Human ontogenesis: An indigenous African view on development and intelligence

Abstract

Ecole Normale Superieure du Cameroun, Bambili Campus, Cameroun V iews on development and intelligence mirror mainstream Euro-American ethnocentrism and are presented as being applicable to all of human diversity. In contrast, an African worldview visualizes phases of human cyclical ontogenesis of systematic socialization of responsible intelligence in participatory curricula that assign stage-appropriate developmental tasks. In these curricula, knowledge is not separated into discrete disciplines, but all strands of it are interwoven into a common tapestry, which is learned by children at different developmental stages, who participate in the cultural and economic life of the family and society. This line of thought permits the integration of diverse ethnocultural realities and disparate theoretical threads into a common conceptual system-social ontogenesis. A theory of social ontogenesis addresses how, throughout ontogeny, children are co-participants in social and cultural life. The theory anchors human development as partly determined by the social ecology in which the development occurs and by how the human being learns and develops. Its seminal concept is sociogenesis, defined as individual development that is perceived and explained as a function of social, not biological, factors. But social ontogenetic thinking does not exclude nature; it assumes that biology underpins social ontogenesis. The biological commonality that the human species shares in the genetic code plays out into a bewildering diversity of specific individuality across ecocultures. Thus, contextualist theorists stress how different ontogenetic pathways and intelligences are situated in the socio-ecological contexts and cultural systems in which children are nurtured. The empirical grounding of this theory is based on impressionistic data from the Nso people of Cameroon, with supportive evidence in other parts of Africa. The universality of social ontogenesis offers an innovative impetus to conceptualize and generate developmental knowledge that empowers. It is a learning paradigm that permits the study of human development in the context of children's engagement of cognition when they are participants in cultural communities. This can expand visions and databases beyond restrictive Eurocentric grids. L es points de vue sur le développement et l'intelligence reflètent l'ethnocentrisme euro-américain dominant et sont présentés comme étant applicables à toute la diversité humaine. En contrepartie, une vision du monde africaine se représente les phases de l'ontogenèse humaine cyclique de la socialisation systématique de l'intelligence responsable dans les programmes participatifs qui assignent des tâ ches appropriées aux stages de développement. Dans ces programmes, la connaissance n'est pas séparée en disciplines distinctes, mais tous ses enchaînements sont entrelacés dans une tapisserie commune. Cette dernière est apprise à des stages de développement différents par les enfants qui participent à la vie culturelle et économique de la famille...

Through the eyes of children: Exploring Grade 7 career aspirations

“…Nsamenang (1992), therefore, proposes a theory of social ontogenesis in which human development is inextricably linked to the ecology and social system in which development occurs. Ontogenesis in isolation relates to the developmental unfolding or lifetime development of an individual; however, social ontogenesis relates to the individual's development within a social system and it is social ontogenesis that anchors human development (Nsamenang 2005). According to Nsamenang (2005:3), 'there are distinctive developmental tasks that are defined within the framework of cultural realities and developmental agendas'.…”

“…For Nsamenang (2005), as children actively engage in cultural life, they gradually assume levels of personhood, identity and ways of being. Furthermore, within an African worldview, an individual can only achieve a sense of self through a community (Nsamenang 2005). Bronfenbrenner's (2005) bio-ecosystemic framework further alludes to the dynamic interplay and influence of various systems in an individual's life, with the community and larger society playing vital roles in the development of the young person.…”

Understanding Human Abilities in Sub-Saharan African Settings

“…An understanding of human abilities that are prioritized in sub-Saharan settings is facilitated by having a framework that reflects the thoughts of those who enact and value preferred and specific abilities -mainly those abilities that are most meaningful to a society (Nsamenang, 2006;Serpell, 2007Serpell, , 2011a. Moreover, emphasis also is placed on social rather than academic learning models, mainly in which knowledge is passed on from knowledgeable adults and often in personal ways.…”

Supplying Basic Education and Learning to Sub-Saharan Africa in the Twenty-First Century

“…This approach to education denies the existence of human ontogenesis (innate and social factors impacting learning) discussed by Nsamenang, (2006). One is not minimising the modest achievements so far realised in the fields of the use of mother tongue (or language of immediate environment) in education (Kioko, 2015Kayaoglu, 2012.…”

“…Consequently, both in the Global North and the Global South, a cultural capital underpins all socio-economic development. This cultural capital according to Blunden (2012), Nsamenang (2006) and Berger and Luckmann, (1991) is propagated through education and learning and it defines the totality of the individual including his organic inheritances (hereditary traits) and mode of socialisation.…”