RECONSTRUCTING AFRICAN INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS IN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY: ETHICAL, HERMENEUTIC, AND SOCIO-POLITICAL PATHWAYS TO NATION BUILDING

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and biotechnology has intensified long-standing questions about whether African indigenous knowledge systems can remain meaningful within contemporary global knowledge production. Existing scholarship largely affirms the ethical and epistemic value of these systems but says far less about how they can engage technological transformation without being absorbed, distorted, or sidelined. Drawing on a conceptual and philosophical methodology, this article examines key themes in African philosophy, traditional medicine, and technology ethics, arguing that indigenous knowledge is better understood as interpretive and dynamic rather than fixed, and therefore requires continuous recontextualisation as socio-technological conditions shift. Gadamerian hermeneutics is used to show how tradition can be reinterpreted without losing its essential meaning, while African communitarian ethics supplies the normative basis for evaluating any integration of indigenous knowledge into AI and biotechnology. The analysis identifies a recurring epistemic tension: technological systems tend to marginalise indigenous epistemologies because they privilege abstraction, standardisation, and knowledge stripped of social and relational context. In response, the article proposes a reconstructive framework centred on ethical grounding, cultural embeddedness, and interpretive engagement. The implications for nation building are considerable, particularly for governance, healthcare, and technological policy in African contexts. By bringing African philosophy and technology ethics into direct dialogue, the article offers one pathway for integrating indigenous knowledge into contemporary systems without eroding the values that give it coherence.