Professional Documents
Culture Documents
OF HUMANITY
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Ade P. Dopamu
Editors
Olu Obafemi
O.B. Oloyede
R.W. Omotoye
F.A. Oladele
Sylvia O. Malomo
R.A. Olaoye
Pius O.
ABIOJE
Introduction
This age has been described as a scientific one, which implies
That whatever has no empirical explanation is dismissed as superstition
or unreal. Very often, magic is called a mysterious or metaphysical
power, meaning that it has no scientific basis Magic is also called an art.
Whatever the arguments may be, it is obvious that magic is rarely called
science, and African science and technology are still subject to being
defined.
In the understanding of this paper, science has produced many
magical feats, in the sense that not many persons can explain how certain
scientific products engender their effects. Magic, as what elicits wonder
and amazement, has thus been very much part of what constitutes science
and technology. Elaboration of this point lies ahead.
The purpose of study is to challenge African scientists to discover
whatever scientific principles obtain in what is called African magic,
toward producing amenities there from. Many ancient Africans had
discovered medicinal properties of many plants, in herbs, roots and barks,
with which many diseases are cured. Such discoveries are impossible
without a scientific insight. In this light, the scientific discoveries of
ancient Africa in areas other than medicine, should be uncovered and
appropriated. If, as it is said, science developed from magic,
contemporary African scientists should endeavour to demonstrate through
research, how that obtains in African context. Africa should expose her
scientific heritage beyond the medicinal phenomena, and proffer
definitive ways by which people can access African scientific feats in
such areas as making and preventing rainfall, and in long distance
communication devices.
The word science derives from the Latin scientia, which means
knowledge or knowing. In contemporary usage, scholars speak of the
"natural sciences" (which include physics, chemistry and biology). They
also refer to sociology, psychology, and anthropology as human or social
sciences.1 Beyond that, the scientific method is applied to such studies as
history, theology and politics (hence political science). As Richard Tarnas
observes, "from the Renaissance onward, modem culture evolved and left
behind the ancient and medieval world views as primitive, superstitious,
childish, unscientific, and oppressive." Tarnas notes further that:
Verifiable facts and theories tested and discussed among
equals replaced dogmatic revelation hierarchically
imposed by an institutional Church. The search for truth
was now conducted on a basis of international
cooperation, in a spirit of disciplined curiosity, with a
willingness, even eagerness, to transcend previous limits
of knowledge. Science offers a new possibility of
epistemological certainly and objective agreement, with
new powers of experimental prediction, technical
invention, and control of nature."
One can say that there will he a photographic input in the package, but
neither photography itself nor the transmission mystery are open to the
person sending the fax or just any photographer for that matter. Along
the fax machine, one can group the e-mail computer electronic
transmission, and the amount of materials available on the internet.
At any rate, the magical nature of science, as evident in the
products, is expressed beyond conjecture and street opinion. On
academic note, it is stated that:
Magic has tended to transform itself to become science.
Thus, alchemy, which had many magical elements,
became transformed into scientific chemistry, and
astrology was replaced by astronomy."
production and bottling of the Guiness drink in Nigeria, but the actual
Guinness stuff is said to be imported from Dublin in Ireland. The secret is
known only to the privileged members of the Gumess family.
In the course of this study, one came to the realisation that what said
about the magical nature of the GSM cards applies to many o t h e r things,
including land and cellular phones, the radio and television, photography,
video and audio productions, fax machines, the e-mail and internet
transmissions. There is also the electric wire, the secret of which remains
esoteric. One discovered that when people speak of Nigerian wire, it
should not be forgotten that the essential elements of the product are
imported, and the local manufactures only put them together as
directed by those who possess what makes the wire to be what it is. I hepatent must be granted before any company can engage in electric wire
production. Even then, the essential material is supplied by the privileged
family that is the custodian of the essential stuff.
Probably the most 'amazing discovery of this study is that the
electron from which electricity is said to generate remains mysterious
except to a privileged family. Electricity is a household name in many
countries of the world, but its real essence remains obscure from scientists
other than members of the family that discovered the magic, so to say. In
the words of Tim Hawthorne:
Some experiments show that the electron is a tiny negativelycharged particle, others, equally reliable, that it is energy in the
form of waves. Niels Bohr is supposed A to have said that he
believed in particles on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays,
but waves on Tuesdays. Thursdays and Saturdays. The
electron's behaviour can be expressed in the mathematical
equations of wave mechanics but we can no longer picture it.
Light also has this dual nature, behaving in some experiments as
waves and in others as a stream of photons, discrete packets of
energy.8
The point is well made, notwithstanding the fact that this category of
magic may not qualify as science, since science deals with discovery of
natural laws, out of which technology develops. What one can call
scientific magic in Africa refers to what (traditional) Africans who have
scientific insight discovered from their study of natural elements. One
should mention that some scholars have come close to questioning the
source of-occultic magic. Oliver A. Onwubiko quotes one E. Amadi as
noting that:
Charms are believed to bring to realization, the power of
the spirits and ancestors. Yet it is believed that through
the use of charms, obnoxious and implacable spirits and
ancestors are controlled, driven away, or blindfolded,
such that their evil machinations and punishments of the
living are minimized or averted.14
One has tried to explain (above) that the guarding secrets are not
unknown in other parts of the world, particularly in the Western
hemisphere, where a person may pay a lot of money to obtain a patent or
a copy right. But, in what areas can a scientist direct his or her attention,
in search of African scientific magic, as different from African occultic
magic? Of course, the main task is investigation, and where necessary,
experimentation. Below are some hints.
When I was with some hunters in a hamlet, it happened one day
that they needed to speak with one of their colleagues in a distant location
of about ten or more kilometres. One of them went into his bag of magic
and brought out a horn. He blew into it. and the person responded at the
other end. They communicated until the matter was resolved. A similar
thing is demonstrated in Saworoide, a Yoruba play by Prof. Akinwumi
Ishola. In that play, a drummer took a feather, cleaned his ear with it, and
attached it to his talking drum. He then used the drum to call his son
whom he has not seen for several years. The son heard the sound of the
drum, but his wife who was serving him food at that time did not hear it.
Much more amazing was that the man traced his father by following the
direction of the sound of the drum that remained in his mind. Can some
modern African scientists follow these leads to know what natural laws
are applied, and what further developments are possible therefrom?
Along the line of the examples given above, Ola Rotimi, in his
Yoruba-based play, Kurunmi, also showed that traditional Africans have a
way of communicating with people who are in distant, and sometimes
unknown locations. That was what happened when Ogunmola, a leader
of the Ibadan warriors, called Kurunmi (the leader of Ijaye warriors) to
come to the war front and count his losses. These occurrences in the
plays (i.e. Saworoide and Kurunmi) remind me of my experience in the
hamlet with traditional hunters. The telephone in its various forms that
are said to be the product of science, sends me wondering whether
raditional Africans have not discovered the natural laws that can make
humans communicate to one another beyond the normal hearing di st a nc e.
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