Indigenous Knowledge, Performance and Rehabilitation of the Dead: A Pathway for Sustainable Development

The African continent was for a very long time seen as the dark continent. By this, it was held that there was lack of knowledge and lack of the critlcal mind for inquiry. Thus Africans were believed to be impulsive, to be people who responded to stimuli much like lower animals without any conscious effort to advance themselves and their societies. The truth. however. is that the different societies and cultures that populate the African continent had their own indigenous knowledge systems that not only assured the sustenance but also promoted the advancement of the society. It is against this background that this paper investigates the practice of rehabilitating the dead as a means to ensuring the sustainable development of the society. The paper dovetails to the Ijaw culture and uses the performnance through which the dead is rehabilitated as captured by J. P Clark-Bekederemo in "The Return Home" as paradigm. Key Terms: Indigenous knowledge, performance, rehabilitation