apart it sounded like
Velcro being ripped apart. The pain of it brought tears to my eyes. My anger flared
and I asked them if they thought that there were enough drugs in my hair to supply
the needs of all the addicts in Chicago. It was obvious that drugs had to come in by
the ship and planeloads in order to serve the needs of all the addicts. My mouth was
not helping my own case. The original officer radioed and clearly asked if she had
permission to do a cavity search. At that point, I looked in her eyes, and I saw the
same evil that I saw in the eyes of Ms. Whale, only this time much more pernicious.
What I saw there was how dare you pursue your agenda. You are a Black woman
and therefore a drug seller or addict in our eyes, and even if we cannot find drugs on

177
you we will break your spirit, so you will be fearful to ever go to Africa again. She
knew that I knew, and I knew that she knew that she had gone too far. It is true that
the police hold some of the most unchecked sources of power in America.
Her superiors granted the officer permission to conduct the cavity search.
She put on a fresh pair of gloves. However, she could not carry out the search when
she saw that I was menstruating. The goddess of menstruation, may her deification
persist in the human community; she, the red goddess was the only force that stood
between a state-sanctioned rape and me. The officers were clearly angered by the
presence of my menstrual cycle. They began to talk aloud to each other, asking how
they were going to justify asking for all the various levels of deeper searches, which
produced nothing. Her supervisor did not know what to tell her, and they left the
room in confusion, telling me only to put on my clothes and go home.
I had to sit there for a while, cold and naked, except for my underwear, and
collect myself. What was that? Did I look like a drug-dealer? Something inside me
urged me quickly to put on my clothes and leave. In the general terminal, I found
my things all over. In tears and confusion I gathered only what I could hold. I
made sure to take my letters, and I left. I came to an empty house, where the phone
just kept ringing. When I answered it, I heard the voice of a very gentle, older,
Black woman. She told me that she was calling from Terminal 5 of OHare Airport.
She told me that she knew what happened to me was not right. She also told me

178
that she was going to mail me the things that I left in the airport. She asked me to
try and forget everything. I hung up from her in tears. I told my mother when she
came home. She told me that this happens to people traveling back and forth to
Jamaica all the time. I was without a comforter.
After my unfortunate incident with OHare Airport police, I had to face the
vicious battle of my thesis defense. During the thesis defense, I encountered for the
first time in my life what I can only classify as intellectual violence. For me
intellectual violence includes ethnocentric arrogance, condescension, xenophobia,
Negrophobia, and generally, the use of intellectual positions of power to break the
human spirit and re-make it in a manner that is pleasing to the powerful.
As a presidential scholar at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, I had
the opportunity to extend the scholarship that I had at the masters level into a
doctoral program that would combine theological studies with any program of my
choice at Northwestern University proper. To the dismay of many in my family, I
declined that offer. After graduating with my first masters degree, I closed the
intellectual chapter of my life. I was a wounded person. The mental and spiritual
attacks that I had sustained temporarily usurped my will to engage the Eurocentric
system in any way.
For the next three years of my life, I sought serenity. I worked very
sparingly as a pre-school teacher. Being around children helped me to remember
that there was innocence in world. During the first of those three years, I became

179
pregnant with my first child. As I had no desire to deal with the mainstream
hospitals, so the study of midwifery came natural for me. It was difficult to find a
midwife who would mentor me, given that the practice of midwifery outside of a
hospital setting was then, and remains today, illegal in Illinois. However, I was
persistent. I was determined to have a homebirth without the assistance of any
allopathic physician or medical personnel. My lived experience had biased me
against them. Furthermore, I knew that there was a long-standing African American
tradition of midwifery that during the slavery era in North America preserved the
life and dignity of African women, whom the formal medical establishment refused
to serve.
My persistence paid off when I was linked by one of my elders with a
granny midwife who practiced midwifery in the United States and in Liberia for
thirty years. For fear of legal prosecution she informed me that she could not as
function as my midwife, but she could teach my husband and I the art of midwifery
and work as our coach through the process. Reluctantly we agreed feeling dismayed
that we were not getting exactly what we wanted. However, this arrangement was a
blessing in disguise. For the first time since I left our family church, I was being
taught in an African-centered manner. It was amazing to learn biology, a subject
that I had studied for years, through the art of storytelling. As Dr. Venerable
elucidates in his interview, the use of African pedagogy begins with the universals
the story. Layers of rich, descriptive story surrounded every single lesson that I

180
learned from my midwife. Never, did she simply say okay here are the facts. My
midwife made ample use of repetition and she definitely preached the gospel of
midwifery. After our first sit down with her, my husband and I were amazed at how
much she knew, how much experience had taught her, and the extent to which she
was able to rely safely on her intuition as her guide. She would tell me all the time,
The things Im telling you cant read in books. My study with her made me
appreciate my humble upbringing in a small Jamaican church setting. It also clued
me in to the fact that African people taught this way intentionally. In other words,
their style was not an aberration of the Eurocentric style of teaching; it stood on its
own.
After three years and two successful home births, I was mentally strong
again. Having been immersed into the world of African midwifery, I had learned
the value of learning from the center of my own experiences. In addition, the
pedagogy my granny midwife used allowed me to master a large amount of
information in short period of time. As a non-science person, I emerged as one who
could speak with confidence about womens health, birth, and afterbirth issues. I
also was able to become proficient in more than one field of natural medicine. I
became convinced that African people had to take control of their education process
if they were going to have a chance to end their mandatory dependency on a system
of education and culture that repeatedly abused and belittled them.

