Readings in Methodology: African Perspectives

Auteurs-es

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Mots-clés :

Lectures, methodologie, objectivation scientifique, epistemologique

Synopsis

One of the weaknesses of research in Africa is the little consideration that is given to questions of epistemology and methodology. What we see is the trivialization of research protocols which, consequently, are reduced to fantasy prescriptions that detach social studies from universal debates over the validity of science rather than an interrogation of research procedures induced by the complexity of social dynamics. As a result, social sciences have become an imitative discourse and a recital of exotic anecdotes without perspectives. Knowledge production therefore loses any heuristic bearing. It is on the basis of this reality that attempts to correct this tendency have been made in this book by discussing the methodological foundation of social science knowledge.

This volume is a collection of papers presented during methodological workshops organized by CODESRIA. Its objective is to revitalize theory and methodology in field work in Africa while contributing to the creation of a critical space hinged upon the mastery of epistemological bases which are indispensable to any scientific imagination.

Far from being a collection of technical certainties and certified methods, this book interrogates the uncertain itinerary of the process of social logics discovery. In that sense, it is a decisive step towards a critical systemization of ongoing theories and practices within the African scientific community. The reader can, therefore, identify the philosophical, historical, sociological and anthropological foundations of object construction, field data exploitation and research results delivery. This book explains the importance of the philosophical and social modalities of scientific practice, the influence of local historical contexts, the different usages of new investigative tools, including the audiovisual tools. Finally, the book, backed by classical theories, serves as an invitation toward considering scientific commitment to African field research from a reflective perspective.

Chapitres

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Bibliographies de l'auteur-e

Jean-Bernard Ouédraogo

is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Research Group on Local Initiatives (GRIL) at the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. He is the author of Violences et communautés en Afrique (1997); Arts photographiques en Afrique : technique et esthétique dans la photographie de studio au Burkina Faso (2003) and editor of Global Exchanges and Gender Perspectives in Africa (2010). He has published numerous articles on the city, migration, labour, photography and on the methodology of social sciences which he has taught for many years.

Carlos Cardoso

 is Senior Programme Officer at the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). He is the author of several books and articles, including: Ki-Yang-Yang : une nouvelle religion des Ballantes ? (1990); La transition démocratique en Guinée-Bissau : un accouchement difficile (1995); La transition démocratique en Guinée-Bissau et autres essais (1996).

Anne Attané

 is an anthropologist in a joint research group (UMR 912, INSERM
IRD – University of Provence) based in Marseille. Some of her most recent
publications include: “Cérémonies de naissance et conceptions de la personne au
Burkina Faso” [“Birth Ceremonies and Conceptions of the Individual in Burkina
Faso”]; and L’Autre [The Other] 2007. She has also participated in collective works
such as “Le rhétorique photographique” [“Photographic Rhetoric”] 2008; “Les défis de
l’incohérence ou comment penser la pluralité sociale ? L’exemple des cérémonies
de funérailles, Ouahigouya et sa région, Burkina Faso” [“Challenges of
Incoherence or Social Plurality Thought”]; in Une anthropologie entre rigueur et
engagement. Essais autour de l’œuvre de Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan [An Anthropology
between Rigor and Commitment. Essays on the Work of Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan],
Paris : Karthala, 2008, “Choix matrimoniaux : les poids des générations – l’exemple
du Burkina Faso” [“Matrimonial Choices: The Burden of the Generations – The
Case of Burkina Faso”] in Philippe Antoine (éd.) Les relations intergénérationnelles en
Afrique : approche plurielle [Intergenerational Relations in Africa: A Plural Approach],
Paris: Ceped. Research conducted in Africa as well as in France (alternative
movement, environmental practices) has provided her with the chance to develop
thought on the use of photography in social science research (mounting
anthropological and photographic exhibitions, publication of a popular work).

Gbocho Akissi

 is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the Faculty of Letters, Arts and
Human Sciences at the University of Cocody in Côte d’Ivoire. Akissi teaches
formal and informal logic, epistemology, the history of sciences, American
philosophy and medical ethics in the Department of Philosophy, University of
Cocody. He is the author of numerous articles and two books: Introduction à la
logique informelle [Introduction to Informal Logic] (Presses Universitaires de Côte d’Ivoire
(PUCI) and Introduction à la logique moderne [Introduction to Modern Logic], Presses
Universitaires et Scolaires de l’Afrique de l’Ouest. He has been a trainer and
coordinator in the CODESRIA Methodological Workshops for West Africa since 2005. He is working on a didactic work devoted to informal logic and
formal logic of clauses and predicates. He is currently working on the joint
thought of Popper and Bachelard.

