African Perspectives on Poverty, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and Innovation

This book examines the connections between poverty and innovation in Africa. Through case studies and theorizations from a distinctly African perspective, it stands in contrast to current theoretical works in the field, which remain very much rooted in Western-orientated thinking. The book investigates the application of methodologies which explain numerous African contexts in connection with issues of poverty and inequality. It reflects on comparative practices and praxes on the African continent, including commonplace traditions and practices in alleviating poverty, taken against a background of the failure of current prescriptions for poverty alleviation, such as the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP). There is a dire need for new practical perspectives which move Africa forward using its indigenous knowledge. Owing to a general lack of recorded African theories and methodologies on poverty, inequality and innovation, this book represents a pioneering corpus of African knowledge addressing poverty and inequality through local innovations. Adopting a transdisciplinary approach, it is relevant to students and scholars in development studies and economics, African studies, social studies, political history and political economy, climate studies, anthropology, and geography.

Oliver Mtapuri is a Professor in Development Studies at the School of Built Environment and Development in the College of Humanities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa. Mtapuri is also the Interim South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) chair in Applied Poverty Reduction Assessment, funded by the National Research Foundation (grant No. 71220) and the Department of Science and Innovation.