Article Title
Abstract
This paper explores the pedagogical value of African Women’s Indigenous Knowledge or Food Security. The approach is narratological and takes into account oral testimonies and life-stories of women farmers in Homa Bay County, Kenya. The paper proposes African feminist epistemology as a viable approach in the pedagogy of food security and agricultural extension in rural Kenya. This is a paradigm shift which incorporates women farmers’ indigenous knowledge in formal agricultural education and extension programmes. The paradigm shift to African feminist epistemology is a response to a pedagogical anomaly where women’s indigenous knowledge has been relegated to the sidelines, with hegemonic agricultural practices favouring male-dominance in knowledge production. This paper explores ways of recognizing women farmer’s knowledge in food security. The paradigm shift is significant because African women are the main custodians of vital indigenous knowledge for food security. The paper recommends that appropriate Government policy should be formulated to take into account women’s indigenous knowledge for food security in rural households rather than over-dependence on externally imposed epistemological frameworks. Further, ethnographic research adopting the model of African feminist epistemology is recommended for other cultural landscapes in Kenya and beyond with regard to the role of women farmers in food security.
Recommended Citation
Ojwang, Humphrey Jeremiah; Kabira, Wanjiku Mukabi; and Ogada, Penninah Amolo
(2021)
"Philosophical Foundations of African Women's Indigenous Knowledge for Food Security: Towards Narrative Feminist Pedagogy,"
FDLA Journal: Vol. 6, Article 4.
Available at:
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/fdla-journal/vol6/iss1/4