Roseline M. Achieng

 is a sociologist. After studies in Kenya, she received her
PhD at the Sociology of Development Research Centre, University of Bielefeld,
in Germany. She was the 2006 recipient of the “Young Researcher” Prize from
the German Association for African Studies (VAD) for her thesis “Home Away
from Home: Internally Displaced and Their Translocal Ethnic and Gender
Cooperation in Reconstructing the Meaning of Place”. She has been an associate
researcher with the Centre for Refugee Studies at Moi University, Kenya. Achieng’
has published numerous articles on questions of development and methodology
in the social sciences. A former Programme Manager with CODESRIA, she is
currently in charge of developing the academic and research components of the
sociology sections of the School of Arts, Monash, South Africa, a campus of
Monash University, Australia.

Alexandra Bidet

 is a sociologist at the CNRS (Centre Maurice Halbwachs,
Paris). She has coordinated several publications, including: Sociologie du travail
[Sociology of Work] (2000); Sociologie du travail et activité [Sociology of Work and Activity]
2006; and “Sociologie économique : produire, organiser, mesurer” [“Economic
Sociology: Producing, Organizing, Measuring”], 2008. Among her latest articles:
“Le corps, le rythme et l’esthétique sociale chez André Leroi-Gourhan” [“The
Body, Rhythm, and Social Aesthetics in the Work of André Leroi-Gourhan”]
2007; “L’homme et l’automate : l’écologie élargie du travail contemporain” [“Man
and the Automat: The Expanded Ecology of Contemporary Work”]; “Le travail :
une activité distribuée” [“Work: A Distributed Activity”] 2008; “La genèse des
valeurs : une affaire d’enquête” [“The Genesis of Values: A Matter of
Investigation”] (Preface to the translation of an excerpt from John Dewey, Theory
of Valuation, Tracés, Dossier “Pragmatisme(s)”, Lyon, ENS LSH 2008)

Pierre Bouda

teaches epistemology and logic at the University of Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso. For several years, he has been conducting research in the history of
sciences and theory of argumentation. Today, he is part of the school of thought
which is drawing attention to the need for an “education in argumentation.” His
research is inspired by the idea that science, even when it is presented under the
purely objective and formal aspects of the “universal characteristic” is dealing
with strategies of probation which are related to efforts of persuasion that are
essential in ordinary discursive transactions.

Clara Carvalho

 is a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the ISCTE,
Lisbon. She is currently Chair of the Office of the Centre for African Studies
(CEA-ISCTE), member of the EASA, the AAA and the Research Centre on
Social Anthropology (CEAS-ISCTE). Carvalho’s research interest is mainly on
traditional power in Guinea-Bissau. Among her published works are “A
Revitalização do Poder Tradicional e os Regulados Manjaco da Guiné-Bissau”
[“Revitalization of Traditional Power and of Majaco Regulations in GuineaBissau”]; “Réflexions sur les histoires d’origine à Pecixe, Cacheu, Guinée-Bissau”
[“Reflections on Histories of Origin in Pecixe, Cacheu, Guinea-Bissau”], in
Migrations Anciennes sur les Hautes Côtes de Guinée [Ancient Migrations on the High
Coasts of Guinea], Paris, L’Harmattan, 2000; Ritos de Poder e a Recriação da Tradição:
Os régulos manjaco da Guiné-Bissau [Rites of Power and the Recreation of Tradition: The
Majaco Rules of Guinea-Bissau], Lisbonne, (1999); “La politique de la colonisation
en Guinée-Bissau et l’iconographie coloniale”; “Ambiguous Representations:
Power and Mimesis in Colonial Guinea”, in Etnográfica, Lisbonne, 2002; A
Persistência da História [The Persistence of History], Lisboa, ICS, 2005; O Visual e o
Quotidiano [The Visual and the Quotidian], Lisboa, ICS, 2008. She is currently
conducting research on the movement of knowledge of health among African
migrants in Europe: “De Paris a Jeta, de Jeta a Paris. Percursos migratórios e
ritos terapêuticos entre França e a Guiné-Bissau” [From Paris to Jeta, from Jeta
to Paris: Migratory Trips and Therapeutic Rites between France and GuineaBissau], in Etnográfica, Lisbon, 2001.

