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Trend Report:

SOCIOLOGY IN AFRICA TODAY


Akinsola A. Akiwowo

1 INTRODUCTION

Paul F. Lazarsfeld, in his introductory remarks to Main Trends in Sociology, observed that as unstable as the history of sociology has been since its inception, and diversified as its activities have been, yet a sociological mode of thought and a way of raising problems and giving explanations has coalesced into a discipline with a new research technique and a promising quest for intellectual coherence. Today, nowhere are the instability and diversification of the intellectual activities of sociologists better illustrated than in Peter Christian Ludzs description of the present state of sociology and political science in the Federal Republic of Germany, where there is a realignment of the two disciplines and a new approach to the definition, object and commitments of both subject areas.2 When, however, we shift our attention from contemporary Germany to Africa today and attempt to observe the state of the art one does not know how, in all honesty, to depict or describe the complex warps and woofs of sociological work in African universities, where the discipline is professionally lodged. What I therefore plan to do in this Report is to present as much as possible of what I have discovered to be key elements of the sociological paradigms used in the writings of sociologists in Africa. To do this I shall proceed from those countries in Africa from which I have received written responses to my enquiry about the present state of sociology, to a description of the level of development of sociology in universities of Africa in general. Following this, there will firstly be a discussion of the development of social science in Africa on a regional basis, then a consideration of some current problems of social science journalism in Africa, and finally of the contributions of UNESCO to the development of sociology in Africa.

Methodology
To obtain the basic materials which are brought together in this Report, I entered into correspondence with one or more sociologists in each of the following countries: Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Zaire, Republic of Benin, and Tunisia. Insights were gained into the state of the art in such places as the Union of South Africa, Zambia and Nigeria by a study of a number of current conference papers some published, some not together with a careful survey of certain articles in learned journals. From these inspections of the contents of sociological works as well as a few Annual Reports, a general impression of the nature of current sociological activities was gradually formed.
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The

Concept

of

an

African

Sociology

Report it must be admitted that it is difficult whether categorically any distinctively African sociology or ever and what exists, existed, paradigmatic scheme it possesses. need to some attention to the senses in which an We, therefore, give African sociology has been said to exist and function. We have an early indication that there was a notion of African sociology in the creation of the post, Lecturer in African Sociology, held by Geoffrey Lienhardt at the University of Oxford. We are not told by E. E. Evans Pritchard, in his Introduction to the collection of essays to which Lienhardt contributed, what were the distinctions then current between anthropology and sociology. One forms the impression that both terms were sometimes used interchangeably in British circles. Attempts to characterize African sociology have been undertaken by Pierre Van den Berghe,3 Professor Vilakazi and Georges Ballandier, at various times and places. Those authors took the view that the anthropologist is first and foremost a sociologist, only his unit of study is the non-western society which, unfortunately, he has labelled the primitive society. I say, unfortunately, because the early anthropologists, who happened to be Europeans with a Western habit of dividing humanity into us and them, of separating ourselves from themselves, and of ranking the familiar higher than the unfamiliar, extended this habit of mind into their scientific activities which, by the very nature of science, should have been objective. However, as E. E. Evans Pritchard,
Before

starting

on

the

to state

of the foremost anthropologists of all times, himself put it, to investigate in particular societies, the nature of religion, ethics, law, and modes of thought and the basic functions of the family and of 4 the anthropologist as a economic and political institutions ,4 sociologist of the non-European society, is in fact studying subjects of general interest and problems which are found in all societies, including his own.5 It is in this sense that the concept of African sociology, or the sociology of African societies, is an element in what Christopher G. A. Bryant, following T. S. Kuhn, recently called the disciplinary matrix of concepts, assumptions, basic laws, proven methods and other objects of commitment common to all practitioners of a specified disciplines It is in the same sense too, that the European sociologist of African society is, intellectually, the predecessor of the contemporary African who has been trained as a sociologist in European or American institutions of learning and who now makes African societies his objects of study. There are, however, in African universities today a few well placed anthropologists who still perceive and study African societies from the traditional vantage point. To these their job is one perpetual fieldwork with periods of residence among the natives being studied. In a few instances fieldwork spreads over a decade or more. Rather than accepting the transnational character of sociology today, these anthropologists divide human intellectual products into dichotomous sets; on the one hand traditional or primitive thought, belief systems, native cosmologies and nonphilosophical thought processes, on the other, classical thought, theoretical orientations to society, and philosophical systems. They continue to see in the non-western societies where they work, evidences of a lack of critical discernment of fact from fiction, even though they admit of the existence of other ways of thinking8 than their own. Because of this, in part, there is an absence of African paradigms of sociology which are free from the distortions of subjective labelling, in our scientific endeavour to account for social phenomena. Another factor which inevitably hinders the emergence of better paradigms of society in Africa is the complete dependence of sociologists in general upon the conceptual categories developed to explain European and American experiences of social life. These are then treated as universal tools for cognition and explanation of social life in various African societies. This dependence will continue until the futility of this method of
one

