Social scientists fight back against freeloader accusations
Over the last two decades, there has been intense debate about the value of humanities and social science degrees against those of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) – with the latter coming out on top, owing largely to perceptions of improved graduate employment prospects. But now scholars in the humanities and social sciences are fighting back against allegations of academic freeloading.
30 Ocak 2020 - 13:20
Leading the charge is the Dakar-based Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa or CODESRIA, a pan-African body whose mandate is to promote social science research in Africa.
According to Professor Ibrahim Oanda Ogachi, head of CODESRIA’s training, grants and fellowships programme, while there is consensus in international academia that humanities and social sciences constitute important components of higher education, universities in Africa continue to under-fund the humanities.
“The quality of teaching and research in the humanities in African universities has been undermined to the extent that doctoral and post-doctoral programmes are near collapse,” said Ogachi.
In a background paper for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s , Professor Johann Mouton, director of the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, decried the under-funding of the humanities in Sub-Saharan Africa, noting that a majority of social scientists in the region depended almost entirely on international donor organisations and foreign governments.
“The fact that there is still sustained social sciences research in the region says a great deal about the resilience and resolve of some scholars in African universities,” said Mouton.
Conceptual frameworks
Ishmael Munene, professor of education leadership at Northern Arizona University in the United States, lays part of the blame for the poor state of the humanities on methodologies currently used to interrogate social sciences in African academia.
“Most of the conceptual frameworks that are being used are usually borrowed from Western scholarship and there are few scholars cross-examining the relevance of humanities in an African context,” Munene told University World News in an interview in Nairobi.
Amid efforts to raise awareness of the plight of social science scholars and graduates, CODESRIA is organising a symposium in Botswana’s capital Gaborone in April for mid- and early-career academics to discuss how to “chart new research terrains and build a strong community of researchers in the humanities in Africa”.
While the debate about the value of degrees in humanities is often anchored in their incapacity to provide work-ready skills, supporters of humanities education in Africa persistently point to its tangible benefits.
“Frequently, historical, political and cultural experts are called upon to help in framing national policies and resolving international disputes,” said Emmanuel Akyeampong, a professor of history and African studies at Harvard University’s Center for African Studies, and a strong advocate for teaching of humanities in African universities.
In a study, Towards a Research Agenda in the Social Sciences and Humanities for a 21st Century Africa, Akyeampong argues that notwithstanding a climate of shrinkage and the loss of status of social science subjects in Africa, graduates in disciplines such as economics, psychology and sociology are securing jobs faster than their counterparts holding degrees in STEM subjects.
This is in part a result of the fact that social sciences and humanities can be directed towards solutions to real African challenges such as migration, the environment, citizenship, employment and inequality issues.
“Despite Africa’s fixation on STEM fields, the continent still has serious infrastructural and technological deficits,” Akyeampong told University World News in an interview.
Democratisation of higher education
In a quest for democratisation of higher education, especially in African public universities, CODESRIA and its supporters are opposed to the idea that social sciences are important only when they play supporting roles to STEM careers.
“We reject the proposition that humanities and social sciences curricula in African universities can only be relevant if they enrich study and knowledge production in STEM and other professional fields that are perceived as more relevant to Africa’s development needs,” said Ogachi.
Instead, they argue that social sciences should be regarded as standalone disciplines, capable of meeting some of Africa’s labour market demands. An education in the humanities, for example, provides many of the skills that are increasingly necessary in the global workforce such as critical and independent thinking, innovation and language skills, and knowledge of culture and history.
Munene advocates for middle-ground solutions, arguing the campaign should aim for equality in all disciplines (with 50/50% enrolment in humanities and STEM). “Africa cannot make progress by having a skewed higher education system,” he said.
Nonetheless, before African universities can advance any new academic agenda, they need to step out of the shadow of colonialism. According to Munene, African universities were developed within an imperial culture to produce manpower to support the colonial economy. To date, African academia is still deeply rooted in a colonial framework.
