Africa and the “scientific method”

As some of you are aware, I am currently reading Russell Bertrand’s perspectives on the impact of “science” on society. It is necessary, if one is sincere about removing the shackling effects of apartheid and colonialism on our students and staff in South African institutions of higher learning, to simultaneously cast aside or isolate a Eurocentric view of reality.

A perfect exercise to initiate this abandoning of Eurocentric lenses is to parallel African history with events which Bertrand cites as revolutionary in the history of the application of the scientific method.

I will address these in the chronological order as Bertrand did. They are:

1) the “discovery” of gunpowder and the use of the compass
2) the advent of cotton commerce and the Industrial Age
3) use of electricity as a source of power

According to Bertrand the discovery of gunpowder and the simultaneous usage of the compass to further western exploration were critical examples of the effect of the scientific method on human society. Today, no one questions the immense strides we have made as human beings due to these scientific innovations. But let us also consider the African perspective of these instruments. It was wrongful use of gunpowder which permitted first Arab and then European colonization of our continent and people. We do not forget those Africans who collaborated with European slave traders in the bondage of their own.

This leads us to cotton plantations in the Americas. Millions and millions of Africans were taken away from the Motherland to work the cotton fields as free labour, fueling the mechanization which would come to define the Industrial Revolution in Europe. So while the western world advanced commercially and “scientifically,” as African and conquered people during these processes, we bore the yoke and were forced to do the menial work, away from those events and processes whereby the scientific method was being planned, described and directed towards the financial gain of those who owned us, of those who owned our land.

By the time electricity came to be used as an integral source of power, the above application of scientific methods was well established in society, leaving Africans in a permanent struggle to catch up and apply science or its methods as a means of ending poverty, miss-education and inequality.

Therefore, the most important thing we can do in this post-colonial age, is to teach our youth and allow them access to scientific events and experiences whereby the power of the scientific method is placed in their hands. Until then, we will remain beggars at the doorsteps of those who have deliberately kept us as far from these practices as possible. This includes corrupt politicians who grow rich due to illiteracy and miss-education of Africans.

Science and social control in South Africa

I am currently reading The Impact of Science on Society by Bertrand Russell. This book is a must read for change makers who seek to bring in a more just and equitable society. Please note, by “science” within the context of my own writing, I refer equally to the physical and social sciences.

Before I advance this thesis, it is imperative that I point out to you a conceptual connection which must crystallize in the chambers of your mind. The phenomena of the social world may be perceived via the same types of lenses as the natural world. That is, what is known as “the scientific method” is equally applicable to the physical and social realms of existence.

An example of a physiological framework of analysis, as applied to the social realm, is Margaret Archer’s “morphogenetic cycle.” Initially, morphogenesis was a description of cellular activity, whereby two different types of cells merge and then jointly take on a new form. Archer adopts this physiological process as an analogy or metaphor to interpret morphogenic or morphostatic activity within social, human contexts.

From a critical realist point of view, Bertrand’s suggestion that who masters “science” in turn controls the world, is a vital issue for contemplation in contemporary society. Science is as dangerous for human beings, as it is beneficial. Townships or homelands in South Africa, were implemented as a result of scientific principles, for specific aims. Likewise, the development of vaccinations for diseases and the ability of human kind to send space craft into space is evidence of the great advances science has bestowed on us all.

Yet, when we view a society like South Africa, where the majority of public schools do not have scientific laboratories; or, if we examine the absence of Africans from key events which advance science academically or professionally – problems remain unresolved. The absence of science labs in the townships correlates with the absence of effective scientific application by ourselves for purposes of using science, or the scientific method – to solve our serious challenges and illnesses.

How, then, did we end up in this predicament? The answer spans centuries as it is embedded in our history as African people, but is also found in how we are teaching our youth in the townships and deep, rural areas. These issues will be addressed in my next post.

Morphostasis, higher education in South Africa and social inequality

Morphostasis is the opposite of morphogenic activity. Whereas morphogenesis involves an object/s taking on new shape, morphostasis represents the opposite.

The above theoretical reasoning is inspired by the social scientist, Prof Margaret Archer. Archer, a critical realist, argues that social entities such as culture, structures and the interplay of human agency within these two components,

either generate or act according to morphogenesis or morphostasis. The argument of this thesis, is that given the economic reality of the masses of South Africans in 2012, the ability of higher education to transform these very inequalities has been morphostatic.

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Consider the following, if you agree that higher education plays a critical role in the transformation of the South African, economic landscape.

1) Our official unemployment rate is about 25%. How dreadful is the unofficial rate?
2) South Africa is still considered one of the most unequal societies in the world.

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It is said that every child currently born into poverty, will never escape it.

How, then, can higher education practitioners continue in morphostatic traditions, in terms of maintenance of structures, use of agency and the perpetuation of a culture which is annually failing the most destitute of our citizens? It is we who are primarily responsible for developing and producing future professionals in all critical domains.

Being an academic in contemporary South African society should entail a conscious working towards reversing the effects of apartheid both within and outside our institutions.

This reversal is critically required in how universities recruit new academics, how institutional structures adopt the mandate of social justice and a continuous intellectual hammering of those structures which deliberately seek to maintain social, morphostasis both within our universities and in greater society.