knowing, understanding, and explaining social phenomena inevitably forces sociologists of African life to discover conceptual categories that are born of the dynamic social processes taking place in various parts of Africa. Before these can be developed there is a fundamental philosophical problem which has to be solved, namely, how to detect and identify appropriate concepts from the thought systems by which Africans mentally codify what they see, touch, and experience, and how they organize their ideas about them. But this presupposes that Africans do, in fact, organize ideas in their minds about their experiences. This problem does not arise for the ordinary African doing his thinking in his own language, because his task is not to prove anything but just to think. However, some African or European teachers of philosophy at certain African universities now do question the existence of any system of ideas or thoughts fit to be called a philosophy among Africans in general. Thus far these teachers of philosophy have shunned the onus of proving the non-existence of philosophy among Africans. Their argument is merely tantamount to saying
that Africans do not have a documented body of thought and theses in their societies which are of equivalent status to the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Thales, Heraclitus, Socrates, Pythagoras and Zeno, to list a few of the famous thinkers in early European history, or of Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes latter-day European thinkers who developed a new and specialized method of reasoning that departed from those of their forebears. However, if as some have maintained, philosophy is interpreted in a less narrow sense, to mean metaphysics in general and also discussion of various abstract questions such as the nature of being and the great first cause of things (with which science is concerned when scientists natural or social study particular aspects of the world, nature, or of society itself), then it remains to be seen whether African thought-systems share or do not share those fundamental characteristics of philosophy. Is it wrong, philosophically speaking, to conclude that the existence among philosophers themselves of so many diverse schools and methods is a clear indication that there is a basic diversity of philosophies, depending upon the special orientation, language and conceptual schemes applied to the explanation of the metaphysical dimension of
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cannot African concepts of society, social social groups, processes, and the like, derived from African ways of codifying reality, be used to draw our attention to other distinc-

knowledge? Why

tive elements in the disciplinary matrix of sociology? Lienhardt in an address to his British colleagues on non-western ways of thinking had boldly suggested:
anthropologists, we have to give at least a temporary assent to such ways of thinking. By assenting them, I mean being prepared to entertain in the mind, without at once trying to rationalize them to fit them into a place, so to speak, already prepared for other, more familiar, ideas. Only by suspension of criticism can one learn how thought of this sort, in its context, is a representation of experience which at least is not obviously self-contradictory; and which can satisfy men no less rational, if less rationalizing than ourselves. We have our neat distinction between metaphor and fact, and we are bound at first to assume that the assertion Some men are lions is an assertion of one or the other kind, either figuratively or literally accepted. We have to learn that often, in translating primitive language, it is not possible to make just such sorts of distinction between the literal and metaphorical and we have to be content to recognize that such statements made by primitive people cannot really be said to be of one sort or the other.9
As

the objectionable word primitive (Lienhardts free of it merely reflecting his own culture-boundness) and substitutes the word Nigerian or African then this exhortation to his colleagues to suspend criticism so that one can gradually learn how various African thought-ways not only represent rational experience, but also how African languages and usages of terms or idioms draw attention to dimensions of phenomena which European experiences and concepts exclude from peoples perceptual fields, becomes clearer. Briefly then, this is what I understand Godfrey Lienhardt to be saying: in studying African languages or African modes of thought, an outsider be he a European, Asian, or a Westernized African needs to be prepared to accept certain postulates contained in African idioms, proverbs, and other forms of expression, without initial criticism, until his or her mind has grasped the full import of various African expressions of ideas, even though at first any such statement does not properly fit his own cultural, literal, or figurative mode of comprehension. Personally, I believe that before ever the outsider can presume that he is even making the same assumptions as those that lie behind the surface of such linguistic expressions or distinctions he must first find out how correct such assumptions are rather than proceeding on the basis of his presumed but unsubstantiated assumptions about what Africans are saying. This point of caution needs to be made, lest a If
one removes use
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8
,

totally different set of assumptions be substituted and used as a basis for explaining African philosophical or social ideas. These introductory remarks are intended as a back-drop to the next section
which deals with the influence of the colonial situation in Africa on the implantation and growth of sociology in African universities. They are also intended to lead logically to the examination of the different perspectives which may exist and be brought to bear on the subject of African sociology.