181
I took a job at the City Colleges of Chicago helping students on the West
Side of Chicago pass English 101. My entire quest at that point was to bring to the
classroom enough African-centered education and technique to awaken the natural
genius in the students, the same genius that was awakened in me by the granny
midwife I studied with. In some cases, this worked and in other instances it was a
complete failure. All of the teachers in my department had similar complaints about
student success. At that time, Valerie Perkins was Vice-President of Malcolm X
College and she implored us to register for Northern Illinois Universitys program in
Adult Education. She assured us that taking classes would help us become better
instructors. I cautiously entered Northerns Adult Education program, with the
promise to myself that I would never accept any more intellectual violence. I knew
what I wanted from the very first day I entered the classroom. I wanted to study
African-centered education. I wanted to explore the contribution of African people
to the intellectual heritage of the world. At that point, I was not able to articulate
my need to explore and write about African pedagogies, but intuitively I knew that
this issue was at the core of my quest. Even today, I remain committed to the same
cause.
I have concluded that the only way for powerless people to live with dignity
is to practice self-reliance and bring an end to mandatory dependence on a system
that denies their humanity. My contribution to that effort has been, and will be the
advancement of African ways of knowing and learning. My goal is to create space

182
for others like me and myself, who desire to use African knowledge systems,
teach in their own style, and explain the world from their own perspective. This
conviction is what led me to the work of Dr. Grant Venerable.
My Experience in this Research
When I started this research, I had the kind of naivet that is typical of all
enthusiasts. I had been reading about African thought for a long time and I was
excited to discover this element. However, after my first interview with Dr.
Venerable I was shocked into reality. I had to readily come to grips with the fact
that he was a world-class chemist, and I understood very little, if any, chemistry. It
was as if he was speaking a different language. At the end of that interview, I
panicked; these concepts were so new, so beyond what I had heard before. Was I
crazy? What made me think that I could sit down, interview this University of
Chicago-trained chemist, and understand what he was saying.
I decided to call Venerable back and tell him that I was uncertain if I could
continue with this research. I just was not able to understand it. He quietly listened
and then suggested that I stick with the process because it would eventually make
sense to me. It was not until I began re-reading and coding the interviews from his
former students that I realized that Venerable handled this research with same
methods he used to teach his class. He started by telling me the universals, huge,
lofty concepts that eventually began to make sense to me as he filled in the details.

183
In my judgment it was a good way to approach this research, it offered a richer
appreciation of African pedagogy; much richer than I would have had if Venerable
on day one just said, Okay, here is the seven step process.
To fully comprehend Venerables Ven Matrix I had to apply my own
understanding of the only whole system of knowledge that I knew, which was
African/holistic lay midwifery. One day while examining the Ven Matrix, I noticed
that it looked surprisingly like the Bakongo diagram of life that I used as a student
of lay midwifery. It is important for me to add that holistic lay midwifery does not
only encompass pregnancy and delivery, it also includes all of womens health
issues from birth until death. In addition, children, family health issues, and herbal
medicine are also vital components. Holistic lay midwifery also deals with the
power of relationships: the human-to-human, the human-to-environment, and the
human-to-spirit world relationships. The Bakongo diagram of life illuminates
holistic lay midwifery because it interprets all whole/holistic systems. Not only
does it describe each part of the system it also focuses on the relationship between
each part. This is the exact function of the Ven Matrix. When I shared my
observation with Dr. Venerable he was deeply impressed. He encouraged me to use
holistic lay midwifery as a tool that would aid in my comprehension and articulation
of the Ven Matrix.
Throughout this whole process, Venerable has been so patient. Even when I
was unsure, panicky, and ready to give up, he exercised the patience of Obatala, the

184
legendary god of maturity, lord of the white cloth, and the kind-hearted father of all
human beings as described in the Nigerian-Yoruba story of beginnings. Which
leads me to my final point: any teacher who is going to use these pedagogies has to
be a mature person. They must be the type person who can see beyond the surface
and remain confident that each student can and will master the information. In the
next chapter, I give a conclusion for this research. In addition, I offer a discussion
the primary implications of the major ideas explored in this research, and I offer
ideas for further research and practice.

CHAPTER VIII
CONCLUSION
African knowledge systems have produced unique pedagogies that exceed
the bounds of linear thinking. To be precise, the pedagogies of African knowledge
systems can be mathematically explained with the algebraic unity equation + +
=1(unity). In linear mathematics this expression would make no sense.
However, as Venerable explains, the unity equation is a relational expression just
like the relational expression 1=12. When the mind reads 1=12, the relationship
between the numbers is clear; one dozen equals 12 units. Similarly, there is a
relationship between one and three halves. In an educational setting this means that
unity or one is equal to the actual material (physical aspects) in our world and its
rules of procedure. In addition, there is the essence of the material, also known as
structure of mind, and the final half of the equation is the membrane or element that
connects both halves. The African-centered mind constructs the world as being
material, spiritual, and connected. The Yoruba people of Nigeria express the unity
equation by speaking of divine twins (Teish, 1994). The twins are separate, but
essentially the same, and eternally connected by bloodline. The twins can otherwise
be classified as right and left-brain thinking.
African epistemology yields a very different (as compared to EuroAmerican) set of mandates for the classroom teacher. The teacher is required to

186
teach the subject matter as well as teach the essence of the subject also called the
structure of mind. How this is done was the focus of this dissertation.
Question One
The central question of this dissertation was: What are the pedagogical
methodologies which emerge from African knowledge systems?
An African knowledge system, as evidenced by the Ven Matrix and all of its
proceeding symbols, embraces a feminine vision of the universe. This vision
mandates in education that there be balance between the masculine and feminine
ways of knowing. This position yields a very rare and unique set of pedagogies.
According to Dr. Grant Venerable, the pedagogies that emerge from African
knowledge systems can be categorized into seven phases or parts. First is the
mandate to start with the universals. This means on day one of the class, the formal,
Euro-American structure of introducing the course and handing out the syllabus is
abandoned. The universals are those human arts that all humans can relate to and
feel. The universals are those arts that still the human mind and peel away the
layers of obstruction from the subconscious mind.
It literally melts the affective filters or reservations that students have toward
learning. This usually takes the form of storytelling of some sort. Storytelling takes
the form of poetry recitation in Dr. Venerables classroom. Dr. Therese
Braithwaite, who used dance as a means of storytelling, inspired him. Phase two of

