Appropriate technology and ethical obligations of the university: W.E.B. Du Bois on the Africana university mission

C. Verharen, G. Kadoda, F. Bugarin, J. Fortunak, J. Tharakan, D. Schwartzman, E. Wensing and G. Middendorf

African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 2017, vol. 9, issue 4, 467-477

Abstract: Working on the Encyclopedia Africana under the sponsorship of Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, W.E.B. Du Bois reversed his conviction that only the ‘talented tenth’ could profit from a university education. He proposed that virtually all humans have a right to a university education. He further insisted that Africana (African and African in the Diaspora) universities are ethically obligated and uniquely positioned to spearhead a movement to train students to become professionals who solve problems community members are unable to solve for themselves. Africana universities can, with the aid of appropriate technology and service learning, take the steps necessary to achieve Du Bois’s vision. In this paper, we present a practical account of how universities may work with local communities to determine the questions to research and then deploy appropriate technologies through community-based but student-driven service learning projects. Our hypothesis is that students can become community leaders of tomorrow by partnering with community members to solve theoretical issues and practical problems of their communities. As university graduates inspired by Du Bois’s vision for Africana universities, their mission will be to establish alumni communities of learning that transfer problem-solving skills to community members who do not yet have access to university education.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20421338.2017.1347338 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rajsxx:v:9:y:2017:i:4:p:467-477

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rajs20

DOI: 10.1080/20421338.2017.1347338

Access Statistics for this article

African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development is currently edited by None

More articles in African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().