Apart from South Africa where great strides have been made towards domesticating content in humanities, the general pattern of most African universities is still colonial in nature. “Lacking is creativity and interventions to explore new theories and methods through which to ground relevant knowledge production in the humanities and social sciences,” said Munene.
Bearing this in mind, some academics allied to CODESRIA have been proposing ways to broaden the scope of the humanities in universities beyond traditional academic disciplines.
According to Professor Tade Akin Aina, the executive director of the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research, there is a need to expand Africa’s knowledge production systems, a process that cannot be complete without excellence and relevance in the social sciences and humanities.
Social project
“Teaching and research of humanities and social sciences need to expand our frontiers of knowledge and contribute to the greater social project of transforming Africa’s institutions, economies, policies and cultures,” said Aina, who is a former programme director for higher education and libraries in Africa for the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
What is emerging is that CODESRIA and academics in the social sciences are out to reclaim the critical role of the humanities not just in academia but in society in general. “We are challenging the devaluation of humanities as an interrogative force for human values and principles in most universities on the continent,” Ogachi said.
Therefore, in addition to rejecting the narrative that African universities over-enrol students in social sciences and thereby increase graduate unemployment and the skills mismatch, CODESRIA is urging universities to explore how those disciplines could be enriched on their own. Suggestions have been made about how fields such as the digital humanities, environmental humanities, energy humanities, medical humanities and public humanities would present new challenges and opportunities for reinforcing the relevance of the humanities on the continent.
According to Njoki Wane, a professor of social justice education at the University of Toronto, Canada, African indigenous knowledge and education could be a new entry point for reinvigorating the scholarship of humanities and social sciences in African academia.
But as CODESRIA seeks to open the debate on the value and role of social sciences in African universities, it is useful to realise that universities everywhere in the 21st century are concerned about graduates’ transition from college to the workplace.
According to Joseph Rios, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota in the United States, the perception by most employers that university graduates are unprepared for jobs has ostensibly put pressure on universities and staff regarding how students are prepared for life after college.
Still, the big question remains as to what should be the way forward for the humanities in African academia, which currently remain compromised by low funding, poor pedagogies and conceptual and theoretical frameworks.
According to Professor Ibrahim Oanda Ogachi, head of CODESRIA’s training, grants and fellowships programme, while there is consensus in international academia that humanities and social sciences constitute important components of higher education, universities in Africa continue to under-fund the humanities.
“The quality of teaching and research in the humanities in African universities has been undermined to the extent that doctoral and post-doctoral programmes are near collapse,” said Ogachi.
In a background paper for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s , Professor Johann Mouton, director of the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, decried the under-funding of the humanities in Sub-Saharan Africa, noting that a majority of social scientists in the region depended almost entirely on international donor organisations and foreign governments.
“The fact that there is still sustained social sciences research in the region says a great deal about the resilience and resolve of some scholars in African universities,” said Mouton.
Conceptual frameworks
Ishmael Munene, professor of education leadership at Northern Arizona University in the United States, lays part of the blame for the poor state of the humanities on methodologies currently used to interrogate social sciences in African academia.
“Most of the conceptual frameworks that are being used are usually borrowed from Western scholarship and there are few scholars cross-examining the relevance of humanities in an African context,” Munene told University World News in an interview in Nairobi.
Amid efforts to raise awareness of the plight of social science scholars and graduates, CODESRIA is organising a symposium in Botswana’s capital Gaborone in April for mid- and early-career academics to discuss how to “chart new research terrains and build a strong community of researchers in the humanities in Africa”.
While the debate about the value of degrees in humanities is often anchored in their incapacity to provide work-ready skills, supporters of humanities education in Africa persistently point to its tangible benefits.
“Frequently, historical, political and cultural experts are called upon to help in framing national policies and resolving international disputes,” said Emmanuel Akyeampong, a professor of history and African studies at Harvard University’s Center for African Studies, and a strong advocate for teaching of humanities in African universities.
In a study, Towards a Research Agenda in the Social Sciences and Humanities for a 21st Century Africa, Akyeampong argues that notwithstanding a climate of shrinkage and the loss of status of social science subjects in Africa, graduates in disciplines such as economics, psychology and sociology are securing jobs faster than their counterparts holding degrees in STEM subjects.
This is in part a result of the fact that social sciences and humanities can be directed towards solutions to real African challenges such as migration, the environment, citizenship, employment and inequality issues.
“Despite Africa’s fixation on STEM fields, the continent still has serious infrastructural and technological deficits,” Akyeampong told University World News in an interview.
Democratisation of higher education
In a quest for democratisation of higher education, especially in African public universities, CODESRIA and its supporters are opposed to the idea that social sciences are important only when they play supporting roles to STEM careers.
“We reject the proposition that humanities and social sciences curricula in African universities can only be relevant if they enrich study and knowledge production in STEM and other professional fields that are perceived as more relevant to Africa’s development needs,” said Ogachi.
Instead, they argue that social sciences should be regarded as standalone disciplines, capable of meeting some of Africa’s labour market demands. An education in the humanities, for example, provides many of the skills that are increasingly necessary in the global workforce such as critical and independent thinking, innovation and language skills, and knowledge of culture and history.
Munene advocates for middle-ground solutions, arguing the campaign should aim for equality in all disciplines (with 50/50% enrolment in humanities and STEM). “Africa cannot make progress by having a skewed higher education system,” he said.
Nonetheless, before African universities can advance any new academic agenda, they need to step out of the shadow of colonialism. According to Munene, African universities were developed within an imperial culture to produce manpower to support the colonial economy. To date, African academia is still deeply rooted in a colonial framework.
Apart from South Africa where great strides have been made towards domesticating content in humanities, the general pattern of most African universities is still colonial in nature. “Lacking is creativity and interventions to explore new theories and methods through which to ground relevant knowledge production in the humanities and social sciences,” said Munene.
Bearing this in mind, some academics allied to CODESRIA have been proposing ways to broaden the scope of the humanities in universities beyond traditional academic disciplines.
According to Professor Tade Akin Aina, the executive director of the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research, there is a need to expand Africa’s knowledge production systems, a process that cannot be complete without excellence and relevance in the social sciences and humanities.
Social project
“Teaching and research of humanities and social sciences need to expand our frontiers of knowledge and contribute to the greater social project of transforming Africa’s institutions, economies, policies and cultures,” said Aina, who is a former programme director for higher education and libraries in Africa for the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
What is emerging is that CODESRIA and academics in the social sciences are out to reclaim the critical role of the humanities not just in academia but in society in general. “We are challenging the devaluation of humanities as an interrogative force for human values and principles in most universities on the continent,” Ogachi said.
Therefore, in addition to rejecting the narrative that African universities over-enrol students in social sciences and thereby increase graduate unemployment and the skills mismatch, CODESRIA is urging universities to explore how those disciplines could be enriched on their own. Suggestions have been made about how fields such as the digital humanities, environmental humanities, energy humanities, medical humanities and public humanities would present new challenges and opportunities for reinforcing the relevance of the humanities on the continent.
According to Njoki Wane, a professor of social justice education at the University of Toronto, Canada, African indigenous knowledge and education could be a new entry point for reinvigorating the scholarship of humanities and social sciences in African academia.
But as CODESRIA seeks to open the debate on the value and role of social sciences in African universities, it is useful to realise that universities everywhere in the 21st century are concerned about graduates’ transition from college to the workplace.
According to Joseph Rios, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota in the United States, the perception by most employers that university graduates are unprepared for jobs has ostensibly put pressure on universities and staff regarding how students are prepared for life after college.
Still, the big question remains as to what should be the way forward for the humanities in African academia, which currently remain compromised by low funding, poor pedagogies and conceptual and theoretical frameworks.
YORUMLAR