CODESRIA

CODESRIA INTERVENTIONS SERIES

Invitation to Second Round of Essay Competitions

Theme: Decolonising the Social Sciences in Africa: The Unfinished Agenda

Contemporary social science research in Africa is inextricably linked to the continent’s historical past both in terms of its origins and in the way in which it is practiced. Shaped by Africa’s colonial experience, social science research in Africa still bears the methodological and epistemological hallmarks of the hegemonic dynamics of that historical period; these dynamics continue to be reproduced in discourses aboutAfrica within and outside the continent. However, in spite of the undeniable impact which it had on the African world, including its knowledge system, the colonial project did meet with considerable resistance which, in the social sciences, translated into efforts both at re-asserting the indigenous and developing an African vision that fed into a widely-shared quest to valorise Africa’s own social science research methods and theories in the knowledge production process. Much investment has been made by African social researchers into the systematic unpacking of the foundations of colonial knowledge production system but the reproduction of the rules and assumptions that underpinned that system within the asymmetric relations of power that continue to define global knowledge production means that the individual and collective struggle for indigenous, alternative methodological and epistemological constructs remains an-on going one, renewed and carried over from generation to generation as shifting contexts and conditions demand. It is this fact that also explains the need for the third and fourth generation of African social researchers to understand and critique inherited social science research legacies deriving from the colonial experience and, in so doing, carry forward the task of dismantling those legacies towards the objective of a decolonised and liberating social science project.

As a long-term project, the process of the decolonisation of African social science research necessarily began with an effort aimed at overcoming the blinkered colonialist reading of the African world which rested on a narrow, unilinear cause-effect explanation of social phenomenon the continent. That exercise in refutation and retrieval was followed with a close interrogation of the methodological and epistemological premises of the colonial - and residual colonialist - historiography on Africa with a view to developing broader orientations. Simultaneously, it was understood that innovation and flexibility would have to be the practical hallmarks of any endeavour designed to create an alternative and well-grounded understanding of the causal dynamics underlying social processes in Africa. In the end, therefore, the mission of decolonisation of knowledge production has entailed nothing less than a wholesale readjustment of social science research in Africa so that the methodologies of research and the breadth of epistemological debates can become central to paradigm shifts and affirmations. The challenge of this decolonising mission may have begun with the first generation of African social researchers; its completion rests on the shoulders of young African scholars who constitute the future of the body of disciplines that make up the social sciences.

As part of its Interventions series, CODESRIA invites younger researchers enrolled in post-graduate programmes in African universities or who have completed their doctoral research not more than five years ago to submit essays of between 10,000 and 12,000 words on the subject of the Decolonising the Social Sciences in Africa: The Unfinished Agenda. The essays could address any issue of concern with regard to the decolonisation of social science research in Africa, including the general themes and schools which have shaped the reorientation of social science research in Africa, the major figures who have had an outstanding impact on the development of social science research in Africa, and possible new pathways for strengthening the practice of critical social science research and knowledge production in Africa. Five winning prizes of USD1000 each will be offered to the authors of the best essays along with a one-year subscription to the CODESRIA flagship journal, Africa Development. As many authors of other essays as are adjudged to be worthy of publication will each be rewarded with a one-year CODESRIA journal subscription prize. Furthermore, the authors of the top 20 essays received by the Council will be invited to constitute a research working group on Decolonising the Social Sciences in Africa: The Unfinished Agenda. It is planned formally to launch the working group in February 2008 with an international colloquium. All essays received will be reviewed by an independent selection committee which will be composed of outstanding young researchers and established social science researchers. The deadline for the submission of essays is 15 October, 2007. The results of the competition will be announced by 30 November, 2007. All essays should be submitted to:

CODESRIA Interventions Series, CODESRIA, P.O. Box 3304, Dakar, CP 18524, Senegal.

Tel.: +221-825 9822/23 Fax: +221-824 1289 E-mail to: [email][email protected] Web Site: http://www.codesria.org