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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Teaching and researching Africa in an 'engaged' way: the possibilities and limitations of 'community engagement'
Author:Matthews, SallyISNI
Year:2010
Periodical:Journal of Higher Education in Africa (ISSN 0851-7762)
Volume:8
Issue:1
Pages:1-21
Language:English
Geographic terms:world
Africa
Subject:African studies
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/jhigheducafri.8.1.1
Abstract:An increasing number of universities around the world are making commitments to 'community engagement' or some similar term. The idea that universities should engage with their contexts is related to concerns about the relevance of the knowledge being produced by universities today. Such concerns about relevance are familiar to those working in African Studies where there have long been debates about the relevance of the knowledge produced by Africanists. In this article, the author draws on some of these debates in African Studies to explore the possibilities and limitations of the idea of community engagement in the sense of producing knowledge about Africa as part of a project of empowering Africa and Africans. She argues that it is not possible to produce knowledge that is broadly relevant to 'the community' as a whole. Rather, we need to identify for whom exactly we wish to produce relevant knowledge. In order to do this, questions around the politics of knowledge, which have been highlighted in many of the debates about African Studies, must be given further attention. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]
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