Paper short abstract:

The gist of this study is centered on evaluating the extent to which African scholars have advanced a culture that can curb rigid thinking in African institutions of learning. Currently, the big man syndrome in academia is so pervasive that knowledge production only reflects a top-down symmetry.

Paper long abstract:

Currently, the big man syndrome in academia is so pervasive that knowledge production only reflects a top-down symmetry. Effectively, this has reduced the fields of the sciences to mere accounts of history where only those on top are assumed to possess knowledge, in the same manner that colonialists believed they knew it all.

This study employs a qualitative data collection approach through interviews of 15 African scholars specialized in the fields of sociology, ethnic and gender studies, political science, and development studies. Other data supporting this study were gathered by way of descriptive research analysis through academic journals, books, and online publications.

Findings suggest that African academics tend to shun ideas that are grounded in African realities in preference for foreign epistemologies even where such ideas do not fit African constellations. Taught in colonial style, to always conceive ideas from a Western perspective, many African academics have themselves become proxies of the very colonial state they purport to detest. The study concludes that to redress rigidness in academia, the black consciousness philosophy (which asserts that everyone counts) needs to be revamped alongside the reform of school curriculums. The global education crisis of today did not start in a vacuum but began with dysfunctional/irrelevant domestic curriculums that are not aligned with the needs and demands of local expectations. So, the effectiveness of global education can only be to the extent that it is built from a collection of strong local educational strands.

Key words: Black consciousness, curriculum development, African knowledge systems.