187
the method involves speaking with conviction the gospel of the subject matter, that
is, introducing the subject in its cosmological terms and doing so with the
contagious joy and passion that is needed to entrain students. Phase three requires
the teacher to tune in or discern where the students are in relation to where they
should be. This is a vital step that differentiates Western methods from the African
method. Learning is about the student, not necessarily about fulfilling a course
outline. Phase four is more or less a command, to avoid the concrete and the
didactic for as long as possible, or at least until students are engaged and ready for
concrete information. This involves using universals as well as avoiding the
textbook and giving assignments that are designed to jump-start the minds own
ability to notice patterns and solve problems. This is done in addition to stimulating
the students natural curiosity to know more about the subject. When students are
mentally ready, then phase five occurs. It is the step in which the teacher leads the
students into the concrete information of the subject matter in a slow and
deliberate manner. Venerable says that when the time is right to drop in the
information, the teacher must advance based on definitions. The definitions that
are offered at this point are to be given in the most pragmatic form, often involving
the use of Latin or any other language that offers a holistic understanding of words.
At this point, it is important that the teacher relate all that is introduced to what
students already know. In phase six, the instructor must test or otherwise evaluate
students. This does not necessarily involve written tests. In fact, Dr. Venerable

188
prefers oral and group testing. Tests are not given to trick or frighten students.
Rather, tests are given to create an opportunity for students to gain courage in using
their new tools. Finally, phase seven is simply repetition. All six of the steps must
be repeated as necessary, with particular attention to step one, the universals, which
Venerable says secures the success of all the other steps.
The questions that supported the main question mainly inquired what makes
African pedagogy distinct and how the pedagogy changed the classroom setting.
Question Two
The first supporting question in this dissertation was: How do they (African
pedagogies) differ from Eurocentric pedagogies?
It is Venerables contention that one of the main things that distinguish
African pedagogies from the Eurocentric counterparts is the use of intuitive space.
Literally, African knowledge systems embrace the feminine, the intuitive, the power
of ntuology/relationships, and symbol and myth. The African method leaves room
for, encourages, and even desires the teacher to use intuition to direct the flow of
information from teacher to student. In contrast, Eurocentric methods use an
arguably more rigid, linear method. Here, once again I take for granted that most
people are familiar with the Eurocentric method of teaching which primarily relies
on direct instruction of a pre-determined subject matter only.

189
Whereas in the traditional European American classroom direct instruction
on the subject matter usually begins on day one or shortly thereafter, using the
pedagogy of an African knowledge system students follow a system that is most
analogous to a seed. That is, the method begins with a period of dormancy, during
which the teacher does not give any direct instructions on the subject matter.
Rather, a teacher may use any branch of the arts to prime the students minds for
learning. Like a seed that is planted and must remain dormant and then develop its
root system before breaking ground, the practitioner of African pedagogy nurtures
the human mind with the same kind of care. Attention is paid to the physical
classroom setting, words are spoken that awaken elements of the human
subconscious, and the arts are used to facilitate ease of thinking.
Question Three
The third supporting question was: How do they (African pedagogies)
transform the way students learn, the classroom, and even the climate of a particular
institution of higher learning?
Based on the surveys completed by the former students of Dr. Venerable, I
concluded that learning is more successful by use of African pedagogies. The
students described Venerables classroom as being fertile, open and highly
engaging, and as a setting in which sleeping was not possible. Dr. Venerables
colleagues noted that the climate of a particular institution is barely changed by

190
these methods. This is because administrators and colleagues rarely know what is
going on in a teachers classroom. However, one student did report that she was
aware that privately Venerable was ridiculed for not using the traditional
Eurocentric methods of teaching.
Question Four
The final supporting question was: In what ways is there space in traditional
Eurocentric universities and colleges for the African pedagogies?
Four of the five persons interviewed said that there could be, based on
conditions, space for the said methods in Euro-American colleges and universities.
In response to that question, Venerable said, On the face of it, no. And the long
and short of it is, no. However, he added these thoughts:
If we re-phrase the question, and ask where the university came from in
European civilization- it came across the Mediterranean from the African
civilization in Africa. That is difficult for a lot of scholars do deal with, but I
think the society as a whole is ready to hear that. When I have given
speeches in the 1990s and spoken to groups in Maryland and Wyoming, and
I would discuss the origin of civilization from 17 thousand years ago in the
Nile Valley, up through Europe and America, people would sit there dazed
and thrilled and disappointed. And they would tell me that they always
knew something was left out. They werent given the whole story in school.
And they now see that there is much more to the story. And I think thats
what is going to push it. [There] is this push out of the U.S. department
of Education for universities to do student outcomes learning assessments.
And if they do it truly, how we are starting to at Lincoln University, it is
going to push right into that space question. Is there space? And the answer
is going to be, yes. There has to be space because there are so many people
who are, somehow whether it is culturally or genetic, whatever it is, they are
much more in an African cultural space for learning.

191
Discussion
The fundamental truth that emerges from the cumulative knowledge of
African people, from ancient times to the present, is that all of reality is unity. This
does not only include all living things, it also includes those thing classified as nonliving by Western scientists. Veharen (1995) states, What the Eurocentric history
of science misses is an earlier African reduction of the complex universe to a unity
(p. 64).
This cosmological stance mandates a type of education that knowledge is in
its totality. That is, there can be no separation between material substance of a
subject (its masculine) and its passive, felt, or spiritual elements (the feminine). Nor
can there be any radical separation between any of the academic subjects. While
this position may appear religious, it is more properly identified as holistic, a system
not in denial of its masculine or feminine aspects.
African people are not the only ones who speak of their misunderstanding of
the European-American denial and separation of a unified reality. Native
Americans are also stating their objection. Deloria and Wildcat (2001) state:
Even a cursory examination of the numerous problems facing modern
technological societies and the failure of modern educational systems to find
solutions to these problems, which are essentially moral and ethical in
character, suggests something is fundamentally amiss in the dominant
education systems of the United States. The conflict between Western
science and religion, and the inability of the vast majority of Western
thinkers to find a common ground or consistent intellectual framework,
speak directly to the central problem with Western metaphysics: the failure

