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How really worth are the African endogenous knowledge and know-how? Why and how can we promote this inheritage, while the so-called western scientific model looks like the best means of knowing and mastering the world? This book answers these questions by examining ifa, a West-African system of knowledge and practices which a narrow knowledge reduces to a fanciful divinatory art, an art then logically 'perceived as inconsistent and theoretically useless'. Yet, more than a divinatory art, ifa, when we submit it to analysis, appears to be an organized set of knowledge and researches, a science in the making. What makes us really think that way is the intellectual vocation that defines ifa, the rigor of the logical operations that it implies and which recalls in one way or the other the game of implicit mathematics, the objectivity requirement which is valued by the actors of the system and rests on a genuine critical tradition. This opinion is also based on the weight of myths upon which ifa rests and which constitute an important granary where a prominent set of knowledge is packed. Beyond the establishment of the consistency and the limitations of ifa, this book has strived to define a 'method' of examination and validation of the knowledge which has emerged out of the official scientific system. In fact, the questions which arise from it are finally intended to give a new foundation to philosophy of sciences and to epistemology.
Re-thinking African Economies for Development is delivered in the particularly historic context of the fiftieth independence anniversary of most African countries. This moment, therefore, calls for an assessment and suggestions for new alternatives. African countries have been searching for models of development since attaining political independence. Taking cognizance of the fact that African economies are today stuck in an impasse, many innovative ideas are proffered by the contributors to this book for new development strategies. These ideas are essentially hinged upon the successful experience of countries in Asia and Latin America, and the need to reform the State and bring about development. African intellectuals are called upon in this book to rise up to their responsibility for the production of innovative knowledge that can be used by public and private sector decision makers to raise their communities out of poverty. In this publication, issues of industrialization and diversification of African economies are raised again to decry their limited specialization which exacerbates their vulnerability toward crises. This, to a large extent, is at the root of Africas marginal status in global trade. Special attention ought to be given to those thousands of micro-economy stakeholders who are actually the backbone of African economies. Regional integration is more and more seen as an imperative for economic development in the context of Africas small sized countries that often fall prey to a great deal of political instability. The issue of financing of development is re-visited, and new ideas are put forth to better channel foreign direct investment and public revenue towards building a more viable monetary and financial system.
The dramatic sociopolitical crisis which befell Côte d'Ivoire in September 2002 gave birth to an unprecedented political zeal. Immigration, the other, ethno-nationalism, nationalism, patriotism, civil war, youth at risk - such are the words that describe the Côte d'Ivoire' situation. Attempts to explain the 'crisis' in this country, known in recent past as 'relatively peaceful', mainly happen through media 'sensationalism'. This translates at the same time the almost complete control of the scoop media which renders the understanding of the situation only possible through such outlets. The ability of media professionals to coin words through which social history is reflected upon has the effect of complicating the task of social and human sciences while also appearing as stimulating at the same time. Understanding complex situations is now a crossroad of confusion between the simple and the simplified. The challenge for social and human sciences is, therefore, to resume its rightful place by presenting social and political realities in their complexity. Contributions in this book attempt to rid simple words of their excessive simplification to enable an understanding of social and political ills as well as the sense of history. This book is to be taken as a look from within. The challenge here is to take a step back and disconnect the real from the surprising which prevents a deep analysis of realities emanating from a historical process that is relatively long. At the heart of that process resides the paradoxical re-invention of the self through violence, though in the name of democracy. The 2010 post-electoral crisis and the intensity of the violence which characterized it are once again a demonstration of the relevance of the violence-democracy paradox and the on-going exercise of objectivity.
This book re-examines historical, ethnographic and anthropological productions in various spaces in Senegambia. Just like language, material culture in original forms is powerful in the transmission and affirmation of identity. Unfortunately, archeology has so far played a very minor role in this domain in Senegambia, as the discipline has been confined to the study of eras know as prehistoric and protohistoric, which are little known by story tellers and other traditional communicators. It is generally agreed that archeology generates more inclusive knowledge, given the fact that the essential source of identity for all societal strata is based on the production, consumption, rejection or recycling of material culture. This book democratizes knowledge generation by giving prominence to the social life and identities of ordinary individuals who are often invisible in written and oral sources.
A re-conceptualisation of the health question and approaches based on the questioning of dominant paradigms are therefore needed to confront the on-going health crisis and put Africa on track for development.
