970935

research-article2020
ALN0010.1177/1177180120970935AlterNativeGovender and Mutendera

Article

AlterNative

Teachers’ and custodians’ views and 2020, Vol. 16(4) 356­–368

© The Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
dilemmas arising thereof regarding sagepub.com/journals-permissions
https://doi.org/10.1177/1177180120970935
DOI: 10.1177/1177180120970935

the integration of indigenous journals.sagepub.com/home/aln

knowledge in the primary school

Nadaraj Govender and Godfrey Mutendera†

Abstract
Indigenous Knowledge is largely neglected in the primary school curriculum, yet it espouses the history, art, nature, and
traditions of the community from which students come. This study explores the views of six custodians and six teachers
on the integration of Indigenous Knowledge in the primary school curriculum in Zimbabwe. Indigenous standpoint
theory and participatory research methodology framed the study. Data were generated through focus group discussions
with Indigenous Knowledge custodians through individual interviews with teachers. The custodians’ views confirmed
that Indigenous Knowledge was significant to their identities, but they were concerned with the loss of their culture
due to modernization. Most teachers acknowledged the wisdom of Indigenous Knowledge custodians, welcomed their
contributions, but some teachers were sceptical about custodians teaching formally in the classrooms. Several dilemmas
arose from the views of participants, which have implication for the integration of Indigenous Knowledge in primary
schools.

Keywords
indigenous knowledge, primary school, custodians, curriculum, decolonization

Introduction community needing to first be identified. Jacob et al. (2015)

Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is local and cultural knowledge
unique to a given culture or society. Indigenous Knowledge
Systems (IKS) are fundamental for the survival of indigenous
and rural communities because of the multidisciplinary, holistic,
and systems approach that has evolved, on which community
practices in agriculture, health care, food production and
preparation, education, conservation management, and so on
have evolved. However, through colonization, urbanization,
and globalization, such knowledge is disappearing. Nevertheless
it could still greatly enrich society in general, and education in
particular, if properly accessed, resourced, and managed. While
research is increasing across the world including Africa on how
to redress the negative effects of apartheid, colonialism, and
subjugation of IK, the institutionalizing and integration of IK
into education has been rather sluggish and problematic
(Hatcher, 2012; Msila, 2007; Van Damme & Neluvhalani,
2004). Pioneering studies reveal that there is an enormous
storehouse of diverse IK embedded in IKS, but it need to be
transformed for urban contexts and educational classroom
practices; such transformation must necessarily involve IK
custodians (Foley, 2006; Govender et al., 2013).
An important aspect of IK education is the active and
equitable engagement of IK custodians in the formal
education sector, but progress in education structures and
policies has been stifled by views and dilemmas of the
add that crucial to this process “is the involvement and
empowerment of indigenous peoples in every facet of the
policy planning and implementation processes” (p. 39). Of
critical significance, IK also constitutes a significant part of
the students’ cultural capital, but little of this is recognized as
having educational value in schools (Phiri, 2008; Shizha,
2010; Teaero, 2002). IKS also has enormous potential to
contribute to students’ moral upbringing, their environmental
education, and create an awareness of climate changes,
among other aspects. Education is a powerful agent for
change, and community participation in the school
curriculum could enable teachers and students to re-value
indigenous cultural practices that were once denigrated by
western-Eurocentric powers. This perspective resonates well
with the views of Serote (1998), who argues that science and
technology are not the exclusive property of modernized
societies, which supports the idea that indigenous people are
also creative, are inventors of technology and so contribute
University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
†Deceased.
Corresponding author:
Nadaraj Govender, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa.
Email: govendern37@ukzn.ac.za
Govender and Mutendera
to aspects of science, for example, in their knowledge of
medicinal plants. Notwithstanding these achievements, the
knowledge, worldviews, and perceptions of Africans and
other indigenous communities have often been vilified as
irrational and obsolete by colonial powers (Shizha, 2006).
Emeagwali (2003) also argues that IK, including indigenous
teaching aids and strategies, has been part of the knowledge
that was swept aside and denigrated by the colonialists, being
considered unempirical and superstitious. Quigley (2009)
argues that, in both development and scientific circles, IK
continues to be assigned a lower status than western-based
science and technology. In Zimbabwe, V. Mpofu (2016)
emphasizes that classroom science still remains western-
oriented and disconnected from the lives of indigenous
Zimbabweans, even 35 years after colonial independence.
As a result, IK is still largely neglected in the primary school
curriculum, even though it espouses the history, art, nature,
and traditions of the community from which the students
come (Mapara, 2009; Teaero, 2002; Thomson & Hall, 2008).
Insights and contributions from both custodians of IK
knowledge and teachers are important for successful
implementation of IK in schools. Given the neglect of these
stakeholders’ views in the primary school science curriculum,
the following research questions are pertinent in this study:
1. What are custodians’ and teachers’ views of IK that
can be integrated in the primary school science
curriculum?
2. What dilemmas emerge from custodians’ and
teachers’ views of teaching IK in science classrooms?
3. How can these dilemmas be overcome?
Indigenous standpoint theory
The theoretical framework underpinning this study
emanates from Indigenous Standpoint Theory (IST). IST is
modelled in terms of three broad epistemological stances;
namely, the physical world (resistance), the sacred world
(indigenist voice), and human world (political integrity)
(Foley, 2003, p. 49). IST directs researchers to unravel the
lived experiences, ideas, traditions, dreams, aspirations
(views of indigenist voices) and struggles (dilemmas and
political integrity) of the custodians of IK. IST also explores
how power through politics and institutionalized colonial
education stifles IK development and obstructs IK polices
and their implementation. If primary school teachers’ and
custodians’ IK are recorded and their views and dilemmas
researched and published by academics, it would expose
the complexity of ways of knowing, the implicit knowledge
relations and forms of knowledge to be preserved. Through
IST, debate on policy development in IKS for transformative
actions can be furthered. As indigenous epistemology is a
form of knowledge that has been suppressed by colonialists,
the curriculum can address how IKS can emerge from the
notion of “subjugated knowledge” (Foucault’s concept), as
encountered in African and developing countries. In this
regard, IST is useful when engaging in the constant and
dynamic battle to legitimize IK and methodologies as
valued components of academic research, through critical
357
community engagement (Moreton-Robinson, 2013). As
IST draws from indigenous feminist standpoint theory in
countering racial oppression and addressing women’s
underrepresentation in society, indigenous women who are
capacitated with sacred skills of keeping and teaching IK can
be privileged in the curriculum. Foley (2003) adds that IST is
strengthened by the indigenous researchers who undertake
the study, not only in fulfilling academia’s mission, but also
in involving local community participation in education and
self-enhancement. In this study, a PhD student, who was a
practitioner with an indigenous background and was from
the Zimbabwean Mtasa indigenous community carried out
the research, largely for the benefit and involvement of the
community. As part of IST, and in keeping with oral tradition
and indigenous practices, in the study focus group discussions
with custodians are carried out in the traditional Shona
dialect, Chimanyika, as the first format for recording. In this
format, indigenous researchers provided an “indigenous
dialogical space” for the custodians to participate and speak
(take a stand) from their own cultural standpoint without
subjugation through hegemonic colonial systems affecting
their knowledge systems and lives. The dialogical space
provided an authentic opportunity to assist participants in
both the cultural preservation of local IK and in presenting
their own views and dilemmas. Furthermore, and as the
researcher was an “insider,” trust within the community was
created. In this regard, Foley (2006) adds that IST “enables
Indigenous researchers to speak from their own cultural
standpoint, assist in cultural maintenance and present their
own epistemological ‘truth’ in an attempt to produce a more
inclusive and therefore more complex form of knowledge”
(p. 25).
Literature on IKS curriculum
Over a decade ago, Shizha (2008) expressed a deep concern
that despite the end of colonialism, Zimbabwean school
teachers still found themselves “trapped in the colonial
pedagogic practices that undervalue the importance of rural
school children’s experiential knowledge in science” (p.
80). With the decolonization agenda being an urgent
priority in Africa, scholars in IK have renewed their focus
on the school curriculum in Africa, in relation to the
epistemological nature of IK (Mavhunga, 2017) and
pedagogical issues of teaching of IK (Govender, 2012;
Hewson & Ogunniyi, 2011). In particular, there has been a
focus on governmental and academic research on IK and
related policy developments (Hoppers, 2001; Shizha &
Abdi, 2013), curriculum issues the training of preservice
and in-service teachers for integration of IKS (Govender,
2009; Le Grange, 2008; Naidoo & Vithal, 2014; Ogunniyi
& Hewson, 2008), the Africanizing and integration of IK in
the school curriculum (Hewson & Ogunniyi, 2011;
Nhalevilo, 2013; Zengeya-Makuku et al., 2013), and the
holding of IKS conferences (Seehawer, 2018). These
scholars argue that teaching and learning in schools must be
inclusive, by tapping into the IK present in their communities
and so integrating it into the school curriculum. However,
Owuor (2008) adds that
358
unless disciplines taught and methodologies adopted reflect
genuine commitment to the integration of indigenous
knowledge, acceptance of multiple perspectives of knowledge
in the curriculum, and encouragement of local community
inputs, school knowledge will continue to be abstract, and
irrelevant to African students’ needs. (p. 34)
Emeagwali and Dei (2014) support a transformed
curriculum together with the support of custodians’
knowledge, as teaching will involve a strong organizational
structure that would form an ‘integrated teaching-learning
space’; that is, connecting what learners learn from home
and their community with the school curriculum. In this
regard, a study (Cameron et al., 2016) involving community
involvement reports that teachers saw value in school-
community dialogue, wherein custodians could contribute
ideas on how they could contribute to IK integration, and
more creativity about contextual teaching methods using
local resources. Indigenous scholars also suggests that
integrating IK using local languages into the current
colonialized school curriculum would enhance curriculum
relevance and bring about an improved understanding of
concepts (Mufanechiya & Mufanechiya, 2011). However,
Shizha (2008) noted a concern that, first, the primary school
curriculum in Zimbabwe is still largely western-based and,
second, that teacher attitudes and colonized identities can
act as a barrier to integrating indigenous languages and IK
into the curriculum. Elaborating on identities, in a PhD
study conducted by Gilgen (2016) in New Zealand about
primary school teachers’ personal and professional
identities as Māori, the teachers’ narratives that emerged
revealed that their being raised within urban cities and
educated in schools that excluded their culture, had
impacted and shaped their Māori identities. Furthermore,
they added that their teaching experiences within their
English-medium primary classrooms were “culturally
isolating and destructive, and largely unsupportive of the
diverse realities that exists for some Māori teachers”
(Gilgen, 2016, p. i). It is likely that many of the experiences
of indigenous teachers in the colonized world would
parallel those of the Māori teachers. In a recent South
African study, five primary school teachers and one German
researcher were involved in practical activity to decolonize
and integrate IKS in the curriculum in a participatory action
research (PAR) (Seehawer, 2018). The researcher surmised
that while the South African curriculum explicitly invites
knowledge integration, it hardly contains any IK. There are
no generally available teaching materials and some of the
teachers were not IK literate. Seehawer confirmed,
nevertheless, that integration was possible in these contexts
and cited examples where the students’ communities had
been used, without difficulty, as resources in identifying
suitable topics.
While several Zimbabweans scholars have indicated the
need to integrate IKS in the school curriculum, they do not
explicitly suggest how this could be implemented at
primary school level (Shizha, 2013; Zengeya-Makuku
et al., 2013). In this regard, the inclusion of IK pedagogy
offers several methods of imparting content knowledge, for
example, valuing observation skills, story-telling, poetry,
improvisation, indigenous games and use of specialist
AlterNative 16(4)
resource persons who can also manufacture artefacts with
knowledge of technology and art using indigenous concepts
(Mavhunga, 2017).
The literature review indicates the little research worldwide,
particularly not in Zimbabwe, on how to contextualize the
primary school curriculum and establish relevance between
school knowledge, indigenous custodians’ experiences
and students’ worldviews (Thondhlana & Makawa, 2018).
However, there may be views and dilemmas that, unless
understood, could thwart sincere attempts to integrate IK.
Hence, the value of this study.
Methods
The study was located in the Mtasa district of Manicaland
Province of Zimbabwe. The study site is in a largely
undisturbed rural forest environment locality, among the
Manyika people, about 46 km north-east of the city of
Mutare. The villagers mostly engage in small-scale
agriculture for domestic consumption. The study adopted a
participatory research methodology (PRM) in engaging
with participants in their local environment. This was
accomplished by transferring the power and knowledge
centre from academic institutions to the marginalized
communities in supporting transformation and restorative
justice (Chilisa, 2011; Gaudet, 2014). PRM created trust
and ownership and sought an equitable power equilibrium
between the researchers, teachers, and custodians (Gaudet,
2014). In this case, the school curriculum did not espouse
the IK of the community and neither had the custodians and
teachers been actively involved in co-creating the primary
school curriculum. The field researcher, a PhD student, had
to fulfil obligations of both western university requirements
and ethics involved in working with indigenous communities.
At the start of the research permission was sought from the
university and the Zimbabwe Department of Education. In
addition, for the community aspect, permission was sought
first from the village head.
Data were generated with six purposefully sampled
community custodians in Mtasa, who had been identified
with the support of the village head, who then made it
possible to access the custodians. As the village head could
not read and write, oral communication was used. The ethical
requirements were explained in Shona and oral permission
for the research was requested. The researcher then met the
custodians and informed them of the aims of the study. These
custodians had IK experiences and, after each had been
informed of the purpose of the research, volunteered to
participate in the focus group discussions. They were orally
informed of the particular day and venue for the group
discussion. A semi-structured interview protocol guided the
researcher in asking questions to generate open-ended
discussion related to the study. For example, the IK custodians
were asked how effective herbs were in treating various
ailments in their livestock, which then stimulated a discussion
of the different types of herbs to treat wounds and eye
problems and so on. During the discussions, the IK custodians
spoke in their dialect, Chimanyika.
Further, data were generated with six teachers who had
also been purposively sampled. A purposive sample is one
Govender and Mutendera 359

Table 1. Custodians’ views of IK integration in curriculum.

IK is not integrated in schools because of the view by youth that it’s outdated.
IK if integrated then students will learn from nature and survive.
IK if integrated in school, it will synchronize with community’s culture.
IK if integrated will provide experiences for students to learn conservation practices.

IK: Indigenous Knowledge.

Table 2. Teachers’ views of IK integration in curriculum.

IK can be integrated but a little due to education department regulations.

IK can be integrated by custodians as teachers lack some IK knowledge.
IK can be integrated but concern that teachers are westernized.
IK should not be integrated as it’s not science but cultural.

IK: Indigenous Knowledge.

Table 3. Custodians’ list of topics on IK to be integrated in the curriculum.

Culture Religion Conservation Political

Cultural heritage. Religious practices Forests conservation. Subjugation of IK.
Religious medicinal practices. Conservation of sacred places.
Rainmaking as a cultural practice. Traditional medicine.
Animals and livestock care.

IK: Indigenous knowledge.

Table 4. Teachers’ list of content areas of IK to be integrated in the curriculum.

