Interesting intervention from Mike - thankyou.
I have a different tack as an Africanst.
>>the most pressing question of all: why do we outside of the
>>continent ignore Africa?
In the geographical fraternity, I am convinvced it has something to do
with a combination of prevalent modes of socialization, professional
training, and the economics of research funding. Africa is still regarded
as 'difficult' as a research and travel destination, although anybody who
has spent time there, or lives there, will know that media accounts are
grossly overblown, sometimes insulting, and that serious conflict and
crises are localised. Also, talk of 'Africa' is too coarse for such a
diverse continent - the authors of Becky's news article are making
global assertions about a vast continent. In any event, doing, and
finding money for, research in Africa is sometimes hard, especially when
other parts of the globe hit the headlines and attract immediate
interest.
Result: the percentage of IBG and AAG members working in Africa on a
consistent basis is tiny. Professional links between geographers IN
Africa are also poor. Geographers are poorly respresented in the African
Studies associations of the USA, UK and France (historians, anthros and
pol. sci. dominate). Africa's own geographers are marginalised
internationally, and often forced to restrict their investigations to
local topics and without sufficient funding. They therefore seem
somewhat invisible to the dominant anglophone Western geographical
community.
Two comments: As Reg Cline-Cole notes (in D Simon & A Narman,eds. 1999,
Development as theory & Practice, Longman) it is shame the massive
inequalities in the profession between African and western Departments
have never really been addressed. I just came back from a meeting of 30
African and American geographers in Kansas, many of whom work in
Tanzania, Senegal and Zambia or are based in government ministries there.
The differing preoccupations of those working in the continent and those
outside were very marked. Colleagues that I trained with in the States,
who now teach in Africa, are working under truly appalling conditions.
The hybridization of African geography engendered by Africans training in
the west, or working internationally, has not yet resulted in much of an
improvement of conditions at the 'sharp end' - back in African
universities. (I am obviously not talking of relatively better endowed
institutions here)
Secondly, and to be frank, faced with a plethora of topical, regional,
and theoretical areas for university study or a PhD, it is hardly
surprising that few geographers in the west give Africa much attention as
a potential research destination. It behoves professional geographers
with knowledge of particular African regions to spread the word through
teaching and other channels. I will probably never be able to convince
students who would rather be reading Foucault and Derrida in a library,
or those committed to working somewhere else like Indonesia, that
fieldwork in Africa would suit them better (perhaps it would not), but it
is nonetheless important to spread the word as best possible and to
challenge preexisting stereotypes. It is important is to sort out
'myths' and media representations from biophysical realities, cultural
constructions and indigenous lifeways, to give students an accurate
picture.
These are just two narrow concerns that might be of particular concern to
professional geographers.
-----------------------------
Dr. Simon Batterbury
Development Studies Institute
London School of Economics (LSE)
Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK.
telephone (+44 0)20-7955-7771
fax (44 0)20-7955-6844
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/depts/geo/simon.html
[log in to unmask]
(home email is still [log in to unmask])
-----------------------------
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|