192
to produce a coherent worldview encompassing the process of the world and
how we humans find meaning in those processes. (p. 7)
Native Americans, as evidenced through the writings of Deloria and Wildcat
(2001), are baffled by the separation that characterizes Western education. In
addition, they complain that they have no framework that speaks of the cycles of the
world and how to make meaning of those cycles.
Africa has an ancient antidote to this problem. When we respectfully revisit
Africas history, we find that from the very beginning, knowledge systems were
created to understand cycles and to make meaning of those cycles. The Ven Matrix
is such a framework. Using this framework, Dr. Venerable was able not only to
teach chemistry successfully but was also able to offer the meaning of chemistry as
it applies to his students lives. The answer to the deepest of human questions is
usually, what does this mean for me? This is where the unified, African knowledge
system shines because it offers us a way to interpret the material reality that we
experience.
The methods used to teach from the unified vision or from African
pedagogical stances look and feel tremendously different from the methods used in
the European American traditional classroom. African pedagogy asks the teacher to
employ storytelling and other art forms in order to condition the minds of the
students for learning. The responses to the questions offered from former students
and colleagues of Dr. Grant Venerable suggest that his uses of African pedagogical
methodologies are effective. In order to revive such teaching practices, African

193
people, wherever born, have to realize that that they have an intellectual legacy that
is worthy of investigation and implementation. The holistic way of knowing is the
old landmark left by the ancestors of African people. My contention is that it is too
important a stance to be overlooked. We must reclaim this way of knowing.
Implications for Education
What my research has uncovered is that although there have been historical
arguments made to the contrary, Africa has had and currently has evolving
knowledge systems. Many of these systems are known in the Western world and
are incorrectly reduced in definition to religions or traditions. African knowledge
systems include but are not limited to Ausarian knowledge tradition, Ifa, Dogon
cosmology, Akom of the Akan people, Vodou, Bakongo schools of knowledge, and
the Izangoma system of South Africa. Each of these systems adequately records
and preserves the assertions, observations, and intellectual sureties of people from
whom they originate. As documented in the literature review of this paper, in many
cases, African knowledge systems have made the same or similar assertions and
observations about reality that Western scientists have made. In other cases, such as
in the case of the Dogon intellectuals, it at least appears that their observations of
the natural world and its meaning far exceed the current findings of Western
science.

194
Furthermore, this research uncovered the fact that African knowledge
systems use specific pedagogies, pedagogies that are premised on the idea that all of
reality is one (unified). These pedagogies mandate that the material and nonmaterial elements of reality be acknowledged and respected in the teaching process.
Use of these pedagogies was explored in this study by examining the teaching
career of Dr. Grant D. Venerable II. Dr. Venerable was an optimal candidate for
this research as Dr. Therese Hance Braithwaite had mentored him for several years
in the use of African pedagogies. In addition, he used it with success for several
years in the classrooms of various American colleges and universities. Generally,
the students of Dr. Venerable found the pedagogies that he used to be helpful in
their understanding of chemistry. Finally, this study found that most of the students
and colleagues interviewed felt that Venerables pedagogies could be used in
American colleges and university if the necessary paradigm adjustments were made.
Based on what was found in this study, the implications are numerous and
multi-layered. One of the foremost ideas that can be extrapolated is that the
debasing of Africa and African people as a non-intellectual people, who have no
history or academic tradition, is an entirely false stance. Lest it be felt that the
detractors of Africas intelligence are only from bygone generations, it should be
noted that as recently as July 2007, President Nicholas Sarkosy, the current
president of France, delivered a speech at the University of Dakar in Senegal, in
which he made the following statement:

195
The tragedy of Africa is that the African man has never really entered
history. The African peasant, who for centuries has lived according to the
season, whose ideal it is to be in harmony with nature, has only known
eternal renewal of time via the endless repetition of the same actions and the
same words. In this mentality, where everything always starts over again,
there is no place for human adventure, nor for any idea of progress.
(Sarkosy, 2007, p. 1)
The idea that no intellectual heritage is to be found in Africa is as pervasive
and socially palatable today as it was in the days of its origin. This study takes a
giant step in the other direction. Not only is Africa brimming with history and
intellectual vitality, it is historically the continent that led the world out of
intellectual obscurity. Unfortunately, the myth of Africas ignorance is not benign.
It serves to fuel European and Arabic (the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the current
crisis in Darfur, Sudan) greed and aggression against Africa in the name of religion
and development. As teachers, when we teach our various subject matters without
ever clarifying Africas contribution to the worlds intellectual pool, we are
knowingly or unknowingly giving our consent to the continued aggression against
African ideas, natural resources, and people. Making space for Africa at the
intellectual table humanizes Africans in the eyes of all other races. This is a most
important task.
Another implication of this study is the clear revision of reality that African
knowledge systems call for. Whether it is classified as Ntuology or holistic
framing, African knowledge systems envision reality as a unified whole. The parts
of the whole can be classified as male and female, material and non-material, or

196
physical and metaphysical. Africas contention is that the parts are inextricably
linked. Reality is one. European missionaries who rushed into Africa during the
1800s and are still today speaking out against pagan gods and rituals and pushing
the doctrine that there is only one god have missed and are missing the greater point.
More important than the need for the acknowledgement that there is one god, is the
need to acknowledge that there is only one reality, which cannot be separated! It is
from this stance that we get the most ethical code of human behavior. If all of
reality is one, no one can act in aggression against another without inflicting that
same level of aggression against him/her. The victim and the oppressor are one;
both suffer the same level of dehumanization. That is, if I make someone less than
human, I too become less than human and a slave to my vices and demons, even if it
is not immediately apparent. Veharen (1995) states that from the unified reality we
also get a new form of environmental awareness:
This philosophy does not distinguish between animate and inanimate
reality because all reality is animated by laws or forces. There is no
separation of spirit (in entomology that which breathes and moves) and
matter because all matter movesHere we have a new philosophical
grounds for a deep ecology of identification with mountains and rivers, as
sense of home and place. In this philosophy, we include the other in our
self-definition. (p. 70)
A unified reality mandates a new pedagogy in the European American
classroom. Veharen (1995) offers a corrective vision:
All academic disciplines (mathematics, language, science, philosophy,
history, art) are interconnected. They are taught as separate subjects only by
distortion. Teaching them as separate cultures not only miseducates
students but also destroys their interest in what we so misguidedly call

