CULTURE AND RELIGION IN AFRICAN KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION

Abstract

The intrinsic interconnectedness among religion, culture and knowledge production subsists in the fact that religion and culture are contexts through which individuals attain and interpret knowledge that shape their understanding of reality and their place in it. This paper examined the peculiar sense in which religion and culture are institutional contexts and guardians of knowledge production in Africa. Cultural experience along with religious beliefs and practices are frameworks in African endeavour to understand, interpret and transmit knowledge of basic aspects of reality both at the individual and community levels. Using the methods of critical analysis and hermeneutic, the paper argued that religion and culture are valid epistemological as well as metaphysical and ethical frameworks and contexts of knowledge production in Africa. It is evident from the study that culture and religion also have pragmatic imports of knowledge adaptation, preservation and transmission in African epistemic enterprise. It is therefore, recommended that studies in African knowledge production should pay concerted attention to prioritise interrogating different aspects of African culture and religion.