Building a Culture of Peace in Africa : Toward a Trajectory of Using Traditional Knowledge Systems

This article purports to study the peace project in Africa, using African social formations and traditional knowledge systems, by taking Botswana as a case study. It focuses on three aspects of Botswana culture: bogosi (chieftainship), ethnicity and botho (humility). Although the concepts are interrogated from a Botswana perspective, they have wider applicability in sub-Saharan Africa. This article will first explain these concepts, and then discuss their relationship to peacebuilding and development. Africans need to appreciate the endurance of traditional systems of governance despite the application of modern political institutions and processes. The article concludes that building a culture of peace should be filtered through social values that are culturally embedded. As Africans engage with culture and ascribe it a role in peacebuilding, they must take cognisance of its limitations and shed the negative aspects of African culture. More profoundly, building a culture of peace should be based on a recognition and tolerance of other people’s cultural heritage.