Indigenous knowledge systems are ―a body or bodies of knowledge‖ which Africans have survived on for a very long time (Mapara, 2010). This study intends to examine the various communicative and indigenous strategies that are employed by the Zimbabwean Ndebeles in issues of peace and conflict management. It is necessitated by the realisation that there is an increase in conflict in the region and country as a result of political and socio-economic challenges. The study adopts a bottom-up approach where conflict management becomes a process that starts from the grassroots going outward. This should also provide an opportunity to demonstrate that indigenous people are as sophisticated as every other society in dealing with their challenges (Warren, 1991). At the same time, it seeks to examine effectiveness of the indigenous and communicative conflict management strategies used by the Ndebele people. The study makes use of research questionnaires and interviews as well as descriptive and content analysis for data gathering and analysis respectively. The main theoretical concept guiding this study is ubuntu because it is considered best for Afrocentric approach to African studies. This is emphasised by Moyo and Lantern (2015:103) who state that ―... the philosophy of ubuntu should be the guiding philosophy in a Zimbabwe poisoned by ill-understood and often ill-digested ontological philosophies of individual rights that give rise to selfishness, violence, fragmentation and the sterile, barren philosophy of each man for himself‖ which continues to tear our society apart. The study focuses mainly on the Ndebele speaking communities in Silobela District of Zimbabwe. The study helps the nation in combating and addressing cases of conflict by ushering in the cultural dimension which is albeit not foreign in the worldview of the local people. This compliments all other efforts being made by the government to address socio-political challenges. By documenting (indigenous knowledge systems) that which has been otherwise ignored and side-lined for a long time, the study is part of an on-going process of mental decolonisation of the African people at the same time empowering them to face a globalising world with confidence and pride. / African Languages

Elma Lewis, founder of the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, National Center of Afro-American Artists, and Museum of the National Center of Artists, was the subject of this historical case study. Focused attention was directed at Lewis’ philosophy, her School of Fine Arts, and her use of arts education as a tool for achieving racial pride and equity for mid-century Black Bostonians. Objectives of this study included recording Lewis’ philosophy and its relationship to Garveyism as well as cataloguing the means by which Lewis’ ideals advanced African Americans in their pursuit of racial pride and equity. Data for the study was assembled from primary and secondary sources. Primary source materials preserved in the archives of Elma Lewis, her School of Fine Arts (ELSFA), the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA), and the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (MNCAAA) were mined for relevant data as were third party interviews and the NCAAA website. Interviews of former ELSFA faculty, students, parents, and community members conducted by this researcher breathed renewed life into dormant archival materials while simultaneously triangulating all data. Findings identify Lewis’ philosophy of arts education as cultural emancipation (AECE) as an artistic relative of Garveyism and related yet distinct from music education philosophies centering aesthetic education and participatory action. Recommendations for future research identify topics within music/arts education’s burgeoning domain of African American arts education.