2024 Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture: “Don’t throw away ancestral knowledge” – Prof. Toyin Falola urges African youth

In an insightful lecture held at the University of Ghana’s Great Hall on Tuesday, October 15, renowned scholar Professor Toyin Falola from the University of Texas at Austin called on African youth to embrace and preserve their ancestral knowledge while integrating it with modern technology.

The lecture, part of the prestigious Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture series, was organised by the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA).

The theme of the lecture, “Ancestral Knowledge for Contemporary Transformation,” resonated deeply with the audience as Prof. Falola passionately urged the youth to not disregard their rich cultural heritage.

"The young men and women that are here, don’t throw away this [African] knowledge," he emphasised, encouraging them to study technology thoroughly but also to find ways to merge it with indigenous wisdom.

He explained that African traditional knowledge systems—particularly the understanding of indigenous plants and their uses—hold immense potential for contemporary challenges.

"Use technology as a bridge, draw resources from that past," he suggested.

The distinguished professor further advocated for a broad reclaiming of indigenous knowledge, urging African nations to correct historical misinformation and strengthen cultural identity and heritage.

“The core of what I’m trying to advocate is that we keep reclaiming indigenous knowledge. We have lost a lot, but we can reclaim a lot,” he remarked, stressing the importance of fostering a deep connection to one's roots.

Prof. Falola also touched on the ethical dimensions of knowledge and governance, proposing that these values could be pivotal in reforming corrupt systems and evaluating leadership.

"We will use them to reform the corrupt state. We will use them to evaluate leadership," he asserted.

The lecture was framed within the broader mission of MIASA, which aims to decolonise knowledge production and elevate African intellectual heritage on the global stage.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Grace Diabah, Director of MIASA Ghana, highlighted the significance of the Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture in underscoring the importance of African voices in intellectual discourse.

"Amo’s life is a reminder of the long history of Ghanaian-German interconnection and an inspiration for knowledge production," Dr. Diabah said.

The lecture, delivered by Prof. Toyin Falola, explored the relevance of ancestral knowledge in contemporary transformation and exemplified MIASA’s commitment to bringing African knowledge systems into meaningful global conversations.

The event also served as a reminder of the need to integrate the rich intellectual heritage of Africa into the global discourse on innovation and development.

The Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture is an annual event organized by the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) in collaboration with the Institute of African Studies (IAS) and the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Ghana. Named after the 18th-century Ghanaian Philosopher Wilhelm Amo, who taught in Halle and Jena, Germany, the lecture series seeks to promote MASA's overarching commitment to making African intellectual work increasingly relevant in the global academia.

MIASA is an institute under the College of Humanities at the University of Ghana and is jointly funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the University of Ghana. MIASA serves as a hub for exchange, networking and collaboration amongst leading researchers from Germany, Ghana, and other scholars from around the globe. An important focus of MASA is to bridge the cultural divide between anglophone and francophone Africa and to form long-lasting research collaborations across the continent.