Page 188 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

Chapter 12
When Elephants Fight, It Is the Grass
That Suffers

Norman Thomson

In his essay summarizing his experiences in learning firsthand about Malawi,
Dr. Glasson has identified problems and issues that could be almost every/any
country in Africa today that shares a colonial past. His emergent emotions and
sensitivity to the people and their situations in the context of eco-injustices have
allowed him not only to see Africa through a new lens, but also to connect with the
people through third space dialogue. That is, the learning space of two differing
cultures or individuals is extended by allowing dialogue and reflection to take place
beyond the physical time and space constraints limited by each one’s own cultural
beliefs and knowledge. The issues, challenges, and solutions to Africa’s persistent
problems have historically been viewed though a variety of lenses, often from a
top-down distant perspective beginning long ago with the illogical partitioning of
people and kinships, total insensitivity to the indigenous cultures including lan-
guages, and disregard of traditional access to shared resources that had no boundaries
or ownership. Colonization also came with different motives and guises: religious,
economic, social, political, agricultural, and educational. Jomo Kenyatta (1965),
musing over postcolonial rule and its legacy as Kenya’s first president, stated that
he had not realized as he signed a declaration of nationhood, that the British intent
was limited to political independence, but continued economic and social depen-
dence had been established and was to be perpetuated.
Almost 40 years ago, as a young US Peace Corps volunteer asked to teach biol-
ogy in Uganda, I was provided some wisdom from a young Ugandan history teacher
and colleague. Turyahumura cautioned me stating: “First, there are those of you who
come here for 6 months and go home and write a book on us because you think you
know everything about us, and then there are those of you who come here for 2 years
and go home and write a dissertation on us because you think you know all there is
to know about one thing in great detail about us, but I challenge you that if you stay
for 10 years you will not be able to write a page on us, because we are much more

N. Thomson
University of Georgia

D.J. Tippins et al. (eds.), Cultural Studies and Environmentalism, 165
Cultural Studies of Science Education, Vol. 3, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3929-3_12,
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010