In the making of a new traditional Luo Home, among the animals carried along is the African Cock. Little attention has previously been paid to the inclusion of the cock in the set of animals that must be available before a son makes a new home.
We believe that the cock had a more scientific than traditional role to play in the process of making of the new home. Given that the new home is often made away from the other homes in a place that had not been habited before, the cock plays the major role of an alarm clock to wake up the new home owners to the many work chores that obviously come with the setting up of a new premise.
The traditional African cock also has some unique instinct and will often make some shrimpish nice in the night whenever there is any creature or human being passing near the house it is located at night. This is significant in that at a new home, there area is often bushy with different creatures of the night often paying a visit. The new home owner needed to be alerted on any intruders either human beings, wild cats and snakes. This role the cock played very well.
The significance of the cock is thus not just as a traditional requirement but can be seen more as a time telling device,( crows at regular intervals during the day) as an alarm clock to wake up the new home owners when it first crows early in the morning, and as an early danger warning device when it makes the noises in the night whenever strangers and other wild animals, reptiles and snakes approached the new home. This goes further to emphasize the deep link between the Luo culture and science.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Monday, 14 March 2011
TRADITIONAL METEROLOGY
The Luo people of Kenya have a culture in agriculture known as "Golo Kodhi", it requires that before the onset of any crop planting season, specifically cereals, maize and sorghum, the eldest male member in the community had to give the signal for the planting to be carried out by the younger members in the community
This cultural practice can be linked to modern day meteorological science which involves years of observing weather patterns within an area and use of the data observed over a long period of time to be able to predict what weather and climatic conditions to expect for the future, this has given rise to the present day weather forecasts.
For the Luo, since there were no weather observation instruments in the olden days, they had to rely on the eldest male member within the community because being the eldest in a community ensured that one had the benefit of longevity and experience observing the different weather patterns and as such was best placed to predict subsequent patterns . Male elders were relied upon to give the predictions , because as opposed to their female counterparts, they had the advantage of being born in an area and continuously residing there.
One can quickly see that there is dare need to incorporate indigenous Knowledge into planning for the current development interventions because what we might consider as scientific solutions to third world problems could be repetitions of what the communities have practiced in their own way for a long time
To solve the problem of food insecurity and be able to feed the 1billion worlds hungry people, it is important for science to be leveraged with indigenous knowledge. There is urgent need for development actors to try and understand some of the hidden meanings to certain actions undertaken by communities in third world countries especially where such actions relate to agriculture and food security, this will ensure that the science in African cultures are tapped and. built upon
This cultural practice can be linked to modern day meteorological science which involves years of observing weather patterns within an area and use of the data observed over a long period of time to be able to predict what weather and climatic conditions to expect for the future, this has given rise to the present day weather forecasts.
For the Luo, since there were no weather observation instruments in the olden days, they had to rely on the eldest male member within the community because being the eldest in a community ensured that one had the benefit of longevity and experience observing the different weather patterns and as such was best placed to predict subsequent patterns . Male elders were relied upon to give the predictions , because as opposed to their female counterparts, they had the advantage of being born in an area and continuously residing there.
One can quickly see that there is dare need to incorporate indigenous Knowledge into planning for the current development interventions because what we might consider as scientific solutions to third world problems could be repetitions of what the communities have practiced in their own way for a long time
To solve the problem of food insecurity and be able to feed the 1billion worlds hungry people, it is important for science to be leveraged with indigenous knowledge. There is urgent need for development actors to try and understand some of the hidden meanings to certain actions undertaken by communities in third world countries especially where such actions relate to agriculture and food security, this will ensure that the science in African cultures are tapped and. built upon
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