Abstract: Context specific knowledge development is required to foster a development process in Africa that meets existential challenges. In highlighting this requirement, this paper attempts, with an emphasis on communality, a theoretical discussion of social constructionism philosophy of knowledge development and its implications for conceptualising phenomena, doing research, and contributing to scientific knowledge on Africa. The problem identified for this work is that Western philosophies and perspectives have dominated African knowledge development and use of knowledge by Africans. Thus, Africans are alienated from their own experiences of life. To this end, this work aims to constructs a fundament of self-knowledge or self-consciousness as a pivotal constituent of societal building in Africa.