Culture Religion Conservation Education

Traditional medicine.
Ethics, respect, and sharing.
African Dances and Crafts.
Religious practices
Medicinal plants
Agriculture (composting).
Local conservation.
Indigenous games and
mathematics.
Teaching of protection of plants
and animals.
Weather patterns.

that is selected based on characteristics of the population
(those who hold some knowledge of IK) and the goals of
the study (the views of the sample on IK integration in
curriculum). The individual interviews with the teachers
took place at the school site. The teachers spoke in English
as they were not confident speaking Shona. The interview
protocol for teachers was a semi-structured questionnaire
focusing on their views, based on the research questions.
The views of teachers were sought on the IK topics that
could be included in the primary school curriculum and
whether IK custodians from their community could be
actively involved in sharing their IK with students and
teachers. A contentious question raised with teachers was
whether and how the custodians could participate in the
formal classroom instructional processes so that they
could directly impart their heritage to the younger
generation.
Data analysis
All the audio data were recorded with the permission of the
custodians and teachers and were transcribed. Analysis was
accomplished by listening to and reading the transcriptions
of the data several times. The analysis of data involved
translating the discussion conducted with the custodians
from Shona to English, which was done by the indigenous
researcher (the PhD student). To identify, significant views
of custodian and teachers, content analysis was carried out
on both sets of data, which entailed searching for significant
themes by first using initial descriptive statements. These
statements were then matched for validity against the data.
For example, for the theme in Table 1, IK if integrated in
school will synchronize with community’s culture was
matched against evidence present in the data, specifically,
the modern methods taught to youths are not as effective
and consistent with our rural livelihoods. The categories of
themes were then finalized for each research question as
the results of the study and are presented in Tables 1 to 5.
The results were validated by reviewing this process. Only
pertinent examples of the interview data that address the
relevant research questions are presented in this paper due
to space limitations.
The data for research questions 1 and 2 are presented,
followed by the results for research questions 1 and 2 and
then the results for each research question are discussed in
depth together with findings from the literature.
360
Table 5. Dilemmas of custodians and teachers.
Custodians
They are concerned with loss of their traditional medicine and
culture as it is not integrated in schools.
They are concerned that their IK is demonized because of
Christian influence.
They hold a dilemma about youth rejecting IK as outdated.
- There is limited knowledge of assessment in IK.
- IK is not science and should be excluded in school.
IK: Indigenous Knowledge.
Data for research question 1
For research question 1: What are custodians and teachers’
and views of IK that can be integrated in the primary school
science curriculum? When addressing the custodians, the
title of Mbuya [grandmother] and Sekuru [grandfather] or
uncle indicate position of and respect for custodians in the
community.
Data from custodians
Researcher to the entire group: Why do you think IK is
important to be included in schools? Mbuya Kag replied,
Chivanhu chedu chine zvizhinji zvisinga zivikanwi nevana
vamazuva ano. Chikonzero ndechekuti izvi havazvidzidzi
muzvikoro mavari kuswera vari. Ukada kuti uvadzidzise
voti chinyakare. [Our culture has a lot which the young
generation does not know about. This is because this is not
taught in the schools where they spend most of their time.
If one tries to engage them in these cultural practices, they
say they are out-dated.].
Sekuru Dzi added that Kana zviri zvemakwenzi
havatozivi, havadikuzvinwa! Asi woona munhu achitambura
neurwere zvichinzi tashaya mishonga muzipatara iyo
mishonga yakazara mumasango umu! [They do not want to
hear about traditional medicine but you find someone
suffering from an illness saying there is no medication in
hospitals and clinics yet medicines are plentiful in the
forests here!]
Sekuru Kati added: Masango aya anotichengeta kwazo.
Tinowana miriwo, michero ne mishonga pasina mari
inodikanwa. Chinodikanwa ruzivo. Isu taigara nevakuru
vaitidzidzisa kuti chikwenzi ichi chinorapa izvi; tora
mashizha kana makwande acho woita izvi. Pasina nguva
chipfuyo kana munhu atonaya pakare (with indignation).
[We derive our livelihood from these forests. We get relish,
fruits and medicines without any need for money. What is
needed is knowledge. We got this knowledge from our
custodians who showed us and taught us how to use the
shrubs and trees, using the leaves, roots and bark. Within no
time, your livestock or a person would be fine.]
Sekuru Dumisane was equally passionate about being “a
teacher” to impart natural resources conservation ideas to
the youths. He added, Zvekuchengetedzwa kwemasango
nemichero nezvimwe zvierwa hazvichanyanyo kosheswa.
Hongu vangapihwe zvavo ruzivo rwamazuva ano asi
AlterNative 16(4)
Teachers
Economy of state stifles custodian’s employment.
Ethical practices are being eroded, hence custodians must be
involved in some teaching.
They are stifled by department policy and regulations for IK
integration.
tinongoona zvichingoparara nokuti hazvina kuringana
nemararamiro edu. [Conservation of natural resources
through taboos was strongly enforced by our custodians.
The modern methods taught to youths are not as effective
and consistent with our rural livelihoods].
Researcher: Can you talk about the value of indigenous
conservation? Like how plants are preserved. Mbuya Kagurira
retorted: Moyo wangu unorwadziwa zvikuru panotsva
masango! Hapana muti musango umu usinga rapi, vanhu
nezvipfuyo. Masango aya anoda kuchengetedzwa zvikuru.
Vana ngavadzidziswe nzira kwadzo dzekuchengetedza
masango (A sad expression on her face). [My heart bleeds
when I see veld fires. There is no tree or plant in the forest that
has no value. Each of them can cure some ailment both in
humans and livestock. We really need to protect and preserve
the forests. Children should be taught effective ways of
preserving the environment].
Researcher: Are places dedicated to certain natural
resources preservation? Mbuya Zvinoita said: miko
ikateedzerwa sezvataiita, masango nezvierwa zvino
chengetedzeka. [Taboos used to be very effective when we
grew up. Maybe if these taboos could be reinforced, our
forests and natural resources and sacred places could be
preserved].
Data from teachers
The data were then obtained from in-depth individual
interviews conducted with six teachers.
Researcher: 
Will you be able to include IK in the
current primary school syllabus?
Aron:  Yes, we can but for a short time only.
Because of the prescriptive nature of the
syllabi, we pay more attention to the
modern ways of knowing and doing
things, and this is the knowledge on which
learners will be tested and not on the IK
custodians’ experiences. Our salary
depends on the department of education
directives.
Researcher: 
What about learners getting direct IK
knowledge from the custodians and real
life experiences in school?
Carol:  Resource persons such as custodians of
IK are good for the school and community.
Govender and Mutendera
The problem is sometimes we teachers
pretend we know everything when we do
not have data on some topics. There is
nothing wrong with inviting resource
persons from the community, some of
them have a lot of knowledge which I as
the teacher may not possess. I will also
learn about respect, sharing, crafts,
dances and agriculture.
Researcher: 
Can teachers teach the IK?
Duma:  Yes, few can but most are westernised and
might not like to include IK in class then
it means that only some teachers who are
specialized in IK can teach it but it will
solve the problem of finance for
custodians’ salary.
Researcher: 
What about IK and our indigenous cultural
practices to be integrated in schools?
Frara:  IK is not science and it’s only cultural . . .
only for home and social activities. There
are too many superstitious beliefs and
unnecessary rituals like rain-making.
Data for research question 2
Research question 2 is: What dilemmas emerge from
custodians’ and teachers’ views of teaching IK in the
science classrooms?
Dilemmas identified by custodians
Researcher:  What concerns you about Indige­
nous Knowledge if to be included
in schools? Mbuya Kag replied:
Kana zviri zvekurapa zvirwere
izvi, vanaoti kwava nemishonga
muzipatara. Naiwo machechi
ndiwo mamwe aparadza chivanhu
chedu achiti vanhu vasashandise
zvechivanhu! [Concerning medi­
cinal practices, they say modern
medicines are available in the
hospitals and clinics. This is also
because some churches discou­
rage people from using traditional
medicines!].
Sekuru Dzi added that: 
