More knowledgeable, less intelligent

“We have become more knowledgeable but less intelligent.”

These words were spoken in Leiden by Prof. Felwine Sarr, a Senegalese academic, poet and musician. Or possibly we should reverse the order and say: ‘a musician, poet and academic’. Because the question is: what makes him, societies at large and African societies in particular, more intelligent: is it music, poetry, or is it scientific research?

For the annual Adriaan Gerbrands Lecture in the World Museum, Prof. Sarr elaborated on the politics around Knowledge on/in African societies. He made a case for re-opening the paths towards alternative fields of knowledge, like rituals, dance and the arts. It is time for an African Renaissance based in African history, thought, values and experiences, he states, and he mentions that in Senegal this process has started at one of the universities. Be very open, use a variation of criteria and set up an ‘Ecology of knowledge’ is his advice. Remember that the university is not the only place for producing or sustaining knowledge.

Also: “we should not burn the colonial library down, but we should critically re-read it”. After all, “it was a co-production”, but with unequal contributors.

In Africa, according to Sarr, it is quite well accepted that there is a lot of wisdom or intelligence in these other fields of knowledge. This is because people have actually experienced it. They don’t know how it operates, but they know it is there: “You understand it, but you don’t know it.”

Image: an intelligent conversation between Prof. Sarr (left) and Prof. Wayne Modest of the World Museum/VU.