COLONIAL TRADITIONS IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF AFRICAN SOCIETIES

Sociology is one of those inventions of western civilization that was introduced into Africa during the colonial epoch. It did not, at the start, find its place in the curricula of the university colleges and similar institutions that were being introduced into Africa, as it did in its beginnings in the United States. Rather it was part of the skills which the colonial administrator, particularly in the British territories, was to cultivate and to apply during his period of colonial service. The particular skills of sociology, or anthropology, were applied to the acquisition of knowledge about the social organization and ways of life of the local communities under Home Rule. It was not until in the early sixties of this century that sociology became a part of the expanding higher education programme, trailing behind history, geography and economics in some countries. Higher education in some countries of colonial Africa had as its initial object, what Edward W. Blyden described in 1881 as a search for a liberal education for Africans.&dquo; According to Blyden, the curriculum of the Liberia College at that time included the study of certain epochs in the history of European civilization, the classics that is Latin and Greek, languages and literature, and Arabic, Geography. Liberia College was a higher institution of whose founders had in mind the goal of making Africans learning sharers in the advantages of their civilization.2 This is what is The mode of teaching called today the civilizing mission. at the College, and in subsequent institutions, such as Fourah Bay
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College, Sierra Leone, and the form of reasoning underpinning it which Africans were taught to pursue, continue today in all African universities, polytechnics, and university colleges. Blyden believed very strongly that certain external influences have been such as to force them (that is Africans: AA) from the groove which is natural to them, where they would be strong and effective, without furnishing them with any avenue through which they may move naturally and free from obstruction .&dquo; The use of foreign text books, Blyden pointed out, had the power of forming for Africans their idea of everything that they may do, or ought to do, according to the standard held up in those teachings.~ The results of that kind of education have been, in part, to make Africans copy and imitate European thinkers and teachers, without the physical and mental aptitude for the enterprises which they are taught to admire and revere .15 Even if one disagrees today with that interpretation of history, Blydens insightful analysis of the colonial tradition in African higher education is uncannily true for today, even if
many educated Africans have not realized the

changes which have taken place and which continue to take place amongst them. Blyden summed up the essential truths about the conditioning of the African mind and emotions in these words:
Having embraced,
or at

least assented to these

errors

and falsehoods about

himself, he (that is, the African) concludes that his only hope of rising in the scale of respectable manhood is to strive after whatever is most unlike himself
and most alien to his peculiar tastes. Whatever his literary attainments or acquired ability, he fancies that he must grind at the mill which is provided for him, putting in the material furnished to his hands, bringing no contribution from his own field; and of course nothing comes out but what is put in.6

In my judgement this passage by Blyden, written almost one hundred years ago, clearly describes what Syed Hussein Alatas&dquo; recently refers to as the making of the captive mind. Little or no attention has been paid to the serious study of this unique phenomenon in history, in which one race of mankind abandoned, within a short period of contact with another, the habits of thought which were natural to its members and in which they were strong and effective, for a strange one in which they developed weak and, relatively speaking, non-productive habits of reasoning, logic, and the mastery of unfamiliar metaphysics. If it is true as Blyden reminded us, that the object of all education is to secure growth and efficiency, to make a man all that his natural gifts will allow him to become; to

