Unknown Knowledge: the limits of scientific knowledge and its (Dis)Privilege in African local knowledge

Abstract

In this work, I examine the scientific attitude through its field, known as knowledge. I look at the processes through which science considers the legitimisation of knowledge to be valid. From René Descartes' arguments on the scientific method and Valéria Giannella's observations on the construction of epistemology from another approach, I realise that, the exploitation of non-Western science by Western science has caused the interests of scientific production to conflict, causing it to lose prestige in Africa. Starting from African ‘experiences and meanings’ (LARROSA, 2002), such as Ujamaa (NHERERE, 1968), I suggest a reflection on the methodologies that characterise science, and the adaptation of means that break away from standardised models located in Western ideologies. Only in this way will scientific socialism be possible in the light of socio-cultural interconnections.