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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Resolving Epistemological Contradictions in Marxist African Studies
Author:Marenin, OtwinISNI
Year:1989
Periodical:Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:27
Issue:4
Period:December
Pages:641-669
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:African studies
Marxism
Politics and Government
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/161113
Abstract:The epistemological status of their own consciousness is the core contradiction of Marxist scholars. This difficulty has not been acknowledged by Marxists working on Africa. This article outlines five sets of answers offered by Marxists to their core contradiction: empiricality, rationality, morality, praxis, and paradigm assertion. It argues that African Marxists have failed to acknowledge both their theoretical debts to specific epistemological justifications, as well as their own location in the specific material conditions of their societies; that they have worked themselves into a theoretical dead end in their search for a new dominant and radical paradigm; and that the struggle towards a nonparadigmatic stance presents the least biased method for 'resolving' the contradictions between materialist base and theoretical interpretations. The aim of the article is to demystify Marxism as a social science, not to evaluate its concepts or theory. Notes, ref.
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