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produce self-respect, a proper appreciation of our own power...a fitness for ones sphere of life and action, and ability to discharge the duties it imposes , 8 then without a doubt what the African has received has not achieved those ends. When the African unwisely and injudiciously gave up his natural propensities he surely, though unwittingly, enslaved his own mind. Today, Ukpabi Asika9 has queried the practice he noted among
various African and Third World communities to declaim the failure of the intellectuals who are the prime products of systems and methods of education which, as I see it, are similar to those which Blyden described in his role as a participant observer during late nineteenth-century principally in Liberia but also in West Africa generally. But, Asika who is himself a Nigerian intellectual and a product of the British and American educational systems (in and outside of Nigeria respectively), agrees that the framework within which the Nigerian intellectual arises is that of the colonial situation .20 He goes even further and identifies three dimensions of the colonial situation, namely, the political, economic, and cultural. Each dimension defines the Africans ways of life within a system of social interaction dominated by an alien power. Unfortunately, Asika was more interested in the process of political decolonization than in suggesting a programme for intellectual decolonization, although his detailed analysis of the relationship between social structure and intellectual life may be regarded as a step forward in the study of the liberation of the captive mind. Under the theme of decolonization on the cultural plane, Asika traces the outline of what may eventually emerge as decolonization on the intellectual plane. One gets the impression that Ukpabi Asika believes that it is futile to expect any successful decolonization on the intellectual level, as an aspect of cultural decolonization, as long as opposition to the colonial images of Africans are conducted in the borrowed idiom, in terms of criteria of excellence which are taken as absolute and given, but which in fact represent the view of world of the West. 21 In an editors introduction to a selection of readings on social problems, change and conflict,22 Pierre L. Van den Berghe reviewed the state of sub-Saharan Africanist scholarship of the colonial epoch, from the late nineteenth-century to date. He noted how in that tradition there was an inevitable impingement of the colonial ideology on scholarship, since, he averred, scholars from the colonial powers nearly monopolized the field, and since many of them
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11 direct or indirect participants in the colonial systems, either as administrators or missionaries, technical advisers, and so on. 23 Another factor which affected scholarship in the colonial epoch, according to Van den Berghe, was the fact that although many of the colonial scholars did not accept the dominant racist ideology from Europe, most if not all of them possessed the dichotomizing trait of the intellect which has been treated in the Introduction of this report. In practice, it was the sharing of such a trait which made them accept, as he put it, a number of ethnocentric postulates which made them look at black Africans as a different kind of people, and made them adopt particularistic criteria and concepts in dealing with,their subject matter. 24 When we look at such traits in the light of the inaugural address delivered in 1881 by Edward W. Blyden, first President of Liberia College, Van den Berghe seems to be saying that he too noted in the colonial tradition in African scholarship, a civilizing mission, especially among African historians in their teaching of and research on African peoples. However, Van den Berghe also pointed to the approaches of social anthropology and ethnography as being more fruitful because of their scientific point of view and their avoidance of an ethnocentric bias. Nevertheless, these were not without their shortcomings, chief among which was their seeing African social organization and ways of life as static over time, reaching far back to epochs prior to the civilizing mission of colonialization. The result of this attitude to African society and culture is today evidenced in the tendency of some African nationalists (for example, the intelligentsia or the cultural revivalists) to romanticize precolonial societies which they now study through oral sources. Of these shortcomings, sociology, and more particularly social anthropology, share a considerable proportion. Some of these according to Pierre Van den Berghe, are (a) the inadequacy of the structural-functional model of explanation which reflected the static view of African societies, (b) sociological commitment to preserving the status quo, (c) the belief that the traditional was good and hence preferable, as well as, (d) the intellectual commitment to social stability and equilibrium, (e) commitment to the consensus and integration of societies and not to their dynamism, and, (f) ignoring social instability and conflictual tendencies as facts of society. Added to these is the confusing usage of concepts such as tribes, tribalism and detribalization, principally among
even were

12

even

English-speaking sociologists, to label certain social phenomena, though their French colleagues have relegated the concept

tribu to disuse. another point emerges clearly from reading Pierre Van den Be~ ghes introductory remarks. It is that the concepts, social theories, and me) ilodological approaches of the colonial tradition in Africanist scholarship definitely prove inadequate for studying, understanding, and explaining contemporary African societies and emerging life styles. Pierre Van den Berghe however, speaks of a new look among contemporary social scientists as a result of efforts to correct such biases. However, a careful analysis of the facts will reveal the continuity of the colonial tradition in postindependence scholarship. Like their fellow Africans who, after taking over the reins of government, continued the colonial theory and practice of government, African scholars, by and large, could not help but continue the colonial tradition in their scholarship. This has been particularly true of the sociological profession. There is a noticeable absence of a new look, or of any set of correctives to old biases. One needs only to read through the writings of many African sociologists, including this writer, to see reflections of the colonial tradition. It does not appear that we, as African sociologists, have shown the capacity for formulating new theories and/or techniques which can be used to study or explain social phenomena in Africa, although some of us are eminently learned in the works of sociologists from Asia, Europe and the United States of America. The new-look amongst Africanist scholars, which Pierre Van den Berghe recognized as being coincidental with the political emancipation of the continent, can only be new western images of contemporary African societies, for the basic questions of the sociology of knowledge still remain - Who says what, of whom, and how? - when we speak or write about African personality, culture, and society. The contribution which Pierre L. Van den Berghe makes to this issue of the survival of the colonial tradition, when presenting African scholarship, is undoubtedly .,,adable. It should, however, encourage us to answer correctly and What is the nature of African unashamedly the basic question
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sociology?