Mokhtar El Harras

 is Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology at
the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Rabat, Morocco. He is the author
of many publications, including, Les méthodes qualitatives en Social sciences [Qualitative
Methods in Social Sciences] Faculty of Humanities, Rabat, 2002; Les jeunes et les valeurs
religieuses [Youth and Religious Values], EDDIF-CODESRIA, Casablanca, 2000;
Tribu et pouvoir: évolution des structures sociales au nord du Maroc [Tribe and Power:
Evolution of Social Structures in the North of Morocco] (in Arabic), National Centre
for Coordination and Planning of Scientific and Technical Research, Rabat,
February, 1989 ; “La méthode biographique en Sociologie” [“The Biographic
Method in Sociology”] (in Arabic), in Problématiques de méthode dans la pensée arabe et
les sciences sociales [Problematic of Method in Arab Thought and the Social Sciences], Dar
Toubkal, Casablanca, 1987 ; “L’écriture sociale et la recherche de terrain [“Social
Writing and Field Research”] (in Arabic ), Rabat, 1989 ; “The Position of Women
in North Moroccan Rural Areas: In the Footsteps of Edvard Westermarck”, in
Morocco: Society, Culture and Environment, University of Joensuu, Finland, 26-28
September, 1991. Professor El Harras is a founding member of the Arab
Sociology Association.

Abderrahman El-Maliki

is Professor in the Department of Sociology at the
Dhar Mehraz Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, University of Fez, Morocco.
He is a founding member and official of LASDES (Laboratory in Sociology
and Social Development) at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences at Sidi
Mohamed ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco. He is currently the pedagogical
supervisor for the Masters program in Development and Social Change in the
Department of Sociology of the same university. He is the author of several
articles on the methodology of sociology, rural migration, urbanization, integration
of immigrants, local and national development, disease and culture, published in
national and international journals.

Nkolo Foé

 is Professor of Philosophy at École Normale Supérieure, University
of Yaoundé 1, Cameroon. He is an expert scientific collaborator for the Agence
universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and author of the books: Le Sexe de
l’État [The Sex of the State], Presses universitaires de Yaoundé, 2002; and Le
Postmodernisme et le nouvel esprit du capitalisme [Postmodernism and the New Spirit of
Capitalism], Dakar: Éditions du CODESRIA, 2008. Among his latest articles are:
“Du pittoresque et du dégoût dans la littérature et la critique littéraire postcoloniales”
[“The Picturesque and Disgust in Postcolonial Literature and Literary Criticism”],
in L’image de l’Afrique dans les littératures coloniales et postcoloniales [The Image of Africa
in Colonial and Postcolonial Literature], Paris: L’Harmattan, 2007; “Choc des
civilisations et mythes d’autochtonie” [“Clash of Civilizations and Myths of
Indigenous Worlds”], Éthiopiques, n° 74, Dakar, 2007; “Pour Marcien Towa ou

