1. Testimonies:
Testimonies are a formal means of presenting oral evidence about, often in the case of, localized knowledge, painful events, and experiences. By far the most reliable source of these testimonials will be the 255 royal households of the various chieftaincies found in Zambia.
2. Storytelling:
Storytelling passes oral histories, traditions, beliefs, and values throughout generations, creating a collective story of all local people in Zambia. It is also a valuable form of research, as it allows for many voices and different accounts of events to come forward, each with value, and conveys aspects of culture in a unique way that leaves control of the narrative within the hands of the storyteller.
3. Indigenizing:
Indigenizing will involve re-associating and reconnecting places and ideas with local knowledge and disconnecting them from their colonialized narratives. Higher educational institutions could use this approach by incorporating indigeneity in classroom conversations.
4. Revitalizing:
This would involve revitalizing languages that are either “dead” or “dying” with very few speakers, including the two main ones, Luba and Lunda. For example, almost all the 73 tribes in Zambia trace their origin to the Luba-Lunda Empire in present-day Congo. Erasing the use of indigenous languages was a key strategy of colonialism, as language conveys essential aspects of culture. Revitalization will encourage using these and other local languages, educate speakers and publish works in Indigenous languages.
5. Creating:
Creating and imagining transcends a need for basic survival. It allows for hopefulness for the future and develops solutions to problems from a local perspective.
6. Negotiating:
Negotiating requires working strategically toward long-term goals. Current negotiations tend toward self-determination and return. Higher education institutions need to work toward having precolonial history taught correctly.
7. Envisioning:
This term conveys a sense of hopefulness. Indigenous people and cultures have survived, persisted, and will continue to work toward a better future. Higher educational institutions can contribute to this vision by educating Indigenous knowledge in culture, arts, language, food, and sustainability.