13
3 THE CONCEPT OF AFRICAN SOCIOLOGY: SOME PERSPECTIVES

Jacques I. Maquet has defined the

term

African Sociology

variously and has also distinguished between ethnology and sociology as disciplines that are concerned with the study of society. Because of its relevance to this work, it is worth quoting the following excerpt in full.
(I)
The study of non-literate societies has enriched sociology, but, in Africa, during the second half of the twentieth century, non-literate societies have become rare exceptions. To call ethnology the study of African social phenomena is, thus, no longer justifiable. This furthermore puts to an end the anomaly of defining a discipline through its subject matter rather than through its point of view. This study of the social phenomena of nonliterate groups is a speciality rather than a discipline separate from sociology, the latter, being reserved to western social phenomena, reveals a probably unconscious racism. 25

I agree with Maquets view that it is no longer justifiable to call the study of social phenomena in Africa ethnology. Furthermore, the time has come to remove for evermore the study of African societies from ethnology and properly place it within the discipline of sociology. However, the reason why that transfer is legitimate is not because non-literate societies have become rare exceptions. This is insufficiently convincing as a reason because when sociology emerged as an intellectual discipline, the population of Europe was preponderantly non-literate. The men of knowledge who formed the intellectual elite were fewer than the number of men and women who have received formal book learning in an African country such as Ghana or Nigeria, today. Yet these and other African societies are still studied from the theoretical and methodological perspectives of ethnology. We learn from Robert A. Nisbet that the essential unit ideas of sociology when it emerged (which still represent the moral basis of modern sociology) and the artistic frames of mind which constituted the elements of the sociological imagination, grew out of the conflicts between traditionalism and modernism in the Europe of that era. Both points of view were linked together in one dialecticai process as a set of prevailing ideas and their antitheses. What

14
are the essential unit-ideas, those which, above any others, give distinctiveness to sociology in its juxtaposition to the other social sciences? There are, I believe, five: community, authority, status, the secular and alienation, says Nisbet. These ideas stood respectively in antithesis to society, power, class, the sacred, and progress. African sociology also derived its beginning from these conceptual roots which continue growing today. It is not, however, intended to give the impression that there was one tradition of work shared by all those European scholars who introduced sociology to their African counterparts. In the context of this Report, knowledge of sociology in Africa today is, as noted earlier, culled from the study of a random sample of African universities in the following countries which are listed in an alphabetical order: Egypt (UAR), Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tunisia, the Union of South Africa, Zaire and Zambia. However, it is necessary to emphasize that all of these countries have been influenced by either British or French habits of thought and social practices. Andrew Boyd and Patrick Van Rensburg, as far back as 1962, depicted this situation accurately as follows:26

period of European dominance, brief though it was for most parts of Africa, has bestowed a pattern of institutions and habits derived from the various ruling powers. For most Africans this means either a British or a French pattern. Outside the Arab Countries, the African Languages are so numerous and mostly so confined to small areas, that the new independent states use either English or French as their main political languages. (French is also used in the exBelgian Congo, English in American-sponsored Liberia).
The

Nowhere are these different colonial influences more evident than in the study of African cultures and in particular in the study of religion. In the accounts of both early travellers and missionaries, one today detects gross misrepresentation but one also notes that equally jaundiced view points grew out of the application of evolutionary theory as promulgated by the early anthropologists. By the time they arrived in Africa, however, this theory had begun to undergo modifications as a result of the emergence of a more systematic approach to the study of social phenomena. Benjamin C. Ray, of Princeton University, has recently observed that:
With the decline of evolutionary theory and the advent of social anthropology, systematic fieldwork studies began to be made of African societies. An-

15
thropological approaches, however, developed in different directions became divided, along national lines of schools, primarily British French. 27
and and

