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African Social Sciences and Development in the New Century: Challenges and Prospects
Author(s) -
Anugwom Edlyne E.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
african development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.654
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1467-8268
pISSN - 1017-6772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1017-6772.2004.00097.x
Subject(s) - field (mathematics) , laziness , social change , political science , social science , sociology , environmental ethics , philosophy , law , mathematics , pure mathematics
This paper examines the travails of the social sciences in Africa since the post‐colonial era. It pinpoints the fact that the ability of the social sciences to be really meaningful to the delusive development quest by Africa has been undermined by a combination of structural and epistemological problems. These problems range from the dismal economic environment in the continent, the structural limitations imposed on research, poor conditions of service to laziness and epistemological inferiority among African social scientists. However, the paper posits that the current wind of change blowing across Africa, a re‐examination of the epistemology of the field and a conscientious self‐reappraisal will ultimately reposition the social sciences to play significant roles in the development of Africa.