Jean-Ferdinand Mbah

 is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the
Faculty of Humanities, University of Libreville, Gabon, and Director of the
Centre for Research and Sociological Studies (CRES). He has published La
Recherche en sciences sociales au Gabon [Research in Social Sciences in Gabon], Paris:
L’Harmattan, Logiques sociales, 1987; La question du mariage en milieu universitaire
au Gabon [Marriage in the Academic World in Gabon], Libreville: CERGEP/Les
Éditions Udégiennes, Multipress, 1997; Spectacle et idéologie dans les posthectomie au
Gabon [Spectacle and Ideology in Circumcision in Gabon], Libreville: CERGEP/Les
Éditions Udégiennes, 1997; “Dévolution des biens et polymorphisme socioculturel” [“Devolution of Possessions and Socio-Cultural Polymorphism”], Cahiers
Gabonais d’Anthropologie, 1997, Université Omar Bongo; “Les tribulations de la
sociologie gabonaise: science des problèmes sociaux ou science des faits
construits ?” [“The Tribulation of Sociology in Gabon; Science of Social Problems
or Science of Social Make-believe”], in Revue Africaine de Sociologie, 2001; “Rites
and dépossessions” [“Anthropological Notes in Gabon”], Rupture, Karthala, 2004;
“Veuvage et rupture de la relation d’alliance : illusion sur une pratique sociale
récurrente en milieu urbain” [“Widowhood and Rupture in the Wedding
Relationship: Illusions about a Recurrent Social Practice in the Urban Setting”], in
Rupture, Karthala, 2005; “La polygamie et les dynamiques virtuelles des conjugalités
des jeunes au Gabon” [“Polygamy and the Virtual Dynamics of Conjugal Relations
of Youth in Gabon”] in Rupture n°6 Karthala, 2005; “Le miroir et le crâne –
Parcours initiatique du Bwete Missoko (Gabon)” [“The Miroir and the Cranium
– The Initiatory Path of Bwete Missoko”], in Archives de Sciences sociales et des
Religions, 2006; “Psittacisme et plébiscite au Gabon: la trope d’une réélection
présidentielle dans une post-colonie tranquille” [“Psittacism and Plebiscite in
Gabon: The Trope of a Presidential Re-election in a Peaceful Post-Colony”] in
Revue africaine de sociologie, 2006.

Sémou Pathé Guèye

 was a tenured Professor at the Cheikh Anta Diop University,
Dakar, Senegal, where he taught Contemporary Philosophy, the Epistemology
of the Social Sciences and Political Philosophy. He was also a Fulbright Visiting
Senior Scholar at the Catholic University of America, (Washington, DC), visiting
researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the J. W. Goethe University in
Frankfurt/Maine (Federal Republic of Germany), associate member of the research group on Asia and Africa at the Ferguson Centre (Open University of
London), and member of several scientific councils of institutions and scientific
reviews in Africa, Europe and the United States. He was a member of the steering
Committee of the International Federation of Philosophy Societies, and of the
International Preparatory Committee of the World Congress on Philosophy,
2008). As Director of the Laboratory of Contemporary Social and Philosophical
Research on Africa and the World (LERPSCAM) at Cheikh Anta Diop University,
his work dealt mainly with globalization and geopolitics. He died shortly after
completing his contribution to this book.

Erwan Le Méner

 is a Lecturer in Social Sciences and in Sociology at the École
Normale Supérieure (Cachan). He is a researcher at the Institute of Sciences of
Politics, in charge of Social Sciences at the Samu-social [municipal emergency
service] Observatory in Paris and Coordinator of Studies at the Observatory of
Samu-social International. His latest collaborative publications are: L’engagement
ethnographique [Ethnographic Involvement], Paris: Éditions de l’EHESS, coll. Recherches
d’Histoire et de Sciences sociales, 2008; “Enquêter sur un dispositif d’urgence :
les maraudes auprès de sans-abri” [“Investigating an Emergency Service: Stealing
from the Homeless”]; Sensibilités pragmatiques [Pragmatic Sensibilites], Brussels : Peter
Lang, 2008; “L’hétérogénéité des expériences affectives et sexuelles de femmes
sans-domicile-fixe” [“Heterogeneity of Affective and Sexual Experiences of
Homeless Women”], Médecine/Sciences, Dossier; “Les femmes et le sida en France :
enjeux sociaux et de santé publique” [“Women and AIDS in France: Social Stakes
and Public Health”] 2008; “Les SDF victimes du ‘nettoyage’ des espaces publics
?” [“The Homeless Victims of the ‘Cleaning-up’ of Public Spaces?”], C’est ma
ville ! De l’appropriation et du détournement de l’espace public [It’s My City ! On the
Appropriation and Misappropriation of Public Space], Paris: L’Harmattan, 2005.

Cécile Vigour

 holds a PhD in Social Sciences. She is in charge of research in
sociology and political science at the SPIRIT (Political Science, International
Relations, Territory) laboratory (CNRS – Science Po Bordeaux, France). Her
main research interests are in comparative analysis and the sociology of public
action (analysis of change and the policies of justice). She is the author of La
comparaison dans les sciences sociales [Comparison in the Social Sciences], which appeared
in La Découverte in January 2005, and a dissertation defended the same year
entitled Sociologie politique comparée des réformes de la justice : cas de la Belgique, de la France
et de l’Italie [Comparative Political Sociology of Reforms to the Justice System: The Cases of
Belgium, France and Italy].

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