ABSTRACT
Higher education has recently been recognized as a key driver for societal growth in the Global South and capacity building of African universities is now widely included in donor policies. The question is; how do capacity building projects affect African universities, researchers and students? Universities and their scientific knowledges are often seen to have universal qualities; therefore, capacity building may appear straight forward.
Higher Education and Capacity Building in Africa contests such universalistic notions. Inspired by ideas about the ‘geography of scientific knowledge’ it explores what role specific places and relationships have in knowledge production, and analyses how cultural experiences are included and excluded in teaching and research. Thus, the different chapters show how what constitutes legitimate scientific knowledge is negotiated and contested. In doing so, the chapters draw on discussions about the hegemony of Western thought in education and knowledge production. The authors’ own experiences with higher education capacity building and knowledge production are discussed and used to contribute to the reflexive turn and rise of auto-ethnography.
This book is a valuable resource for researchers and postgraduate students in education, development studies, African studies and human geography, as well as anthropology and history.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |66 pages
Capacity building of African universities
chapter 4|25 pages
Collaborative education across continents
chapter 5|22 pages
The Confucius Institute at the University of Zambia
part |64 pages
Researching and teaching climate change in Africa
chapter 8|17 pages
Power of knowledge under changing conditions
chapter 7|23 pages
Producing scientific knowledge in Africa today
chapter 8|22 pages
Negotiating scientific knowledge about climate change
part |67 pages
Creating and using academic knowledge in Africa
chapter 9|22 pages
My knowledge, your knowledge, whose knowledge is it?
chapter 10|23 pages
Creating an African university
chapter 11|20 pages
African universities and rights in African polities and communities
part |14 pages
Conclusion