Tsika dzechivanhu mazuva ano
dzavakutarisirwa pasi. Vana hava­-
china tsika, voti toita zvamazuva
ano. Kana ndizvo zvavari kudziz­
diswa muzvikoromo nemachechi
anoti chivanhu chakan’gora mheno!
Toziva zvipi? [Our culture these
days is looked down upon. These
youths have lost direction, they
have lost their culture because of
modernisation. Maybe it is what
they are taught in schools and
churches that our cultural practices
361
are demonic! What can one say?
(Sighs)].
Mbuya Zvinoita said: Zvino vana havachazvikoshesi
nezvavave kudzidziswa muzvikoro mazuva ano. [The
challenge is that taboos and sacred places are no longer
valued as children are being taught other things in
schools].
Dilemmas presented by teachers
Researcher: 
But will you as Indigenous Knowledge
custodians teach students if allowed to?
Aron: Indigenous Knowledge custodians could
only be invited on exceptional grounds of
their “expertise”. Definitely, yes, but for a
few lessons as it involves my culture and
practices and so it will boost our confidence
as Africans in Zimbabwe where now it is
taught in the class.
Researcher: For example, when?
Aron:  They can explain about medicinal plants
and maybe weather patterns and some
things like composting in farming.
Researcher: Would you include IK and IK custodians in
class to teach IK aspects?
Duma:  Yes, but economics is an important factor.
It’s not fair to ask someone to come and do
your job, you are paid at the end of the
month. But can they leave their jobs for
nothing?
Researcher: What if there are no obstacles for custodians
to come into schools?
Duma:  In my case, I really do not know much about
which indigenous practices the community
values as we largely western. So I would
not mind if the custodians come to teach
their children on their important cultural
practices. At the end of the day I will also
be learning. There are a lot of indigenous
practices that can be included, agricultural
practices, traditional medicine, games like
nhodo [games of pebbles] in mathematics.
You know many learners fear maths saying
it’s a difficult subject. Indigenous games
can help pupils to master concepts, and this
can dispel the myth that maths is hard.
Researcher: Will you invite IK custodians to teach IK in
class? Emam: Ahh, there is nothing wrong
in inviting resource persons from the
community to come to the school. Some of
them have a lot of knowledge like protecting
plants and animals in the wild which I as a
teacher may not possess. It is good to invite
them.
Researcher: Will you support the inclusion of IK
custodians in class and what can they
contribute?
Frara: No, they should not be invited as they are
not trained teachers and what about how
362
we will include them in class teaching. No
. . .it’s too difficult. We can find information
from them and teach our children ourselves.
Results
The results are presented as themes and IK content area for
RQ 1 in Tables 1 to 4.
Table 3 highlights the different IK content areas that
custodians can contribute in primary school such as cultural
heritage, religious practices and Table 4 for teachers.
Results for research question 2
For RQ 2, the summary in Table 5 shows the results from
data analysis regarding the dilemmas of custodians’ and
teachers’ concerning their views of IK in teaching in science
classrooms.
Discussion
For RQ 1: The views of the custodians and teachers on
integrating IK in schools are synthesized in Tables 1
and 2 and the IK content areas selected are given in
Tables 3 and 4.
The themes that emerged from the custodians are
discussed as follows:
i). IK is not integrated in schools because of the view by
youth that it’s outdated
The custodians were of the view that there was little link
between home and school as the school did not foster the
community’s activities such as games and so on. Their
concern echoes that expressed by Mawere (2012) in his
book on indigenous games in Zimbabwe, where he noted
that colonialization and globalization through TV, cell
phones, social media and western sports and so on. have
replaced and marginalized indigenous games, even to the
point of extinction. Other researchers (Phiri, 2008; Shizha,
2010) have also expressed a loss of “cultural capital” when
students are exposed to only westernized education at
schools. Nyota and Mapara (2008) maintain that traditional
children’s games and songs have value in stimulating
children’s curiosity, as well as “The virtues and values
learnt are varied and practical. Some of them are good
behaviour, hard work, competition, handling success and
failure and leadership” (p. 189), skills that become valuable
in their life. Encouragingly, there has been an introduction
of IK games and sports in some countries that has shown
promise in youth cultural development and re-valuing their
IKS (Bogopa, 2012).
ii). 
If IK is integrated then students will learn from
nature and survive
AlterNative 16(4)
Students learn about food in their homes and community
where people use local indigenous ways of cultivation for
indigenous crops. They also learn about food from school
but such knowledge is not often integrated with knowledge
of indigenous cooking and crops. The custodians are of the
view that if indigenous foods are introduced in schools, the
student will become more food literate and hence stand a
better chance of survival, given recent global climatic
changes, droughts and so on. In this regard, Gartaula et al.
(2020) add that “students have potential to enhance food
literacy in the schools, provided the schools create
supportive space for experiential learning that weaves
community-based Indigenous knowledges of local foods”
(p. 77).
iii). IK if integrated in school will synchronize with
community’s culture
Custodians, expressed the importance of continuity of their
culture through schools. In the book edited by Hall et al.
(2000), several authors also lament the loss of cultural
identities and indigenous ways of knowing. For example,
McIsaac argues that the knowledge and interpretations of
the community custodians cannot be in an academic
framework that does not also include their indigenous
experiences. Furthermore, Idemudia argues that among
those still practising their art, IK of Africans contributes to
the formation of their identities. Also in Webb’s (2016)
South African study, teachers and custodians identified the
value of cultural identity for “restoring dignity and for
protecting a heritage which has been demeaned in the past”
(p. 184).
iv). IK if integrated will provide experiences for students
to learn conservation practices
The custodians report that the youth are losing IK culture
because they view it as outdated as many prefer to trust and
use modern medicines and evidence-based science and
technology. They claim that knowledge of conservation of
natural resources using traditional practices and experiences
is much more effective than modern practices of
conservation. They also added that taboos were a valuable
way of conservation. For example, taboos protect some
edible animals and plants because it is “taboo for one to eat
his or her totem animal; one risked losing teeth or some
catastrophe would befall him or her for violating this taboo”
(Duri & Mapara, 2007, p. 106). Mapira and Mazambara
(2013) explain that totemism facilitated selective rather
than indiscriminate hunting, thereby preserving endangered
species and promoting environmental sustainability. Mapira
and Mazambara (2013), from an IKS survey among 200
Zimbabwean citizens, argue that although it is not possible
for the country to revert to the pre-colonial past, policy
makers can draw some lessons from and incorporate IKS in
their quest for sustainable development. In addition,
Mashokod (2014) concurred that, in Zimbabwe, local
Govender and Mutendera
knowledge of indigenous plants found by the community
could be harnessed for teaching in schools.
The themes emerged from the teachers are discussed
as follows:
i). IK can be integrated but a little due to education
department regulations
Teachers indicated the curriculum is restrictive as it is
westernized and highly content based. They have to follow
the outcomes and assessment of the westernized curriculum
as they are monitored and regularized. Mothwa (2011) adds
that teachers in the new South African curriculum too were
given very little guidance on how IKS should be taught
even though the curriculum aims supported IKS. However,
the largely western-based content of the curriculum was
well described.
ii). IK can be integrated by custodians as teachers lack
some IK knowledge
A significant aspect of IKS is language of the indigenous
people as it embeds and transmits culture, values, history as
part of communication. Custodians are traditionally the
language holders, especially in the oral tradition. In its
2013 constitution, Zimbabwe officially recognizes 16
languages, including previously marginalized languages,
but existing studies confirm the dominance of Shona and
Ndebele in the public domain and the subtle subservience
of previously marginalized languages (P. Mpofu & Salawu,
