Transformative-Oriented Research Options from Africa: Appreciating Indigenous Ways of Knowing

Description

Transformative-Oriented Research Options from Africa: Appreciating Indigenous Ways of Knowing

By Norma Romm

Taos Institute Publications WorldShare Books ©2026

This book comprises 12 selected published writings by Norma Romm (sole- and co-authored), offering detail on transformative-oriented research set in African contexts, informed, inter alia, by an Indigenous paradigm of research. This research paradigm is characterized as being attuned to, while extending, Indigenous relational ways of knowing-and-being. The chosen pieces offer examples of research that appreciates the role that research plays in shaping the worlds of which it is a part (rather than apart) and which admits that research should have an agenda towards strengthening reciprocal relations in and across human and more-than-human worlds.

The book should be of interest to all researchers (whether professional or lay researchers and whether in Africa and beyond) considering how research which is relationally-centered can contribute to supporting overall wellbeing in human and planetary life. The book comprises four sections, with examples mainly from South Africa, Zambia, and Uganda, but also including other countries in Africa (specifically in regard to the potential of democratic dialogue in the digital age). The four sections are: i) Indigenous Wisdom, Relational Knowing, and Transformative Research Practice; ii) Participatory Practices in Educational Research Grounded in Indigenous Ways of Knowing; iii) Researching with Co-responsibility: Ethical Engagement, Accountability, and Enacting Care;  and iv); Re-imagining Relational Co-existence and Democratic Dialogue.

The examples in all the sections are intended to have a “presence” in influencing the global field of research by offering perspectives springing from Africa that are often neglected in discussions around research ethics and the responsibilities of those organizing research projects. As expressed by Daniel Wulff in his Foreword: “You will find philosophical and theoretical portrayals, personal stories, specific illustrations, plentiful references—all wrapped in a clear commitment to stretch research beyond Western ideologies”.