Reason is not the monopoly of any particular group or culture. It is a universal human quality. Nevertheless, it should be recognised that reason manifests itself differently from one culture to another. Do we therefore admit that these forms are distinctly plural or should we, on the contrary, recognise the possibility of a meeting and, if need be, of an ordered confrontation that would guarantee, beyond this obvious diversity, a unity of human reason? This book with contributions in both English and French is the result of a debate on this question, during a conference co-organised by UNESCO and the 'Centre Africain des Hautes Etudes de Porto-Novo' on the theme 'The Meeting of Rationalities' held in Porto-Novo in Benin in September 2002, during the 26th General Assembly of the International Board of Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPH). Several well-known researchers participated in that debate, amongst whom Richard Rorty (United States), Meinrad Hebga (Cameroon), Harris Memel-Fot? (C?te d'Ivoire), and more than seventy philosophers, historians, anthropologists, literary critics, and psychoanalysts from various countries. Paulin J. Hountondji is a Professor of Philosophy at the National University of Benin Republic, joint-laureate of Mohamed El Fasi 2004 prize. He is the Director of the African Centre of Higher Education in Porto-Novo. The American version of his book ? philosophie africaine ? : critique de l'ethnophilosophie (Paris, Maspero 1976) (African philosophy, Myth and Reality, Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1983) was awarded the Herskovits Prize in 1984. The book is part of the 100 best African books of the 20th century selected in Accra in the year 2000. Hountondji has recently published The Struggle for Meaning: Reflections on Philosophy, Culture and Democracy in Africa (Ohio University Press, 2002) and edited several publications, including Endogenous Knowledge: Research Trails, (Dakar: CODESRIA, 1997). Paulin J. Hountondji has served as the Vice-President of the International Board of Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPH) and also of CODESRIA.
This book highlights the importance of Pan-Africanism in view of reasserting its pivotal role in the economic integration of the continent. For Africans to co-exist and aspire to a much needed dynamic and social community, there is need for a common understanding of their shared histories and projects. The contributions analyse regional identities that derive from an observed syncretism between traditional culture, Islamic religion and modernity. The example of interregional relations is tangible proof of the difficult negotiation of imposed international axiological constraints. From this perspective, the new partnership between the North and the South ought to be the responsibility of all and sundry, in which social or state actors are capable of communicating and putting forward their various rationalities for discussion. In this way, the South-South dialectic will find its place: regionalisation will as such promote solidarity between peoples and the reinvention of great democratic values.
Algeria Facing Globalisation is a contribution by intellectuals (researchers, trade-unionists, members of associative movements) to the intellectual and material crisis which Algeria has gone through since the 1980s. The crisis, evident in the new economic downturn created by globalisation, has manifested itself through a genuine right of interference, then, at the end of the violence, through the search for new insertion into a world dominated by one super-power and by a neo-liberal economy. The contributions are strategic, assess public policies and their outcomes, and provide solutions for the crisis. Three of the contributions are of global interest and underscore, on the one hand, the crisis as turning point, with respect to Algeria's economic situation, and to trends in policies before 1988 (Mohamed Moulfi). On the other hand, the contributions underscore strategies by actors that are a disservice to reform policies and nurture corruption and the shambling of the economy (Rachid Tlem?ani). Five contributions are on sector-based policies: education (Ahmed Djebbar), banking and financial system (Fatima Zohra Oufriha), environment and sustainable development (Azzouz Kerdoun), rural development (Omar Benbekhti) and the implications of the law on Hydrocarbons (Farid Benyoucef). The authors assess the repercussions of external constraints (world market for oil and agricultural products, new information and communication technologies, and the financial market). The contributions on social movements (Ahmed Chouicha), women (Souad Bendjaballah and Fatima Zohra Sa?) and intellectuals (Tayeb Chenntouf) endeavour to assess the potentials of social transformation. Last but not least, the concluding contribution is an interim assessment of the situation (Tayeb Chenntouf). It provides potential means for solving the crisis: the setting up of a new historic block with its two essential components, namely, the development of a project for the future and mobilisation of social actors capable of implementing it. Today, once again, Algeria seems to be at the crossroads.
This book is an uncompromising analysis of Senegal's decentralisation policy in rural areas. It discusses the state's inability to promote local development, despite this being its main raison d'?tre in a context of poverty. To identify reasons for the shortcomings, the author goes beyond policy statements and explores, sociologically, the compatibility of the behaviour and the cultural context of actors with the pursuance of local development objectives. Yet, there are indeed solutions to the actors' lethargy and to the weak coverage of the initiatives undertaken. The solutions can be found in the methodical and civic mobilisation around more ambitious actions that are more adapted to receptive localities, though opened to modernity and perfectly anchored in the culture for positive results. Rosnert Ludovic Alissoutin holds a PhD in Law. Since 1995, he has been working as a consultant on development issues in Senegal and Africa, particularly local development issues. The particularity of his approach lies in the rejection of scientific exclusivism and recourse to a multi disciplinary, open and flexible analysis of the complexity of human development. It is this perspective that informed his doctoral thesis on La Gestion de l'eau en milieu aride, which discusses legal, anthropological, geographical, and sociological issues. For additional information on his profile and work, visit his website: http://www.ralissoutin.com.
' ''The 30th Anniversary of CODESRIA, held in Dakar in December 2003 under the theme ''''Intellectuals, Nationalism and the Pan-African Ideal'''', yielded an impressive crop of papers. This book brings together eight of the numerous papers presented on Regional Integration, Democracy and Pan-Africanism, amongst which are those by Bernard Founou-Tchuigoua, Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan and Alexis Adand?. Each author explores from a special angle questions related to regional integration, democracy or Pan-Africanism. The contributions explore the diversity of paradigms which have been forged or applied on the African continent during the last century, especially in the course of the liberation movement and early post- independence era. Indeed, these paradigms, which largely remain relevant, are re-appraised in the light of contemporary realities.'''