2019). Roy-Campbell (2019) adds that local languages are
the “repositories of the indigenous knowledge base of
societies. Marginalization of certain languages is a form of
devaluing not only the languages but the knowledge and
culture embodied in those languages” (p. 27). Accordingly,
schools and teachers need to ensure that learners are given
equal opportunities to become proficient in their mother-
tongue language, and in this regard custodians can be a
tremendous source for indigenous language development,
especially in developing and sustaining orality aspects of
some possibly marginalized languages. It was observed in
this regard, the teachers were unconfident in Shona, and the
custodians and the village head used a local Shona dialect.
iii). IK can be integrated but concern that teachers are
Westernized
The data from interviews with teachers revealed that most
of them conceded that they were not well versed in the
indigenous practices that are valued by the surrounding
community, as their previous education had been largely
westernized (Zimbabwe was a British colony until 1980).
They are aware of IKS and confirm that these can be
appropriately included in the school curriculum if barriers
were identified and removed. Inclusion of IK sports and
games would result in teachers also going back to their own
cultural roots and these games could be integrated with
some modern games like cricket.
363
iv). IK should not be integrated as it’s not science but
cultural
Teachers also raised epistemological issues in the idea: “IK
is not a science.” Many researchers have raised this issue
from philosophical, methodological and practical
perspectives (Ogunniyi & Hewson, 2008). Webb (2016, p.
187) has developed a useful heuristic model for teachers to
map IK against science, technology and “other” knowledge
and in such a space it can be determined how to negotiate
with each knowledge item. For example, in science,
lightning can be explained from electrostatics concepts
(tested science) but lightning used for witchcraft is
categorized as faith and mysticism and so cannot be
explained in the same space. The question arising from this
mapping is “does this process then undermine IK practices?”
or will it lead to an improved understanding of the nature of
different knowledge systems, leading to an historical and
complex view of how and whose knowledge gets due
recognition. Such practices can imbue teachers with a
critical perspective when they encounter the “subjugation”
of IK even in research and further stimulate the
decolonization debate.
For RQ 2: The dilemmas for the custodians and teachers
are summarized in Table 5 and discussed as follows:
i). Dilemmas of the custodians include the dominance of
westernized education, the loss of their traditional
medicine and environmental conservation practices
and their culture not being integrated in schools.
Teachers added that IK custodians and IK inclusion
affirmed their Africanness and highlighted previous
colonization influences that were implicit.
ii). 
A dilemma is experienced concerning religious
conflicts and practices because IK is demonized due
to a Christian influence. While some churches have
integrated African traditional beliefs, the custodians
are anxious that recent evangelization by western
churches has been to the detriment of the indigenous
cultures. Manala (2013) argues that while there are
benefits to Christianity, it has also “led to the demise
of the African customs, which it viewed as pagan and
evil; the religion also led to the implementation of
apartheid (to which it gave its theological support),
and undermined the leadership role of women” (p.
285).
iii). They have a dilemma of youth rejecting IK as being
outdated and using only modern medicines while
rejecting traditional medicinal practices. A study by
Mashokod (2014) in Zimbabwe concurred that local
knowledge of plant medicine could be integrated
into school science teaching, and concepts such as
fermentation, food preservation, could be taught in
classes based on the IK of medicinal plants.
For the teachers, the dilemmas arising out of their views
were economic—that is, custodians will need to paid,
364
ethical unhu/ubuntu [humanity]—it is not ethical for the
custodians to volunteer freely their services, policy—
department regulation is strongly prescriptive of the
implementation of western curriculum, assessment—IK is
not assessed and performance of schools is based on the
standard curriculum leaving teachers under severe scrutiny
for not completing the prescribed syllabus, and a dilemma
of IK is not science and so it should not be taught at schools.
Overall a positive attitude towards IK integration was
displayed by five out of six teachers, if the financial
constraints of employing custodians could be removed.
Due largely to westernized-Eurocentric colonization and
missionary programmes, most young and middle age
people including science teachers have lost their cultural
roots. Some teachers were rather sceptical about IK
custodians’ active involvement in the classroom teaching
and learning process reasoning that the custodians were not
“professionals” as they were not trained to teach. In
addition, there would be a timetable overload leaving no
room to accommodate IK and IK custodians during school
hours. Also, because IK is not part of the prescribed
syllabus, assessment of it through examinations would be
limited and their learners’ IK knowledge would not count
towards school performance. Teaching IKS could then be a
waste of effort.
For RQ 3. How can these dilemmas be overcome?
Some suggestions are drawn after reviewing the analysis of
custodians’ and teachers’ narratives, with the summaries
presented in Tables 1 to 4, and of the participants’ dilemmas
(Table 5) and from current research in IKS. These are
discussed as follows:
The dilemma of loss of IK, language, and culture is not
integrated in schools due to westernization and colonization:
The study findings imply that teachers who are largely
western trained lack IK experiences. They should be
exposed to coursework, discussion workshops, field trips
(to sacred places) and resources (artefacts, forests etc.) in
IKS so as to acquire appropriate IK content and pedagogy.
From the research literature, IK practices were also
identified by a large case study of 294 participants, 73 of
whom were science teachers from the Eastern Cape in
South Africa whose first language was isiXhosa (Webb,
2016). The participants identified indigenous technology
activities, health and witchcraft, traditional views of
lightning, and cultural heritage as valuable content for
schools.
The loss of language can be addressed by employing
custodians with language expertise together with language
teachers. The indigenous language must be taught first in
the first few years of primary school and then concurrently
with other languages like English. This requires a language
policy change in some African countries. Language is an
issue in many countries, but especially in Africa where
multilingualism and the influx of migrants results in a
complex potpourri filled with social and politically
engineered agendas (Kadenge & Mugari, 2015), which
could add further disputes to language policies and
practices.
AlterNative 16(4)
IK organizations, communities, politicians, researchers,
educators and the leaders of the western churches and
traditional healers need to form joint forums where
“dialogical spaces” are formed, thereby promoting
discussions in addressing African philosophy, African
ethics (ubuntu/unhu), decolonization issues, and the
subjugation and negative perceptions of “superstitious”
practices. In this way understanding, tolerance and harmony
can be fostered in communities. This dilemma needs further
research if IK is not to be further marginalized by African
teachers who have been exposed to only western culture
and the Christian religion.
The dilemma of only western education in schools: The
findings suggest that officials in the Department of
Education, IK academia, and relevant organizations debate
and transform the curricula to include IKS and facilitate its
integration into the formal curriculum. The Department of
Education should recognize and certify IK custodians who
wish to participate in formal schooling as this would give
legitimacy and status to them as community teachers and
facilitate payment for their services. Custodians could be
initially be employed on a short-term basis for a pilot
project, which, if successful, could then be extended to full-
time employment. For effective inclusion of IKS, a
transformed curriculum needs input from education
departments, teachers, and the community at the planning
stage. Unless teachers value the IK made explicit in the
curriculum, they will not put in the effort and energy
required to promote IK. In this regard, Mashokod (2014)
adds that planners need to include some forms of traditional
medicinal knowledge into school curriculum for teachers to
build upon what learners already know, after exploring the
teachers’ views on the use of traditional medicines. The