197
school. (In Greek meant leisure time.) All education must be
intimately connected to life as the individual student lives it. (p. 69)
As far as teachers are teaching disabled in this pedagogy, they must, in the
interest of their students, seek out the assistance from those teachers who do know
this pedagogy. This idea is discussed further in the implications section.
When the idea of a unified reality is expanded to an optimal level, there are
implications for the field of education, specifically adult education. The late Dr.
Asa Hilliard (1997), a champion of African-centered education, informed his
readers that African knowledge systems call for much more than lifelong learning.
My suggestion for revision might be life, the learning process. All of life is
worthy to be classified as education, both the mundane and the dynamic aspects.
African knowledge systems contend that learning begins at conception and goes
right through to death rites and ancestral rituals. Hilliard (1997) describes how life,
the learning process, begins:
Our ancestors began education and socialization processes prenatally
(Gerber, 1958, Pearce, 1977; Ainsworth, 1967). It started as soon as it was
understood that a woman had conceived. Collective nurturing of the
pregnant woman is key. The prenatal effort and the immediate postnatal
effort emphasized a strategy that played an instrumental role throughout the
education and the socialization process; bonding. Strategies were pursued to
insure that the newborn became an inseparable part of the group, with
corresponding reciprocal commitments. (p.11)
In adult education there is a separation, or at the very least a distinction,
between formal and non-formal education. Hilliard (1997) disagrees. He states,
SBA: The Reawaking of the African Mind reveals a profound yet simple

198
appreciation that education is both the formal and informal process wherein a people
rationally guide and systematically guarantee the reproduction and refinement of the
best of themselves (p. xvii). Thus, African knowledge systems call for a reevaluation of the word education. It must include how a child is conceived,
carried, and delivered. It must also include how a child is nurtured, given direction
and information about life, and how a child transitions into adulthood. Education is
also formal schooling that prepares people to assume a role in the society, and
informs them of what the current problems are in their generation. Education is the
calling that most adults receive in life to attend to certain areas of concern in a way
that moves their generation in the direction of greater humanity. In addition,
education is also how people mature in elderhood and ultimately how they transition
into the ancestral realm and are remembered and venerated by those left behind.
The quest to learn what we will do in life is as important as the quest to learn who
we truly are. Both processes are inseparable and they flow easily into one another.
Life is, at least for humans, the ultimate learning process. All of life is education
without separation or special emphasis on any one area. In honoring all of life as
education, the sacred nature of life is illuminated, and the life process is more
deeply savored. African knowledge systems call us to see life from this perspective.
A unified reality is at the heart of this paradigm shift. Perhaps Veharen (1995) says
it most clearly, All reality is a unity and we divide this unity into parts because
of the limitations of our present knowledge (p. 65).

199
Black Women, Mathematics, and Pedagogy
The implication that is perhaps most profound from this research is that
African knowledge systems found their source in the lived and embodied experience
of the African woman. She is responsible for the first known intellectual
abstraction. It is her observation of her body, her menstrual cycle, and her
impregnation process that forms the bedrock of scientific observation even today.
Yet, the image of the African woman is noticeably scarce in Western circles of the
hard sciences. Perhaps this is because her idea of science has very little to do with
its utilitarian quality and much more to do with being human.
At the center of the civilization, as created by the matriarchal cultures of
Africa, is mathematics. Mathematics is not to be mistaken here for a set of
functions by which the material world can be manipulated; rather, it is best stated in
its original Ancient Khemetian name, Maat, the goddess of order, truth, and justice.
The word, mathematics comes from the world maati-maati, which is rooted
in the Maatic philosophy. Maat is the mother of justice, truth, and pure
hearts. She is balance and righteousness. She is the underlining principle of
Khemtic and Chushtic cultures and some representation of her is found in
many matrilineal high cultures. With Maat, all sciences of measurement
explore material and spiritual dimensions of the universe. Mathematiks is
universal law. (Alesha, 2004, p.327)
The African woman, the first teacher of human kind, held mathematics at the
center of her reality because all of life was ordered and could be reconciled if one
observed and comprehended the order of living and non-living things. She was the
vulture and the snake that swallowed its tail. She understood the cyclical patterns of

200
life and knew that the needs of humans would be best served as they worked in
harmony with those patterns. The African womans perspective informed all
African knowledge systems and most of the indigenous knowledge systems around
the world. Thus, is should come as no surprise that Dr. Therese Braithwaite, who
was Dr. Venerables mentor, and a tireless advocate of African pedagogy, was
herself an African woman. While studying abstract algebra at the University of
Chicago, Braithwaite received an ancient revelation mathematics was not only a
set of functions, it was also the language of the spirit world!
Algebra in particular is the branch of mathematics that allows for the
recognition that numbers may go into the negative realm and still be there. For
example, in algebra, -30 and -3000 are legitimate numbers. In addition, it is the
branch of mathematics in which unknown variables (a + b = c) can be known if we
understand the order of what is being described. The way we approach the
unknown in mathematics is the same way we approach the unknown in life; we seek
out its central order, its organizing structure, we align it to the cosmogram or Ven
Matrix, and the unknown variables are then knowable. The knowledge systems
originated by African women yield pedagogies that are not only useful in the
classroom, they are also useful in life and self-development. All of the students
interviewed in this study stated that in one way or another the pedagogies they were
exposed to Dr.Venerables class have been useful to them in their lives. This is
remarkable given that they were exposed to the pedagogy for only one semester

