Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T07:33:49.322Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

African Universities in Crisis and the Promotion of a Democratic Culture: The Political Economy of Violence in African Educational Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Francis B. Nyamnjoh  and
Nantang B. Jua
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This article argues that education in Africa, from colonial times to the postcolony, has been the victim of various forms of violence, the most devastating of which is the violence of cultural and political conversion: externally and internally driven initiatives and processes intended to domesticate, harness, transform, alter, remodel, adapt, or reconstruct Africa and Africans through schools and universities to suit new ways of being, seeing, doing, and thinking. As a result of such violence, educational systems have privileged mimicry and transformed epistemologies informed by partial theories to metanarratives of arrogance, superiority, and intolerance of creative differences. Even when clear alternatives are imagined to the current irrelevance in education, economic difficulties render their realization extremely difficult. Repressive states have perpetuated and capitalized upon this predicament by manipulating desperate academics into compliance and complicity with mediocrity. This article examines some epistemological consequences of such alienation and irrelevance and looks at their implications for theorizing Africa. It calls for a global conversation of universities and scholars in which Africa participates on its own terms, with the interests and concerns of ordinary Africans as its guiding principle.

Résumé:

Résumé:

Cet article cherche à montrer que l'éducation en Afrique, de la période coloniale à la post-colonie, a été victime de diverses formes de violence, dont la plus dévastatrice fut la violence de la conversion culturelle et politique: c'est à dire des initiatives et des processus conduits aux niveaux externe et interne et destinés à domestiquer, exploiter, transformer, modifier, remodeler, adapter ou reconstruire l'Afrique et les africains par le biais des écoles et des universités afin de les conformer aux nouvelles formes d'être, de voir, de faire et de penser. Le résultat d'une telle violence est que les systèmes éducatifs ont privilégié le mimétisme et les épistémologies appropriées informées par des théories partiales, et les ont transformées en méta-narrations d'arrogance, de supériorité, et d'intolérance à l'égard des différences créatives. Même quand sont imaginées des alternatives claires pour faire face à l'ineptie de la situation actuelle dans le domaine de l'éducation, les difficultés d'ordre économique rendent leur application extrêmement difficile. Les états répressifs ont perpétué et capitalisé sur cette situation fâcheuse en manipulant les universitaires désespérés et en les forçant à se plier et se rendre complices de la médiocrité. Cet article examine quelques unes des conséquences épistémologiques d'une telle aliénation et d'une telle ineptie, et se penche sur leurs implications pour la théorisation de l'Afrique. Il appelle à une conversation globale entre les universités et les universitaires à laquelle participerait l'Afrique en ses propres termes, avec pour principe directeur les intérêts et les préoccupations de l'africain moyen.