teachers in this study seem to advocate the “incorporationist”
approach. Such an approach brings selected IK into science
by seeking how “best IKS fits into science” (Naidoo &
Vithal, 2014) and involves the custodians when needed to
highlight a particular feature or concept in the curriculum,
for example, cultural dancing when teaching creative arts.
On a positive note, the teachers were eager to learn, together
with their learners, about IK from its custodians. This
“insight” augurs well for future curriculum development
and workshops for custodians’ involvement in delivery of
the curricula.
The dilemma of youth rejecting IKS: The findings
suggest that the youth be part of conservation, agriculture
and environmental groups or clubs where IK conservation
and agricultural practices could be taught and practised.
Conservation entities and local farmers could take a
leadership role in these clubs, which would also boost
apprenticeship training and employment in this sector.
These initiatives can begin in primary schools. With regard
to inclusion of agriculture, the teachers in this study value
the relevant IK practices and other studies (Mapira &
Mazambara, 2013; Pedzisai, 2013) confirm that that the
inclusion of IK in the curriculum would foster sustainable
development and revitalize food production and oppose
colonial denigration of indigenous agricultural practices.
However, Muchena (1990) and Pedzisai (2013) argue that
including IK when teaching about agriculture is challenging,
Govender and Mutendera
as until now it has relied on oral tradition. Nevertheless,
with increasing research in agricultural IK agriculture,
climate change issues can be addressed by, for example,
growing drought resistant plants such as the indigenous
herb Amaranth (Cernansky, 2015). Due largely to
westernized-Eurocentric colonization and missionary
programmes, most young and middle-aged people,
including science teachers, have lost their cultural roots.
The evidence of this comes from Webb’s (2016) study, in
which shows that not all African teachers endorse the
inclusion of IK, so there is tension between their personal
beliefs and the proposed integrated IK curriculum, which
would need to be resolved.
Implications of findings
The findings of this study have important implications for
integration of IK in primary schools, for curriculum
development, for teacher professional development as well
as for future research in IK methodologies and epistemic
debates involving the role of custodians in the integration
of IK in schools. For analytic purposes, the implications are
categorized into the following themes: Epistemic debates,
Power and Social Justice, Collaboration in curriculum
development, Curriculum Integration, and Enhancing IK
research methodologies.
Epistemic debates, Power and Social Justice: The
community, particularly the custodians, have highlighted
the tensions between western and IK and this conflict has
historical links with colonization, hegemony, and explicit
or subtle enforcement of western languages and philosophy,
which impacts their culture and way of life. They take a
standpoint that the curriculum should also focus on
relevance of knowledge, thereby addressing the important
context of survival, food, peace, and employment. Therefore
a decolonized curriculum should have a philosophical base
that address issues of inclusivity, human rights (unhu),
social justice, and democracy, thereby shifting the present
curriculum from exclusively westernized content. The
community members have taken an indigenist standpoint,
as is reflected in the Indigenous Standpoint Theory (IST)
discussed earlier: they have vociferously expressed concern
that the loss of their IK would result in the demise of their
language, IK and culture. An analysis according to IST can
provide insights into the multiple links in this education
enterprise. Engaging IK custodians on instructional matters
is a positive step towards acknowledging the role and value
of IK to indigenous learners. Such a move would be a
practical way of indigenizing the school curriculum, which
would enhance the cognitive development, academic
achievement and success of learners (Shizha, 2013). Most
teachers did allude to the power of the Department of
Education in planning and implementing a solely
westernized curriculum and in excluding IK custodians
from formal education. Nevertheless, for curriculum
transformation to occur, the notion of the power behind
political systems, which permeates through education
requires deeper cognition and awareness. Culture is not
transmitted genetically or passively, hence, it has to be
365
consistently learned and fostered, so the process of explicit
integration of culture offers this transformation of the
curriculum with all stakeholders participating in a dialogical
framework. In this regard, Odora Hoppers (2009) asserts that
the integration of IK in education offers a transformation and
a rethink of the link between “democracy and epistemology,”
thereby extending concepts of “enfranchisement and
cognitive justice” (p. 176). While there are now many
community activists, researchers, and international
organizations fostering the agenda of including indigenous
and cultural knowledge and exposing how western
knowledge has resulted in the “epistemicide” of other
knowledges (Hall & Tandon, 2017; Hoppers, 2001; Medin
& Bang, 2014), there needs to be stronger local community
and national political platforms to effect any significant
transformation. But the question of how to dismantle the
power hold of westernization in education, so that it
includes a decolonized and indigenous curriculum, is
complex. The dismantling would require a concerted effort
through collaborative praxis that uses and builds on existing
research skills and political-administrative infrastructures
so as to engage the participation of departmental officials,
teachers, custodians, parents, community experts, academia,
and children in all aspects of the community’s life (Shizha,
2013). This study, while involving limited groups of
custodians and teachers, implies that there should be
collective and ongoing engagement among custodians and
education personnel geared to formalizing the political-
administration structures towards curriculum transformation.
Collaboration in curriculum development: Studies like
that of Shizha (2007) have found that the problems of IK in
a curriculum were largely “attitudinal, institutional, and
systemic” (p. 302), where conservative teachers exhibited
negative attitudes towards IK and supported only western
science. In this study, most teachers supported IK in school
but were concerned about administrative control and
policies. This study has highlighted the power of
collaborative knowledge construction involving custodians
and teachers in primary schools. Although IK differs from
westernized school content, the community (teachers and
custodians) do have several ideas about how local
knowledge could contribute to primary school education at
a local level. The community input from this study implies
that a curriculum should display sensitivity to issues of
local concern such as local language development and
sustainable environmental knowledge. In this regard, the
custodians’ experiences can provide opportunities for
deeper levels of creativity in the classroom when using
relevant community spaces espousing context-based
knowledge, artefacts, and skills. Teachers could then
incorporate inquiry and problem-based teaching and
learning strategies, which are based on authentic issues and
local community-based problems as they would now have
access to natural and physical resources and support from
the custodians. For example, learners could investigate how
to preserve diversity of flora and fauna and use local names
to identify them. There is evidence of community design
interventions elsewhere; for example, to boost performance
in STEM among indigenous native Americans (Bang et al.,
366
2010) an intervention involved a number of teaching and
learning partnerships through which students could “engage
with the concept of biodiversity, community-based views
about all things being connected and having a role to play”
(p. 576).
Enhancing IK research methodologies: This study has
contributed to the body of research on integration of IK into
the primary school curriculum, based on evidence for
transformative participatory methodologies. The study,
through its openness in dialogical community engagement,
has thus opened up spaces for networking with custodians
in a creative and transformative approach to education. One
of the custodians acknowledged that: “The modern methods
taught to youths are not as effective and consistent with our
rural livelihoods.” In this regard, students do enjoy outdoor
and nature-based activities, and the custodians do welcome
the sharing of their IK knowledge. As an integral part of the
school system, Hall et al. (2000) suggest that local
communities, parents, chiefs and custodians should be
accorded space as co-creators of knowledge. This study
confirmed the potential of aligning research practices with
indigenous research ethics and collaborative methodologies,
whereby participants are empowerment through renewed
thinking about the wise use of resources rather than focusing
on deficits of IK, as perceived through western methodologies.
Participatory curriculum development, where relevant
stakeholders and experts are involved, contributes to a better,
richer and healthier curriculum that prepares the learners for
sustainable development of not only their immediate
community but the whole country. Islam and Banda (2011)
propose that that such an IK partnership provides several
opportunities for traditional and local leaders and the
community to get involved in the field of IK research in
schools in their areas, for example, through cultural and
museum projects. This could be mutually beneficial, as this
partnership could have a strong “influence on the
interpretation of policy and have a sense of ownership of
projects and developmental agendas brought about by
findings from such bottom-up research efforts” (p. 67).
Curriculum Integration: Teachers are the key to effective
learning and provision of good quality relevant education,
not only for sustainable development of communities but
also for holistic development of learners for global
competitiveness. Unfortunately, the learners are often
inadequately prepared and so constrained by the system
that they become too parochial in their operations to think
“outside the box”. The teachers should be empowered to
interpret the national syllabi, adapting and contextualizing
the contents and pedagogic strategies so as to include local
practices that are valued by the community in the schools’
immediate vicinity, and with which learners are familiar.
However, curriculum integration of IK can take different
forms, such as inclusion of certain topics, integration within
topics and separate incorporation of topics (Naidoo &
Vithal, 2014). All these formats can be used according to
the local resources and the topic. This process necessitates
the professional development of teachers be focused on
re-skilling teachers for IKS integration. This study has
shown that some knowledge is disappearing, particularly
AlterNative 16(4)
that which involves practical skills like natural resource
management, basket making, production of artefacts, and
cultural customs like rain-making. The findings from this
study reveal several niche topics suited to integration in
primary school curricula, such as agriculture, preservation
of forests, sustainable environments, artefacts in technology,
and languages (see Tables 1 to 4). In such ways, the
experiences and knowledge of custodians could be
appropriately incorporated and applied in the classroom in
diverse ways and on cultural occasions. The study implies
that more, ongoing and systematic curriculum development
and implementation must take place with a view to
including culture as an indigenous philosophy, with
indigenous concepts (e.g., totems) to be integrated into
existing concepts and topics, and including activities that
embed culture and language, along with the access to and
use of resources (books, internet) in establishing an
integrated curriculum. By these means teachers would also
improve their IK acumen.
Conclusion
The study has explored the views of primary school
teachers’ and custodians’ on the integration of IK in the
school curriculum thereby exposing the dilemmas arising
from their views. Through dialogue and discussions, their
plight, concerns, and contributions towards the integration
of IK in the primary school curriculum have been
highlighted. The custodians were of the view that they
possess a storehouse of cultural knowledge and skills that
should be shared with teachers and learners before these are
annihilated and so were willing to support the curriculum
integration process in schools. Through indigenous
education, they wanted their youth to reaffirm their African
identity and culture and to challenge the status quo of only
western knowledge being taught in schools through a
decolonizing curriculum. Most teachers welcomed and
would like to learn from the valuable local experiences and
skills of custodians. These include the oral base of
indigenous languages, environmental diversity and
sustainability, cultural and custom-based practices, and
resources such as artefacts, stories and totems. However,
teachers were of the view that it was not practical for
custodians to teach at school permanently due to both
financial constraints of state funding and their not being
formally trained as teachers. Nevertheless, a few teachers
argued that IK is not science according to the curriculum,
which confirms these teachers’ colonized positions.
The study findings imply that even teachers who are
highly westernized, and the indigenised custodians were
willing to collaborate in re-organizing their curricula so as
to address the practical implementation of IK in the
classroom and address local problems around preserving
and disseminating IK. The study findings have several
implications, such as integrating African ethics (unhu),
enhancing indigenous methodologies through dialogue,
identifying topics for curriculum integration and
collaboration among stakeholders. This study provides an
authentic perspective of custodians and teachers’ views on
Govender and Mutendera
IK integration in primary school curriculum and of associated
dilemmas arising from it. Accordingly, they must be considered
seriously when integrating IK into the curriculum.
Acknowledgements
The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation
(NRF) of South Africa and the National Institute for the
Humanities and Social Sciences—Council for the Development
of Social Science Research in Africa (NIHSS-CODESRIA)
towards this research is sincerely acknowledged. Opinions
expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the authors and
should not in any way to be attributed to the NIHSS-CODESRIA.
This paper is a tribute to my PhD student, Mr Godfrey Mutendera,
who passed away towards the end of his study.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect
to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iD
Nadaraj Govender https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3406-0605
References
Bang, M., Medin, D., Washinawatok, K., & Chapman, S. (2010).
Innovations in culturally based science education through
partnerships and community. In T. A. Doyle (Ed.), New
science of learning (pp. 569–592). Springer.
Bogopa, D. L. (2012). The importance of indigenous games:
The selected cases of indigenous games in South Africa.
Indilinga African Journal of Indigenous Knowledge Systems,
11(2), 245–256.
Cameron, A., Khupe, C., & Keane, M. (2016). Opportunities
for emancipation and transformation through community-
centred indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) research.
Indilinga African Journal of Indigenous Knowledge Systems,
15(1), 16–27.
Cernansky, R. (2015). The rise of Africa’s super vegetables.
Nature News, 522(7555), 146–148.
Chilisa, B. (2011). Indigenous research methodologies. SAGE.
Duri, F., & Mapara, J. (2007). Environmental awareness and
management strategies in pre-colonial Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe
Journal of Geographical Research, 1(2), 98–111.
Emeagwali, G. (2003). African indigenous knowledge systems
(AIK): Implications for the curriculum. In T. Falola (Ed.),
Ghana in Africa and the world: Essays in honour of
AduBoahen. Africa World Press.
Emeagwali, G., & Dei, G. J. S. (2014). African Indigenous
knowledge and the disciplines. Sense Publishers.
Foley, D. (2003). Indigenous epistemology and Indigenous
standpoint theory. Social Alternatives, 22(1), 44–52.
Foley, D. (2006). Indigenous standpoint theory. International
Journal of the Humanities, 3(8), 25–36.
Gartaula, H., Patel, K., Shukla, S., & Devkota, R. (2020).
Indigenous knowledge of traditional foods and food literacy
among youth: Insights from rural Nepal. Journal of Rural
Studies, 73, 77–86.
367
Gaudet, J. C. (2014). Rethinking participatory research with
Indigenous peoples. Journal of the Native American and
Indigenous Studies Association, 1(2), 69–88.
Gilgen, R. (2016). Tīhei Mauri Ora: Negotiating primary school
teachers’ personal and professional identities as Māori.
University of Waikato.
Govender, N. (2009). Rural Basotho preservice students’ cultural
and indigenous experiences of astronomy (ethnoastronomy)
and implications for science education. Education as
Change, 13(1), 117–134.
Govender, N. (2012). Educational implications of applying the
complexity approach to Indigenous Knowledge Systems
(IKS). Alternation, 19(2), 112–137.
Govender, N., Mudaly, R., & James, A. (2013). Indigenous knowledge
of custodians of Zulu culture: Implications for multilogical
dialogue in the academy. Alternation, 20(1), 154–177.
Hall, B. L., Dei, G. J. S., & Rosenberg, D. G. (2000). Indigenous
knowledges in global contexts: Multiple readings of our
world. University of Toronto Press.
Hall, B. L., & Tandon, R. (2017). Decolonization of knowledge,