Student agency

I recently had a discussion with a group of young South Africans about the economic plight of the majority of people in this country.

We debated the notion of economic growth as a pillar of development in current South African society. Yet, what pinned some of the youth against each other, was whether the wages of the masses should be capped, within a slowly growing economy.

While the outcome of the discussion presented a myriad of views, we reached a point where the youth reflected on their own career goals and what motivated them in life. One said, “fear of poverty.” Another indicated that the desire to take care of her family prompted her to succeed.

What I am learning from the youth of South Africa, is that there are strong under-currents which push them forward towards reaching their goals in ways which teachers should be aware of. They carry their hopes, aspirations, doubts and insecurities in all that they do.

Consideration of student agency, should therefore play a central role in how we develop curricula as educational facilitators. When incorporating real world content into the classroom, as a method of illustrating the practical enactment of a theory or disciplinary principle, it is vital to bear in mind that students from diverse socio-cultural origins – will not construct a homogenous interpretation of the subject at hand.

How a teacher chooses to do this is her personal choice.

Online Publication

I write within such a space because in South Africa, the ability to publish in an academic journal is not solely dependent on your skill as a writer, or the quality of your analysis – but also, who you might know.

I cannot wait until the eventuality of my first publication arises therefore articulate my views here. Many have been exposed to my thoughts, questions and ideas.

We live in a technological age and the Internet crosses borders which were previously limited to select groups.

Truth is truth no matter where it is found…as is Love

Critical realism, David’s sling and transformation of higher education in South Africa

Many African academics and students are frustrated with hegemonic forces which seek to maintain the status quo in higher education institutions of South Africa.

My advice to those experiencing marginalization or alienation on South African campuses is to remain encouraged and use critical realism like a stone in David’s sling to effect change around us.

Our experiences are real, and we cannot wait for those who seek to exclude us from critical events associated with the advancement of knowledge to acknowledge them.

Therefore, in order to critically understand why we experience alienation and marginalization, we can use critical realism to arrest these experiences, and create new ones to make South African institutions of higher learning more of a home for African students and staff alike.

How do we do this, some of you may ask…I suggest, use critical realism’s layered ontology to directly correlate our experiences (generated by events) to those entities in the REAL domain which perpetuate hegemony.

1) Which institutional structures maintain hegemony either directly or indirectly? Furthermore, which structures advance transformation or diversity?

2) Which agents demonstrate acts coercing division, exclusion or alienation of African students and staff? Which agents behave in the opposite manner?

3) Which institutional cultures are closed, perpetuating dualism among all members of academic staff? Furthermore, which cultures are welcoming, acknowledged or growing…through which African staff and students may be made to feel at home, or a part of academic communities?

If individually we may reflect on these questions, and collectively as Africans act on them…like David who conquered Goliath with a sling and a stone, so easily will we be able to remove those entities which impinge on our dignity and integrity as African scholars and academics.

Love, non-dualism and meta Reality

Where critical realism ends and before it starts, there is meta Reality. In this discussion, I speak with the authority of my own voice and understanding, as inspired and taught by elders of the discipline.

The human world and social order is a fragmented and divided phenomenon. Our history has seen the emergence of an order where economic, cultural, racial and engendered conceptions have lead to bloodshed, the enrichment of some and oppression of others.

Critical realism successfully unpacks the inter-play between structures, culture and agency and how the four categories mentioned above, frame for us a possibly unstable definition of ‘human civilization.’

In Africa, European colonialism saw the agency of settlers and structures of commercial and missionary entities overthrow the cultural mode of living among the indigenous people. Almost 500 years later, after the toppling of apartheid in South Africa, it remains difficult to distinguish between class and ‘racial’ inequalities among citizens.

We clearly are able to identify those agents, structures and cultures which collectively (via their inter-play) promote dualism among citizens and communities. Dualism promotes notions of privilege, prejudice and separation.

This is where meta Reality enters…or, re-enters the equation. As inspired by Roy Bhaskar, we may now acknowledge in an ontological manner, the underlying principles (or principle) which are/is the foundation of reality as we know it.

In order to acknowledge existence of a stratified reality, we must also acknowledge those unifying principles upon which it divides itself.

In the social sciences and education, it is not difficult to identify non-dual principles which may inform a non-dualistic, ontological outlook. For example, when a literacy facilitator augments her teaching to disciplinary or faculty-based theories and concepts in her instruction, non-dualism as a methodology is employed.

More broadly speaking, when South Africans look beneath racial conceptions of self, and seek commonalities in culture, non-dualistic modes of self-identity are applied. Those unifying principles and concepts assist our conception of the meta Reality…a conception which supersedes yet is also the foundation of the stratified world.

LOVE is the underlying foundational principle which may advocate a methodology of non-dualism. Love unites a family, an individual with her passion and communities which strive for egalitarianism.

Yet, we have to be aware that there are those who resist love, for the purpose of perpetuating dualism among and between agents according to conceptions of race, culture, gender and class. Dualism benefits those who deliberately aim to divide and rule, either individually or as collectives.