201
during their first year in college. African knowledge systems call us back to the
ancient pedagogy that has meaning for life matters, not only for academic subjects.
This is the old educational landmark set by the ancient matriarchs of Africa. In
reflection on how much things have changed since the African matriarch and her
teachings disappeared from the marketplace, the authors Martinie and Glassman
(1992) make this observation:
The market is a traditional place of power for [African] women. The stock,
commodity, money or fruit markets are but extensions of the life-giving
function of a womans breast. If the market in its various forms were kept
and controlled by women, perhaps its function, that of meeting the real needs
of the entire populace (female and male) would be fulfilled. It may be a
serious aberration that these markets are controlled by men, who use them
for personal acquisition and accumulation rather than for life-sustaining
functions. (p. 45)
I argue that a similar statement can be made about education. Education and
its pedagogies as they first emerged in the African context had to do with
understanding the nature of the cycles that composed human life, and gaining an
awareness of our purpose in that cycle. However, education as we have come to
know it in the Western paradigm is far afield from that original landmark. From the
African perspective, Western education has been desacralized (this has nothing to
do with how life connects to all things and ultimately the cosmos). Western
education also is a reduction of the whole. With its stringent focus only on the
material world, and its overuse of direct instruction as pedagogy, it can paralyze the
human spirit that is designed to feel, to intuit, to experience spontaneous revelation,
and to desire a more meaningful connection between itself, others, and the cosmos.

202
As the researcher, it is my contention that even as we evaluate and change our nongreen attitudes towards the earth, we must also examine in what ways we have been
less than holistic in all other sectors. In education, this calls for us to be more open
to the ideas of non-Western knowledge systems that persistently call for a more
holistic form of knowledge.
Implications
In order for the pedagogies of African knowledge systems to be seen as a
viable option for teachers, two things have to happen. First, there needs to be
research done on African American teachers who still use some or all of these
pedagogies. This is an important step because such teachers have already made the
African pedagogy adaptable to Euro-American classroom. Doubtlessly, African
teachers have historically used more than seven different pedagogies. Further
research needs to delve into the specific search and identification of other teachers
like Dr. Venerable. Foster (1997) began to gather information on such teachers and
she detailed her findings in the book, Black Teachers on Teaching. I would suggest
that if these pedagogies are to remain viable, a much more comprehensive search for
teachers using these methods has to be done in the United States. In addition,
teachers from the continent of Africa and the Caribbean need to be sought out and
interviewed. This sort of research would round out this theory and demonstrate its
adaptability in various locations.

203
Practice
Some or all of those identified teachers could then form a think tank, which
would have as its primary task the development of programs that could teach these
methods to all teachers who would like help in developing their teaching abilities in
African pedagogies.
The second step would be to develop a pilot program that would mentor
teachers as they attempted to use these methods in their various classroom settings.
The pilot program would also be responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of the
methods used in each case. The pilot would also have to educate administrators on
the benefits and use of these methods.
Africa has offered the world knowledge systems and pedagogies that are
worthy of examination and duplication. Ultimately, it is up to people who have
been touched by African knowledge systems and their pedagogies to inform the
world about their benefits.

REFERENCES
Abimbola, W. (1997). Ifa will mend our broken world: Thoughts on Yoruba
religion and Culture in Africa and the Diaspora. Roxbury, MA: Aim Books.
Akoto, A. (1992). Nation building: Theory and practice in Afrikan centered
education. Washington D.C.: Pan Afrikan World Institute.
Alesha, M. (2004). The first book of the dark goddess: A study and reflection on
the Primordial dark mother. Tucson: AZ: Matam Press.
Amen, R. (1990). Metu Neter Vol. 1. Brooklyn, NY: Kamit Publication.
Ani, M. (1994). Yurugu: An African-centered critique of European cultural though
and behavior. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Arkhurst, J. C. (1992). The adventures of spider. New York: Scholastic
Incorporated.
Asante, M. (1999). The painful demise of Eurocentrism: An Afrocentric response
to critics. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Asante, M. (2007). The history of Africa: The quest for eternal harmony. New
York: Routledege, Taylor and Francis Group.
Ashby, M. (1998). The Ausarian resurrection: The Ancient Egyptian bible. Miami,
FL: Cruzian Mystic Books.
Bernard, P. (2001, October 20). Ecological implications of water spirits beliefs in
Southern Africa: The need to protect knowledge, nature and resource rights.
7th World Wilderness Conference. Retrieved on May 1, 2007, from
from http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rrmrs_p027_148_154.pdf.
Biko, S. (1998). Some African cultural concepts. In P H Coetzee (Ed.), The
African philosophy reader (pp. 26-30). London: Routledge, Press.
Birnbaum, L. C. (2001) Dark mother: African origins and godmothers. San Jose,
CA: Authors Choice Press,

205
Bogoshi, J., Naidoo, K., & Webb, J. (2007). The oldest mathematical artifact. The
Mathematical Gazette, 71, p. 294.
Bonnefoy, Y. (1991). Mythologies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Cott, J. (1994). Isis and Osiris: Exploring the goddess myth. New York:
Doubleday.
Daniel, Y. (2005). Dancing wisdom: Embodied knowledge in Haitian Vodou,
Cuban Yoruba and Bahian Condomble. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois
Press.
Deloria, V., & Wildcat, D. (2001). Power and place: Indian education in America.
Golden, CO: Furcrom Resource.
Dieterlen, G. (1991). The mythology of the Mande and the choice of Dogon as a
subject of study. In Y. Bonnefoy (Ed.), Mythologies (pp. 29-30). Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Erben, M. (1998). Biography and research methods. In M. Erben (Ed.)
Biography and education a reader (pp. 4-17). London: Falmer Press.
Faraclas, N. (1995). They came before the Egyptians: Linguistic evidence for the
African root of Semitic languages. In S. Federici (Ed.), Enduring western
civilization and its others (pp.175-196). Westport, CT: Praeger
Publisher.
Finch, C. S., III. (1998). The star of deep beginnings: The genesis of African
science and technology. Decatur, Georgia: Khenti, Inc.
Foster, M. (1997). Black teachers on teaching. New York: New Press.
Freire, P. (1992). Pedagogy of hope: Reliving pedagogy of the oppressed. London:
Continuum.
Fu-Kiau, K. (1980). Untying the spiritual knot: African cosmology of the BantuKongo: Principles for Life and Living. Toronto, Canada: Althelia Henrietta
Press.
Gadalla, M. (2001). Egyptian cosmology: The animated universe. Greensboro,
NC: Tehuti Research Foundation.

