‘SCIENCE’ is a subject much feared and at the same time highly respected by most ordinary Zimbabweans.
Many of us think that Science belongs in a special place called a school or college laboratory and that white people are the custodians of science and mathematics.
Black people, many wrongly believe, only come into contact with science at school.
Nothing is further from the truth!
It is important that we take time to remove the mystery surrounding ‘Science’.
Science is considered to be the mysterious element found in various machines and gadgets such as refrigerators and radios, cars and aeroplanes.
Is there no ‘Science’ in African devices such as the catapult (rekeni), the bow and arrow, other simple machines such as an axe, knife, pestle and motor (duri nemutswi)?
Or indeed in our very bodies?
Where and what is this mysterious thing called ‘Science’?
Is ‘Science’ the preserve of so-called developed countries?
Do some countries have a monopoly on Science?
Are Africans inferior in their capacity to learn Science or is it a case of induced inferiority complex?
The answer is a big No!
Each society has discovered by trial and error the secrets of nature and has used such knowledge to improve its circumstances.
That knowledge is what we call Science!
Deliberately targeted searches for the secrets of nature are called ‘research’ and the information gathered is called ‘Science’.
In all cases the law that rules says: ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’.
Confronted by completely different challenges of existence in warm sub-Saharan Africa, black people discovered different secrets of life; they also developed and invented different technologies suited to their environment.
The environment dictates the direction of science development.
Can the mystery of Science not be compared to the mystery of African magic?
In both cases the practitioners enjoy a special respect and also fear from ordinary people.
African magic also is a Science whose practitioners know the laws and rules that apply.
Just as intellectual property rights, copyrights and patents are used to protect Western science from being stolen and used by undeserving citizens, so do African scientists (e.g. magicians) jealously guard their intellectual property rights by refusing to reveal the secrets of their science.
This does not mean the knowledge is inaccessible.
African knowledge systems have tested and tried methods of storing and accessing such African ‘scientific’ knowledge.
The spiritual dimension contains most of the archives.
In the area of medical science, for example, Westerners have resorted to bio-piracy to access African medical science secrets.
The hypocrisy lies in Westerners then dismissing African indigenous knowledge as primitive!
Frustrated by Africans’ refusal to let him into their scientific secrets, the whiteman branded all African Science as ‘primitive’ and ‘mere superstition’.
You go to jail if you brand someone a witch (practitioner of African science called ‘magic’ by whites).
This practice of refusing to recognise African science is akin to the ostrich burying its head in the sand when a fire approaches!
You cannot win!
Today Westerners are flocking to Africa to gather what they call indigenous knowledge, African science.
They are acknowledging that Africans have over time discovered an enormous amount of scientific knowledge, and developed sustainable technologies that are closely linked to Mother Nature.
If we leave a rocket scientist and a Bushman each to fend for himself out in the Kalahari Desert for a week, the Bushman who has mastered the science of the desert will survive while our rocket scientist may die of thirst or hunger.
Rocket science is inappropriate for the desert.
We must develop our science to meet our ever-growing development needs.
That is why the white colonial governments passed the ‘Witchcraft Suppression Act’ which has persisted well into the independence era.
The said law refuses to recognise the intricate African science, where certain powers and energies are harnessed through manipulating plant and animal materials (mishonga) to bring about desired effects.
They dismissed this sophisticated science as ‘black magic’ and ‘evil’.
African scientists, afraid to disappoint their Western mentors, or the priest, also refuse to research into African science.
They refuse to go out there to research on and the various dimensions of African science.
Africans have technologies that fly them over thousands of kilometres overnight e.g. to Malawi or London, in an aerial boat, without expending any fossil fuel.
The internal combustion engine is ‘old’ technology in comparison.
The various African technologies can be further developed, but colonialism has stigmatised them and brainwashed the Africans into believing that ‘black’ is evil; ‘white’ is good!
So African science is demonised and condemned to the dustbin.
We must recover and preserve it; it is our intellectual property, this African science that some call ‘magic’.
The rules for accessing are quite different from those for Western science, but they are there!
It is obvious to any observer that the ‘white’ magic contained in various weapons, bombs, including nuclear, and unmanned drones and guided missiles being used to destroy whole countries like Libya, Afghanistan and Syria is even more evil!
So evil that even Satan himself must take off his hat to the degree of devilry displayed by Western countries fighting the ‘war on terror’ using modern science to conduct genocide on innocent communities across the world.
Remember it is all Science, whether it originates from blacks or whites!
But what is science?
We ask again.
In a previous episode in this series of discussions, we gave a simple definition of the term science. – ‘knowledge that is factual, collected and analysed in such a way that there is no bias or favour’.
This is the Western definition.
For us as Africans, we see Science simply as ‘knowledge’.
We also have our own ways of checking veracity and integrity of such knowledge.
In the next episode we shall attempt to demystify Science to show that it is an exciting real life experience to learn Science subjects.
We shall show how Science is intimately intertwined with our very existence in sharp contrast to the traditional view of Science as a body of knowledge to be studied and mastered.
The struggle to embrace and use Science to develop our economy continues unabated.