epistemicide, participatory research and higher education.
Research for All, 1(1), 6–19.
Hatcher, A. (2012). Building cultural bridges with Aboriginal learners
and their “classmates” for transformative environmental
education. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences,
2(4), 346–356.
Hewson, M. G., & Ogunniyi, M. B. (2011). Argumentation-
teaching as a method to introduce indigenous knowledge into
science classrooms: Opportunities and challenges. Cultural
Studies of Science Education, 6(3), 679–692.
Hoppers, C. A. (2001). Indigenous knowledge systems and
academic institutions in South Africa. Perspectives in
Education, 19(1), 73–86.
Islam, M. R., & Banda, D. (2011). Cross-cultural social research
with Indigenous knowledge (IK): Some dilemmas and
lessons. Journal of Social Research & Policy, 2(1), 67–82.
Jacob, W. J., Liu, J., & Lee, C.-W. (2015). Policy debates and
indigenous education: The trialectic of language, culture, and
identity. In W. J. Jacob, S. Y. Cheng, & M. K. Porter (Eds.),
Indigenous education (pp. 39–61). Springer.
Kadenge, M., & Mugari, V. (2015). The current politics of African
languages in Zimbabwe. Per Linguam: A Journal of Language
Learning/Per Linguam: Tydskrif Vir Taalaanleer, 31(2), 21–34.
Le Grange, L. (2008). Challenges for enacting an indigenised
science curriculum: A reply to Ogunniyi and Ogawa. South
African Journal of Higher Education, 22(4), 817–826.
Manala, M. J. (2013). The impact of Christianity on sub-Saharan
Africa. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 39(2), 285–302.
Mapara, J. (2009). Indigenous knowledge systems in Zimbabwe:
Juxtaposing postcolonial theory. Journal of Pan African
Studies, 3(1), 139–155.
Mapira, J., & Mazambara, P. (2013). Indigenous knowledge
systems and their implications for sustainable development
in Zimbabwe. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa,
15(5), 1520–5509.
Mashokod, D. (2014). Indigenous knowledge for plant medicine:
Inclusion into school science teaching and learning in
Zimbabwe. International Journal of English and Education,
3(3), 528–540.
Mavhunga, C. C. (2017). The language of science, technology, and
innovation: A Chimurenga way of seeing from Dzimbahwe.
In C. C. Mavhunga (Ed.), What do science, technology, and
innovation mean from Africa (pp. 45–62). MIT Press.
368
Mawere, M. (2012). The struggle of African Indigenous
knowledge systems in an age of globalization: A case for
children’s traditional games in south-eastern Zimbabwe.
African Books Collective.
Medin, D. L., & Bang, M. (2014). Who’s asking? Native science,
western science, and science education. MIT Press.
Moreton-Robinson, A. (2013). Towards an Australian Indigenous
women’s standpoint theory: A methodological tool.
Australian Feminist Studies, 28(78), 331–347.
Mothwa, M. M. (2011). Teachers’ experiences of incorporating
indigenous knowledge in the life sciences classroom.
University of Johannesburg.
Mpofu, P., & Salawu, A. (2019). Interrogating the autonomy
of previously marginalised languages in Zimbabwe’s
Indigenous-language press. Language Matters, 50(1), 25–44.
Mpofu, V. (2016). Possibilities of integrating indigenous
knowledge into the classroom science: The case of plant
healing. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Msila, V. (2007). From apartheid education to the Revised National
Curriculum Statement: Pedagogy for identity formation and
nation building in South Africa. Nordic Journal of African
Studies, 16(2), 146–160.
Muchena, O. N. (1990). An analysis of indigenous knowledge
systems: Implications for agricultural extension education
with particular reference to natural resource management in
Zimbabwe. Iowa State University. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/
rtd/9868/
Mufanechiya, A., & Mufanechiya, T. (2011). Using mother
tongue as a medium of instruction in the teaching of
mathematics in the Zimbabwean junior primary schools:
Desirable or feasible. Journal of Asian Scientific Research,
1(4), 194–203.
Naidoo, P. D., & Vithal, R. (2014). Teacher approaches to
introducing indigenous knowledge in school science
classrooms. African Journal of Research in Mathematics,
Science and Technology Education, 18(3), 253–263.
Nhalevilo, E. Z. d, F. A. (2013). Rethinking the history of inclusion
of IKS in school curricula: Endeavoring to legitimate the
subject. International Journal of Science and Mathematics
Education, 11(1), 23–42.
Nyota, S., & Mapara, J. (2008). Shona traditional children’s games
and play: Songs as indigenous ways of knowing. Journal of
Pan African Studies, 2(4), 189–203.
Odora Hoppers, C. A. (2009). From bandit colonialism to the
modern triage society: Towards a moral and cognitive
reconstruction of knowledge and citizenship. International
Journal of African Renaissance Studies, 4(2), 168–180.
Ogunniyi, M. B., & Hewson, M. G. (2008). Effect of an
argumentation-based course on teachers’ disposition towards
a science-indigenous knowledge curriculum. International
Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 3(4),
159–177.
Owuor, J. (2008). Integrating African indigenous knowledge
in Kenya’s formal education system: The potential for
sustainable development. Journal of Contemporary Issues in
Education, 2(2), 21–37.
Pedzisai, C. (2013). Teachers’ perceptions on inclusion of
agricultural Indigenous knowledge systems in crop
production: A case study of Zimbabwe’s ordinary level
agriculture syllabus (5035). Journal of Biology, Agriculture
and Health Care, 3(16), 37–44.
Phiri, A. D. K. (2008). Exploring the integration of indigenous
science in the primary school science curriculum in Malawi.
Virginia Tech.
AlterNative 16(4)
Quigley, C. (2009). Globalization and science education: The
implications for Indigenous knowledge systems. Inter­
national Education Studies, 2(1), 76–88.
Roy-Campbell, Z. (2019). Revitalizing African languages for
transformation. Contemporary Journal of African Studies,
6(1), 27–45.
Seehawer, M. (2018). South African science teachers’ strategies
for integrating Indigenous and Western knowledges in their
classes: Practical lessons in decolonisation. Educational
Research for Social Change, 7(SPE), 91–110.
Serote, M. W. (1998). Initiatives for protection of rights of holders
of traditional knowledge, Indigenous peoples and local
communities. https://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/tk/en/
wipo_indip_rt_98/wipo_indip_rt_98_4e.html
Shizha, E. (2006). Legitimizing indigenous knowledge in
Zimbabwe: A theoretical analysis of postcolonial school
knowledge and its colonial legacy. Youth and Children’s
Studies, 2, 20–35. http://scholars.wlu.ca/brantford_yc/2
Shizha, E. (2007). Critical analysis of problems encountered in
incorporating Indigenous knowledge in science teaching by
primary school teachers in Zimbabwe. Alberta Journal of
Educational Research, 53(3), 302–319.
Shizha, E. (2008). Indigenous? What indigenous knowledge?
Beliefs and attitudes of rural primary school teachers
towards indigenous knowledge in the science curriculum in
Zimbabwe. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education,
37(1), 80–90.
Shizha, E. (2010). The interface of neoliberal globalization,
science education and indigenous African knowledges in
Africa. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social
Sciences, 2(1), 27–58.
Shizha, E. (2013). Reclaiming our indigenous voices: The problem
with postcolonial sub-Saharan African school curriculum.
Journal of Indigenous Social Development, 2(1), 1–18.
Shizha, E., & Abdi, A. A. (2013). Indigenous discourses on
knowledge and development in Africa. Routledge.
Teaero, T. (2002). The role of indigenous art, culture and knowledge
in the art education curricula at the primary school level. United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation
Regional conference on arts education in the pacific. https://
silo.tips/download/the-role-of-indigenous-art-culture-
and-knowledge-in-the-art-education-curricula
Thomson, P., & Hall, C. (2008). Opportunities missed and/or
thwarted? ‘Funds of knowledge’ meet the English national
curriculum. The Curriculum Journal, 19(2), 87–103.
Thondhlana, S., & Makawa, J. D. (2018). Addressing effect of
cultural and religious intolerance for effective teaching,
learning and peace of the primary school children in Zimbabwe:
A case study of Shurugwi District Schools. International Open
and Distance Learning Journal, 2(1), 17–31.
Van Damme, L. S. M., & Neluvhalani, E. F. (2004). Indigenous
knowledge in environmental education processes: Perspectives
on a growing research arena. Environmental Educa­tion
Research, 10(3), 353–370.
Webb, P. (2016). Indigenous knowledge and science education:
What knowledge, whose knowledge and how do we bridge
the gap. In V. Msila & M. T. Gumbo (Eds.), Africanising the
curriculum: Indigenous perspectives and theories (pp. 177–
194). African Sun Media.
Zengeya-Makuku, V., Kushure, L., Zengeya, A., & Bhukuvhani,
C. E. (2013). Secondary school teachers’ conceptions of
Indigenous knowledge: A basis for its inclusion into the
curriculum. International Journal of Innovative Research
and Development, 2(8), 446–452.