An exploration of Samba Diallo’s profound journey of faith and modernity in Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s “Ambiguous Adventure” (1961)—a classic hailed by Chinua Achebe as one of Africa’s greatest novels—by Dr. Jean-Pierre Sadi Karegeye, Chief of Section – Transdisciplinary Research at the #OSC, who invited participants to examine the dimensions of Balanced and Inclusive Education found within this narrative.
Nurtured with the cultural spirituality in the land of the Diallobé and excelling in the technicity of academia in Paris, “Samba Diallo” navigates between his two, seemingly irreconcilable selves: the first, the heir of traditions, nourished by his roots; the second, the product of colonial school, flourishing in the embrace of Western philosophy. With no conclusive prescriptions, Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s novel unfolds the complex symptoms, through a gripping stream of consciousness, for a multidimensional diagnosis of the lasting impact of colonisation on individuals and communities.
This 7th OSC Book Talk Series delved into the “Ambiguous Adventure” found in the interplay of tradition and modernity, of spirituality and rationality, of community and individuality – and how this impacts our understanding of the OSC’s work, at the intersection of formal education, ancestral knowledge, and endogenous development.
