African Indigenous Knowledge versus Western Science in the Mbeere Mission of Kenya
Loading...
Date
2023
Authors
Gathogo, Julius M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
OASIS
Abstract
This article sets out to explore the way in which Western science and technology was received
in the Mbeere Mission of central Kenya since August 1912 when a medical missionary,
Dr T.W.W. Crawford, visited the area. In his dalliance with ecclesiastical matters, Crawford, a
highly trained Canadian medical doctor, was sent by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) at
Kigari-Embu, in 1910, to pioneer the Anglican mission in the vast area that included
Mbeereland, where Mbeere Mission is situated. Contending with the African indigenous
knowledge in medicine, environmental conservation, agriculture and other forms of
indigenous science, the introduction of Western science and technology, 1912 to 1952, the
article argues, did not erase the former; rather, it complimented it. Pockets of general resistance
were evident, though Mbeereland, unlike its neighbouring Mutira Mission of 1912, did not
offer elaborate opposition to the Western science and technology, partly because the locals
could have learnt about it from their neighbours who had experienced it much earlier.
Through a historico-narrative design, the research article endeavours to primarily review the
coming of Western medicine in Mbeereland: Did it conflict with the African medicine?
Methodologically, the data have been collected via archival sources, oral interviews and by
reviewing applicable literature.
Contribution: The input of this research article to the HTS Journal’s vision and scope is seen
by appreciating its focus on the interface between African indigenous knowledge and the
European science and technology. Although the main focus is African versus western
medicine, and how it was historically received in Mbeere Mission of Central Kenya, it largely
speaks for the tropical Africa. The article is within the multidisciplinary areas in missiology
and historiography
Description
Article
Keywords
Mbeere Mission, African medicine, African indigenous knowledge, science and technology, Kenya
Citation
Gathogo, J. M. (2023). African Indigenous knowledge versus Western science in the Mbeere Mission of Kenya. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 79(1).