A rallying manifesto for the innovative problem-solving we need to build a better, more verdant, and sustainable planetary existence.
A rallying manifesto for the innovative problem-solving we need to build a better, more verdant, and sustainable planetary existence.
Academics are letting Africa down. With all that we know, what do we have to show for it? Whose lives have been changed for the better by it? What have we done for and with our communities lately? In this provocative book-the first in a trilogy-Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga argues that our critical thinkers must become actual thinker-doers. Taking its title from one of Thomas Sankara's most inspirational speeches, Dare to Invent the Future looks for moments in Africa's story where precedents of critical thought and knowledge in service of problem-solving are evident to inspire readers to dare to invent such a knowledge system.
Mavhunga revisits insights from Edward Wilmot Blyden, Booker T. Washington, Aime Cesaire, Frantz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral, Julius Nyerere, and Thomas Sankara to illustrate how the academic disciplines have been, and could be, deployed in the service of and through problem-solving, building on what people are doing and know. At its core, he writes, knowledge in the service of and through problem-solving derives from reading the past for new questions, doing due diligence in the present, and contriving an anticipatory approach toward the future.
Questioning the fundamental premises of Western and white knowledge production, especially regarding science and technology, Mavhunga proposes in this book refreshingly new approaches to thinking-doing that stem from African realities, in the hopes of inspiring a generation that will run toward, not away from, problems to solve them.
By:
Clapperton Chakanets Mavhunga
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 178mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262546867
ISBN 10: 0262546868
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 21 November 2023
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
INTRODUCTION 1 I MINDSET REENGINEERING 1 SYSTEMIC RACISM: STARTING FROM OUR DEHUMANIZATION 35 2 HISTORY AS A TOOL FOR ENGINEERING AN AFRICAN PERSONALITY 55 3 NÉGRITUDE: CULTURE AS A TOOL FOR RE-MEMBERING BLACK HUMANITY 75 II FREEDOM STRUGGLES AS INNOVATION 4 STRATEGIC DEPLOYMENTS 101 5 THE WEAPON OF THEORY 123 6 GUERRILLA HEALTHCARE INNOVATION 161 III TO RENDER FREEDOM FRUITFUL 7 HEAD, HAND, AND HEART 193 8 KUJITEGEMEA ZAIDI: EDUCATION FOR SELF-RELIANCE 245 9 DARE TO INVENT THE FUTURE 269 CONCLUSION: WHY WE MUST DARE: THE STATE OF THE AFRICAN UNIVERSITY AS A STARTING POINT 305 NOTES 325 REFERENCES 327 INDEX 347
Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga is Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. He is the author of The Mobile Workshop and Transient Workspaces and the editor of What Do Science, Technology, and Innovation Mean from Africa? (all published by MIT Press). He is also the founding director of Nyamudira Hills Research || Design || Build (RDB), a catalytic space that provides science and engineering support to rural communities in Zimbabwe and the African continent.