Type
Introduction
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 45 , Issue 2: African Universities in Crisis and the Promotion of a Democratic Culture , September 2002 , pp. 1 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akokpari, J. 1999. “The Political Economy of Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa.” African Sociological Review 3(1): 75–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akokpari, J. 2000. “Globalisation and Migration in Africa.” African Sociological Review 3 (1): 72–92.Google Scholar
Akokpari, J. 2001. “International Migration, Xenophobia and the Dilemma of the South African State.” Paper presented at the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) colloquium, “South Africa since 1994,” Pretoria, 05 30–06 1.Google Scholar
Appadurai, A. 1999. “Globalization and the Research Imagination.” International Social Science Journal 160: 229–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, R., Mudimbe, V. Y., and O'Barr, J.. 1993. Africa and the Disciplines. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Berger, I. 1997. “Contested Boundaries: African Studies approaching the Millennium: Presidential Address to the 1996 African Studies Association annual meeting.” African Studies Review 40 (2): 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabral, A., Njinya-Mujinya, L., and Habomugisha, P.. 1998. “Published or Rejected? African Intellectuals' Scripts and Foreign Journals, Publishers and Editors.” Nordic Journal of African Studies 7 (2):83–94.Google Scholar
Campbell, E. 2001. “Preferences for Emigration among Skilled Citizens in Botswana.” International Journal of Population Geography 7 (3): 151–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town. 1998. Teaching Africa: The Curriculum Debate at UCT. Cape Town: University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
Chinweizu, . 1987. The West and the Rest of Us: White Predators, Black Slavers, and the African Elite. Lagos: Preo Press.Google Scholar
Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie Fergusson, Philip. 2000. “Aid Agencies' Interventions in Africa: Helping to Create Brain Gain?” Paper presented at the “Regional Conference on Brain Drain and Capacity Building in Africa,” African Foundation for Development (AFFORD), Addis Ababa, 02 22–24.Google Scholar
CODESRIA Bulletin. 1996. “Promoting Intellectual Freedom and Human Rights.” No. 4: 3–5.Google Scholar
CODESRIA Bulletin. 1997. “Programme on Academic Freedom and Human Rights in Africa.” No. 4: 23–28.Google Scholar
Comaroff, J., and Comaroff, J.. 1997. “Ethnography of Africa: The Usefulness of the Useless.” In Grinker, Roy Richard and Steiner, Christopher B., eds., Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation, 689–703. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Copans, J. 1990. La Longue Marche de la Modernité Africaine: Savoirs, Intellectuels, Democratic. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Copans, J. 1993. “Intellectuels Visibles, Intellectuels Invisibles.” Politique Africaine 51 (10): 7–25.Google Scholar
Crossman, P., and Devisch, R.. 1999. Endogenisation and African Universities: Initiatives and Issues in the Quest for Plurality in the Human Sciences. Leuven: Katholieke Universiteit.Google Scholar
Eagleton, T. 1991. Ideology: An Introduction. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Eboussi Boulaga, F. 1993. “l'lntellectuel Exotique.” Politique Africaine 51 (08): 26–34.Google Scholar
Fanon, F. 1967. The Wretched of the Earth. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Fonlon, B. 1967. “Idea of Culture (2).” In ABBIA: Cameroon Cultural Review 16 (03): 5–24.Google Scholar
Fonlon, B. 1978. The Genuine Intellectual. Yaounde: Buma Kor.Google Scholar
Gareau, F. H. 1987. “Expansion and Increasing Diversification of the Universe of Social Science.” International Social Science Journal 114: 595–606.Google Scholar
George, S. 1992. The Debt Boomerang: How Third World Debt Harms Us All. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
George, S. 1997. “Winning the War of Ideas.” Dissent (summer). (http://www.tni.org/george/articles/dissent.htm)Google Scholar
Gosovic, B. 2000. “Global Intellectual Hegemony and the International Development Agenda.” International Social Science Journal 166.Google Scholar
Hall, M. 1998. “‘Bantu Education?’ A Reply to Mahmood Mamdani.” CODESRIA Bulletin 3 & 4: 33–36.Google Scholar
Hugo, P. 1998a. “The Politics of ‘Untruth’: Afrikaner Academics for Apartheid. Politikon 25 (1).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hugo, P. 1998b. “Transformation: The Changing Context of Academic in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” African Affairs 97 (386): 5–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kagwanja, P. M. 1997. “Post-Industrialism and Knowledge Production: African Intellectuals in the New International Division of Labour.” CODESRIA Bulletin 3: 5–11.Google Scholar
Kom, A. 1993. “Intellectuels Africains et Enjeux de la Démocratic: Misère, Répression et Exil.” Politique Africaine 51 (10): 61–68.Google Scholar
Kom, A. 1996. Education et Democratic en Afrique. Le Temps des Illusions. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Mafeje, A. 1988. “Culture and Development in Africa: The Missing Link.” CODESRIA Bulletin 1: 7–8.Google Scholar
Mafeje, A. 1998. “Anthropology and Independent Africans: Suicide or End of an Era?” African Sociological Review 2(1): 1–43.Google Scholar
Mamdani, M. 1990. The Intelligentsia, the State and Social Movements: Some Reflections on Experiences in Africa. Kampala: Centre for Basic Research.Google Scholar
Mamdani, M. 1993. “University Crisis and Reform: A Reflection on the African Experience.” Review of African Political Economy 58: 7–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mamdani, M. 1996. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. London: James Currey.Google Scholar
Mazrui, A. 1986. The Africans: A Triple Heritage. London: BBC Publications.Google Scholar
Mazrui, A. 1994. “Development in a Multi-Cultural Context: Trends and Tensions.” In Serageldin, I. and Taboroff, J., eds., Culture and Development in Africa, 127–36. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar
Mazrui, A. 2001. “The African Renaissance: A Triple Legacy of Skills, Values and Gender.” In: Saxena, S. C., ed., Africa Beyond 2000, 29–59. Delhi: Kalinga Publications.Google Scholar
Mbah, J.-F., and Soumaho, M.-N.. 1996. La Question du Manage Milieu Universitaire au Gabon. Libreville: CERGEP/Les Editions Udégiennes.Google Scholar
Mbembe, A. 1992. “Provisional Notes on the Postcolony.” Africa 62 (1): 3–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mbembe, A. 2000. De la Postcolonie: Essai sur l'Imagination Politique dans l'Afrique Contemporaine. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Mbembe, A. 2001. On the Postcolony. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Mikell, G. 1999. “Forging a Mutuality: The ASA and Africa in the Coming Decades.” African Studies Review 42 (1).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mkandawire, T. 1997. “The Social Sciences in Africa: Breaking Local Barriers and Negotiating International Presence.” The Bashorun M. K O. Abiola Distinguished Lecture, presented to the 1996 African Studies Association annual meeting.” African Studies Review 40 (2): 15–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beti, Mongo 1993. La France Contre l'Afrique: Retour au Cameroun Paris: La Decouverte.Google Scholar
Mudimbe, V. Y. 1988. The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge. London: James Currey.Google Scholar
Ngowet, L. 2001. Petites Miseres et Grand Silence: Culture et Elites au Gabon. Libreville: Editions Ndze.Google Scholar
wa Thiong'o, Ngũgĩ. 1986. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. London: James Currey.Google Scholar
wa Thiong'o, Ngũgĩ. 1997. “Detained: A Writer's Prison Diary.” In Grinker, Roy Richard and Steiner, Christopher B., eds., Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation, 613–22. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Nossal, K. R. 1998. “Tales That Textbooks Tell: Ethnocentricity and Diversity in American Introductions to International Relations.” (http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~polisci/faulty/nossal/tales.htm)Google Scholar
Nyamnjoh, F. B. 1999. “Africa and the Information Superhighway: The Need for Mitigated Euphoria.” Ecquid Novi 20 (1): 31–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyamnjoh, F. B.. 2001. “Delusions of Development and the Enrichment of Witchcraft Discourses in Cameroon.” In Moore, Henrietta and Sanders, Todd, eds., Magical Interpretations, Material Realities: Modernity, Witchcraft and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa, 28–49. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nyang, S. S. 1994. “The Cultural Consequences of Development in Africa.” In Serageldin, Ismail and Taboroff, June, eds., Culture and Development in Africa, 249–446. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar
Obadare, E. 1997. “Brain vs. Brawn in Nigerian Universities.” CODESRIA Bulletin 1: 6–9.Google Scholar
Obenga, T. 2001. Le Sens de la Lutte Contre l'Africanisme Eurocentriste. Paris: Khepera & L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Ochwada, H. 1997. “Intellectuals in Kenya and the Crises in African Studies.” CODESRIA Bulletin 4: 38–39.Google Scholar
P'Bitek, Okot. 1989. Song of Lawino. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers.Google Scholar
Olorunnisola, A. A. 2000. “African Media, Information Providers and Emigrants as Collaborative Nodes in Virtual Social Networks.” African Sociological Review 3 (1): 46–71.Google Scholar
Onyejekwe, O. O. 1993. “Some Disturbing Trends in Tertiary Education in Africa.” In De Villiers, I., ed., Southern African Conference on the Restructuring of Education, 1–7. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council.Google Scholar
Oucho, J. O. 2000. “Skilled Immigrants in Botswana: A Stable but Temporary Workforce.” Africa Insight 30 (2): 56–64.Google Scholar
Prah, K. 1998. “African Scholars and Africanist Scholarship.” CODESRIA Bulletin 3 & 4: 25–31.Google Scholar
Ramphele, M. 1999. Immigration and Education: International Students at South African Universities and Technikons. Migration Policy Series No. 12. Cape Town: The South African Migration Project.Google Scholar
Rwomire, A. 1992. “Education and Development: African Perspectives.” Prospects 22 (2): 227–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rwomire, A. (1993). “Conflicts and Tensions in Africa's Universities.” In De Villiers, I., ed., Southern African Conference on the Restructuring of Education, 8–22. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council.Google Scholar
Sawyerr, A. 1998. “Does Africa Really Need Her Universities?” CODESRIA Bulletin 3 & 4: 20–25.Google Scholar
Schiller, H. 1977. “The Free Flow of Information—For Whom?” In Gerbner, G., ed., Mass Media Policies in Changing Cultures, 105–15. London: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Shear, M. 1996. WITS: A University in the Apartheid Era. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.Google Scholar
Shotter, J. 1993. Cultural Politics of Everyday Life. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Soyinka, W. 1994a. “Democracy and the Cultural Apologia.” Afrika Spectrum 29 (1): 5–13.Google Scholar
Soyinka, W. 1994b. “Culture, Memory and Development.” In Serageldin, I. and Taboroff, J., eds., Culture and Development in Africa, 201–18. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar
SYNES. 1992. La Derive de l'Universite au Cameroun: Livre Blanc. Yaounde: SYNES.Google Scholar
Tedga, P. J. M. 1988. Enseignement Superieur en Afrique: La Catastrophe? Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Toulabor, C. M. 1993. “Avant-Propos: Masque Errant?” Politique Africaine 51 (10): 3–6.Google Scholar
Towa, Marcien 1971. Léopard Sédar Senghor: Negritude ou Servitude? Yaounde: Edition Cle.Google Scholar
Van Rinsum, H. 2001. Slaves of Definition: In Quest of the Unbeliever and the Ignoramus. Maastricht: Shaker Publishing.Google Scholar
Werbner, R. 1996. “Introduction: Multiple Identities, Plural Arenas.” In Werbner, Richard and Ranger, Terence, eds., Postcolonial Identities in Africa, 245–70. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar