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143227 KU Indigenous Resource Conservation Practices (2025S)

in Africa, Colonialism, and Incorporation into the Modern State

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 14 - Orientalistik, Afrikanistik, Indologie und Tibetologie
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle
Mo 03.03. 11:00-13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 12 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

The overall intention of this course is to critically engage in the topic of indigenous knowledge system and its place in the field of resource conservation with specific focus on African societies from pre-colonial to the post-colonial era. In doing this, the course introduces students to the global debate on what indigenous ecological/environmental knowledge is and how it has been practiced over the historical past. The course focuses on two branches of indigenous environmental knowledge: (i) traditional ecological knowledge which concerns itself with conservation and wise use of natural resources and (ii) customary/communal land administration which concerns rights in, governance and use of land. The central issues raised in the course are that (i) indigenous knowledge has been used to inform the design and implementation of resource conservation and land administration practices in African societies since the pre-colonial past, but (ii) it has not remained static and pristine, rather, it has modified and assumed different configurations as a consequence of its encounters with major historical processes, including conquest and subjugation by the colonial state, intrusion of settler culture and incorporation into the modern post-colonial state which, by and large, perpetuates colonial legacies of privileging Western or scientific knowledge system, Western legal and administrative systems, Western religion, scientific resource conservation practices and Western notions of land tenure governance which is underpinned by the notion of rights. The course draws some of the nuances, contestations and contradictions in affirming the conceptualization of indigenous environmental knowledge and its capacity to solve complex resource conservation and land administration issues in post-colonial African societies. The widely documented incidents of resource depletion and, land degradation, green extractivism, land grabs and land conflicts in African societies are some of the issues that this course seeks to respond to by adding a historical analysis.

Below are some of the key questions that the course seeks to raise and address.
1. How indigenous is post-colonial African indigenous environmental knowledge, and how does it contrast with and compare to scientific/Western knowledge system?
2. How did dominant historical processes such as conquest and subjugation by the colonial state, establishment of settler communities and incorporation into the modern state affect the indigenous environmental knowledge of African societies, especially in natural resource conservation, agrarian practices and land administration?
3. Are the truth-claims of indigenous environmental knowledge verifiable/provable, and what are the implications of this to the resource management agenda and imperatives of the post-colonial and globalizing African societies and the academy?
4. To what extent do post-colonial African states demonstrate a genuine and serious policy choice to embrace, develop and apply indigenous knowledge in the conservation of their environments and administration of their land resources?
5. What contribution did indigenous knowledge have in the past and continue to have in the present to promotion of environmental integrity and good land governance in Africa?
6. Do you think the indigenous environmental knowledge of African societies would have remained the pristine and intact if it did not get affected by colonialism and incorporation into the modern post-colonial state system?
Course Content and Schedule
03.03.2025: Introduction of the course, assessment criteria, the lecturer and students
10.03.2025: Understanding indigenous environmental knowledge and its relationship with scientific/Western knowledge
17.03.2025: Indigenous research methodology, what, how and why
24.03.2025: Indigenous water resource management for domestic use and agrarian production
31.03.2025: Indigenous agrarian systems, soil conservation and the agro-ecological ca

  • Monday 10.03. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 17.03. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 24.03. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 31.03. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 07.04. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 28.04. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 05.05. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 12.05. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 19.05. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 26.05. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 02.06. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 16.06. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 23.06. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Monday 30.06. 11:00 - 13:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The course will be delivered using an interactive seminar method. The lecturer will upload a course outline document on the Moodle learning platform which will also contain a list of key readings and key questions for each seminar theme. Seminal readings will, as well, be uploaded on the Moodle platform. For each seminar, the lecturer will prepare a brief input to be delivered through the use of slide notes. The slide notes will include three to five reflective questions that the lecturer will ask students to discuss as part of their class participation. Although student participation will be strictly treated as voluntary, the lecturer will actively encourage every student to give a response to at least one reflective question in each seminar session. Debates and discussions between students and lecturer and between students and students in which participants give diverse views and demonstrate disagreement, will be encouraged, provided such debates and disagreements will be expressed in a mutually respectful and unoffensive manner. In addition to seminar sessions, students will be given an opportunity to give presentations on the work they will do towards their seminar papers. The presentations will open space for students to get feedback for their work from both the lecturer and their fellow students.

Assessment and permitted materials


1) Participation in the seminar sessions.
2) Development and presentation of a concept note for a written seminar paper on a topic of your choice. It is highly encouraged that students locate their seminar papers on one of the themes of the course. The concept note should include a theoretical background, research question, objectives, research methods, potential limitations of the research, work plan and preliminary bibliography. The concept note should be a maximum of three pages including bibliography.
3) Develop and present arguments in an oral debate on the relevance of indigenous knowledge in the post-colonial African state.
4) Develop and present research progress (further developing the concept note) on the seminar paper. The research progress should include well-developed methods, literature review that shows emerging themes or findings, research question, research aim or objectives and tentative implications of the findings.
4) Writing and submitting a full seminar paper of between 13- and 18-pages including bibliography.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The assessment of the course is structured as follows

1) Participation in seminar sessions (5 marks)
2) Development and presentation of a concept note for a written seminar paper on a topic of your choice. It is highly encouraged that students locate their seminar papers on one of the themes of the course. The concept note should include a theoretical background, research question, objectives, research methods, potential limitations of the research, work plan and preliminary bibliography. The concept note should be a maximum of three pages (20 marks).
3) Develop and present arguments in an oral debate on the relevance of indigenous knowledge in the post-colonial African state (15 marks).
4) Develop and present research progress (further developing the concept note) on the seminar paper. The research progress should include well-developed methods, literature review that shows emerging themes or findings, and tentative implications of the findings (10 marks).
5) Writing and submitting a full seminar paper of between 15 and 18-pages including bibliography (50 marks).

In total, a maximum of 100 points can be achieved and graded as follows:
100-90: very good
- 89-80: good
- 79-65: satisfactory
- 64-50: sufficient
- 49-0: not sufficient
All requirements must be fulfilled to pass the seminar course. Regular attendance is required. A maximum of three excused absences will be tolerated.

Examination topics

Students will be examined for participating in seminars, writing and presenting concept notes, presenting in an oral debate writing and presenting research progress for their seminar papers, as well as writing and submitting a full seminar paper.

Reading list

Association in the course directory

SAG.KU.1, SAG.KU.2, SAG.KU.3

Last modified: Tu 28.01.2025 12:06