206
Glesne, C. (1999). Becoming a qualitative researcher: An introduction. New
York: Longman.
Grahn, J. (1993). Blood, bread, Roses: How menstruation created the world.
Boston: Beacon Press.
Gray, C. (2001). Afrocentric thought and practice: An intellectual history.
Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Green, R. L. (1967). Tales of Ancient Egypt. London: Puffin Books.
Griaule, M., & Dieterlen, G. (1965). Conversations with Ogotemmeli: An
introduction to Dogon religious ideas. London: Oxford University Press.
Griaule, M., & Dieterlen, G. (1986). The pale fox. Baltimore, MD: Afrikan World
Books.
Hilliard, A. (1994). Kemetic concepts in education In I. Van Sertima (Ed.).
Egypt, child of Africa (pp.377-387). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction
Publishers.
Hilliard, A. (1997). SBA: Reawaking the African mind. Gainesville, FL: Makare
Publishing Company.
James, G. (1954). Stolen legacy. New York: Philosophical Library.
Jefferies, R. (1997). The Image of women in African cave art. In I.Van Sertima
(Ed.), Black women in antiquity (pp. 98-122). New Brunswick, NJ:
Transaction Publishers.
Jewell, T. (1993). The black womans gumbo ya-ya: Quotations by black women.
New York: Freedom Crossing Press.
Kalu, O. (2000). Ancestral spirituality and society in Africa. In Armstrong et al.
(Ed.), African spirituality: Forms, meanings and expressions (pp. 54-84).
New York: Herder and Herder Book.
Kamalu, C. (1990). Foundation of African thought: A world grounded in African
heritage of religion, philosophy, science, and art. London: Karnak House.
Kantor, S. (Ed.) (1998). One hundred and one African American read-aloud
stories. New York: Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers.

207
Killington, G. (1973). A plague of Europeans: Westerners in Africa since the
fifteenth century. London: Penguin Education.
Kridel, C. A. (1998). Writing an educational biography: Exploration in qualitative
research. New York: Garland Publishers.
Maliu, G. D. (1985, August 18). Beloved Afrikaners. Sunday Times: [South
Africa]. In Ani, M.(1994). Yurugu: An African centered critique of
European cultural thought and behavior. Trenton, NJ: Africa World
Press.
Martin, D. (2001). Nature, Maat and myth in Ancient Egyptian and Dogon
cosmology. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Temple University,
Philadelphia.
Martinie, L., & Glassman, S. (1992). The New Orleans Voodoo tarot. Rochester,
VA: Destiny Books.
McDermott, G. (1977). The voyage of Osiris: The myth of Egypt. New York:
Windmill Books.
Mckinney-Johnson, E. (1997). Egypts Isis: The original black Madonna, In
I. Van Sertima (Ed.), Black women in antiquity (pp. 64-71). London:
Transaction Publishers.
Merriam, S., & Simpson, E. (2000). Guide to research for educators and trainers
of adults. Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Company.
Myers, L. J. (1987). The deep structure of culture: Relevance of traditional African
Culture in contemporary life. Journal of Black Studies. 18, 72-85.
Myers, L. J. (1988). Understanding an Afrocentric world view: Introduction to an
optimal psychology. Dubque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.
Nobles, V. (1996). Nubia and Egypt: Is it Ella or a copy? Journal of Black Studies
26, 431-446.
Nugent, H. (2007, October 17). Black people less intelligent scientist claims.
Retrieved on October 27, 2007, from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news
uk/article2677098.

208
Oppong Wadie, A. (2005a). Exploring African based knowledge systems:
Interviews with an Ifa, Ausarian and a Rastafarian Priest. Unpublished
manuscript, Northern Illinois University.
Oppong Wadie, A. (2005b). Slavery, African conquest and African colonialism.
Unpublished manuscript, Northern Illinois University.
Paris, P. (1995). The spirituality of African peoples. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress
Press.
Penn, M. (1996, October 3). The chemistry was just all wrong. Golden Gator
Online. Retrieved July 10, 2007, from
http://www.journalism.sfsu.edu/www/pubs/gater/fall96/Oct3/04.html.
Polygreen, L. (2007, August 7). Timbuktu hopes ancient text sparks a revival. The
New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2006, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/ World/Africa/07mali.html.
Rachal, J. (1998). Well never turn back: Adult education and the struggle for
citizenship Mississippis freedom summer. American Educational Research
Journal. 50, 167-198.
Richards, D. (1981). The nyama of the blacksmith: The metaphysical significance
of metallurgy in Africa. Journal of Black Studies, 12, 218-238.
Richards, D. (1989). Let the circle be unbroken. Trenton, NJ: Red Sea Press.
Sarkosy, N. (2007, July 2). Excerpts from the speech of Nicholas Sarkosy. Royal
African Society. Retrieved on May 3, 2009, from
http://www.royalafricansociety.org/index.php?=com_content&task=view&
id=416.
Scranton, L. (2002). The science of the Dogon: Decoding African mystery
tradition. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions Press.
Scranton, L. (2007). Sacred symbols of the Dogon: The key to advanced science in
the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions Press.
Shaka, O. T. (1995). Return to the mother principle of male and female equality.
Oakland, CA: Pan African Publishers and Distributors.

209
Shillington, K. (1989). History of Africa. New York: St. Martins Press.
Smoot, G., & Davidson, K. (1993). Wrinkles in time. New York: Morrow.
Standon, A. (1950). Science is a sacred cow. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.,
Inc.
Teish, L. (1994). Carnival of the spirit. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco.
Thompson, R. F. (1984). Flash of the spirit: African and Afro American art and
philosophy. New York: Vintage Books.
Turlington, R. S. (2002). The complete idiots guide to Voodoo. Indianapolis, IN:
Alpha A Pearson Education Company
Vales, M. (2006, October 8). Timbuktus buried treasure. Washington Post.
Retrieved October 26, 2007, from
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05.
Van Sertima, I. (1994). Editorial. In I. Van Sertima (Ed.), Egypt child of Africa
(pp. 1-16). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Veharen, C. (1995). Afrocentrism and acentrism: A marriage of science and
philosophy. Journal of Black Studies, 26, 62-76.
Venerable, G. D., II. (1999) Managing in a five dimension economy: Ven matrix
architectures for new organization. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing
Group.
Venerable, G. D., II. (2004, October 5). Politics, pedagogy, and paradox: The 50th
Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (1954-2004). Temple
University Faculty Herald, 7-9.
Venerable, G. D., II. (2007). The mathematical structure of the whole:
Transforming the human condition. Unpublished manuscript.
Williams, D. (1993). Sin nature and black womens bodies. In Carol Adams
(Ed.), Ecofeminism and the sacred (pp.24-29). New York: Continuum
Publishing Company.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR AUTO/BIOGRAPHICAL

212
Interview Questions for Auto/Biographical
Local Context of Specific Event/Phenomena
The Dogon astrophysicist of Mali, West Africa have said that at the outermost
reaches of the universe there are yala/markings which are essentially the written
description of how the entire universe will evolve. Given that in the African world
view we accept that humans are, in themselves, a small replica of the universe, can
you tell me what are some of the yala/markings that have defined you personally,
for example your ancestry, your family, your community, and other personally,
significant watershed moments that shaped your evolution?
Societal Context
2. How did the political climate and the geographical location, in which you grew
up shape the way that you evolved?
Specific Events
3. Often when people hear the words, African knowledge system, their first
reaction is one of confusion, or even denial that such knowledge systems exist. Did
you ever belong to that camp? If yes, how did you evolve out of it? If no, who or
what in your environment made you aware that Africa had its own distinct
epistemology?
4. What I have coined as, African knowledge systems, has been called by many
other names, at other times? What are some of the other names associated with this
vast body of knowledge?
5. Who or what first alerted you that African knowledge systems had their own
attendant pedagogical methodologies?
6. In your research you have indicated that the pedagogical methodologies of Africa
traveled with enslaved Africans to North America. Can you give an oral account, as
best you know it, of that journey and describe how this knowledge was kept alive in
the oral tradition of African people in North America?
7. What is your own personal connection to this tradition?

213
8. What factors influenced your decision, particularly as a scientist, to bring this
tradition of teaching and learning to the Euro-American model of a classroom?
9. Can you give an example, of how these methodologies would change the way you
presented materials to your class on day one?
10. How do these methodologies transform the traditional Euro-centric model of a
classroom?
11. How do these methodologies fundamentally differ from the Euro-centric
pedagogical methodology?
12. How do the methodologies transform the way students learn?
13. What has been some of your most memorable experiences when using these
methods?
14. What has been the reaction of the various administrations in the universities
where you have used these methods?
15. Have you ever had problems with school administration because of your
methodologies? If so, please explain.
16. What has been the reaction of your colleagues to your methods of teaching and
learning?
17. In your estimation, is there space in traditional Euro-centric institutions of
higher learning for these methodologies?
18. Doubtlessly, many people have been exposed to these methods, why do you
think you are one among a few people who have chosen to use it, in a holistic
manner, in your classroom?
19. Did you know about the potentially risk to your credibility as a scientist when
you made a decision to use these methods? If so, what made you still move
forward? If not, do you have any regrets?
20. Do you think that universities/colleges can ever embrace these methodologies
and offer their stamp of approval to them; if so, under what conditions?
21. What do you see for the academic future of these African pedagogical
methodologies?

214
22. As a person who has been exposed to, and steeped in this tradition, what
responsibility to have to keep it alive?
23. Are their any documents, course syllabuses, or letters of correspondence that
you would like to share in order to give greater insight into your journey?

APPENDIX B
QUESTIONS FOR FORMER STUDENTS OF DR. VENERABLE

216
Questions for former students of Dr.Venerable
1. Can you please introduce yourself?
2. How do you know Dr. Venerable?
3. Can you describe the setting and intellectual atmosphere of Dr.Venerables class?
4. Did Dr.Venerable ever formally let the class know that he had a different method
of teaching? If so, what do you remember about his explanation? If not, when did
you discover that Dr.Venerable was utilizing a different method of teaching?
5. Can you describe his teaching methodology in your own words?
6. Did Dr. Venerables teaching methodology differ from that which you were used
to in other science classes? If so, can you describe how?
7. Do you ever remember been exposed to this type of teaching prior to becoming a
part of Dr. Venerables class?
8. How did this type of teaching transform the way you learn?
9. How did it transform the atmosphere of the classroom?
10. Do you think that as a student, you benefited from this type of teaching? If so,
can you describe how?
11. Have you ever used the method of teaching introduced by Dr. Venerable in any
other setting?
12. Do you think that there is space in the Euro-American colleges and universities
for this type of teaching method? Please elaborate.

APPENDIX C
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR COLLEAGUES OF DR. VENERABLE

218
Interview Questions for Colleagues of Dr.Venerable
1. Can you please introduce yourself and tell me about your teaching career?
2. How do you know Dr. Venerable?
3. How were you first introduced to the pedagogical methodologies that
Dr.Venerable employs.
4. Are these methodologies one you have used intentionally or unintentionally in
your classroom? If so, please explain.
5. How would you describe or define these methodologies in your own words.
6. How do these methods differ from the traditional methods that are accepted as
standard in American colleges and universities?
7. How do these methods transform the Euro-American model of the classroom?
8. In your experience how are these methodologies accepted by school
administration?
9. Do you think that there is space in American colleges and universities for this
type of pedagogical methodologies?