Unfortunately, this slanted field-work studies according to the nationality of the author, and thus imposed a colonialist structure upon the interpretation of African social and religious systems. Benjamin C. Ray added a detailed and useful review of the differences between the British and French colonial traditions of
an-

thropology with reference to religion. Among the chief contributors to the British tradition, he named Malinowski, who
established the fieldwork characteristic of his school, RadcliffeBrown, who contributed to the development of the structuralfunctionalist theoretical system, Max Gluckman who advocated the study of religion as a &dquo;reflex&dquo; of the social order, E. Evans Pritchard, whose own works and those of his associates shifted the emphasis from the structural-functional view of social reality to the explanation of African behaviour in terms of a system of ideas within their own universe of thought.21 Regarding the last-named scholar, Benjamin C. Ray also maintains that it was the increased emphasis on fieldwork and the resultant need for the anthropologist to immerse himself in the langauge and behaviour of Africans which finally led to the shift from structuralfunctionalism to the understanding of linguistic categories. Significant contributions were subsequently made by John Middleton and Victor Turner to this study of semantic, mythological levels of
in contrast to the characteristics listed above are those of the French school, or tradition. Ray states that French anthropologists focussed upon the symbolic-philosophical order, while the British concentrated upon the structure and functioning of the social order. Commenting upon this difference, Ray states: In adopting this perspective, the French made great advances in elucidating Africans cosmological systems and implicit philosophies, as shown, for example, by the brilliant work of the Griaule mission among the Dogon of Mali. It should be noted, however, that Rays review of the approach of the French school is very limited indeed and centres around the cosmogenic and religious concerns of the Dogon. Increasingly it appears that the anthropologists of both schools see their perspectives and approaches to African systems of thought as complementary. These

meaning . Standing

16

observations on the British and French schools are intended to show in what sense these two traditions of scholarship continue in the works of African sociologists in the anglophonic and francophonic Universities of Africa, which are our next port of call.

4 SOCIOLOGY IN SELECTED AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Republic of Benin

formerly known as the Republic of changed in November 1974 when its present Head of State, President Mathieu Kerekou, came to power through a military coup. The Republic of Dahomey became independent on 1 August 1960. According to one source, its multiethnic population is estimated at two and a quarter million people. 29 Sociology today in Benin has not left its colonial mooring; yet it would be grossly misleading to assume that the winds of revolutionary change that are sweeping the nation have not, or will not eventually, affect the intellectual life of the country and particularly its sociological concerns and writings. While it may be difficult to predict the pace of growth, one can safely hazard the view that research, theorizing, and application of existing social theories will be directed towards the greater understanding of the changing social order, while substantive sociological work will provide the appropriate rationalizations for the sweeping social, economic and political reconstruction going on there. In short, sociology in Benin during the decade of the seventies and eighties may be expected to reflect the dominant ideology of social development of the ruling group. To ascertain more concretely the state of sociology in Benin, a questionnaire was sent to a number of sociologists at the Universite Nationale du Benin. This is the same questionnaire as was sent to sociologists in Ghana, Zaire, Liberia, Malawi and Tunisia respectively. The present situation in Ethiopia accounts perhaps for the impossibility of obtaining a response from there. The questionnaire solicits the following twelve items of informaThe

Republic Dahomey. Its

of Benin

was

name was

tion :

17
1. List of Universities in your country with established Chairs

of sociology.
2. List of Universities where sociology is a sub-department. 3. Names, qualifications and business addresses of sociologists/anthropologists in your University. 4. Area of specialization or present interest of each sociologist, if known, mentioned in (I.) above. 5. Names and addresses of other sociologists in other neighbouring Universities. 6. Trends in research undertaken by sociologists in your University (i.e. current research topic). 7. A selection of the most recent publications by sociologists in your University which are known to you. 8. Is the academic tradition among your countrys sociologists (a) American? (b) British? (c) Russian? (d) Italian? (e) Latin American? (f) Asian? (g) A combination of (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f)? (g) Other? 9. Trends in interdisciplinary research (e.g. Political Science and Sociology). 10. Any Organisations of sociologists/anthropologists? 11. Sources of funds for research listed in order of amount of
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assistance generally received (e.g. Government, Foreign Foundation, University Research Committee, etc.) 12. Your name, address and academic status. According to a colleague responding from the National University of Benin the following, in the original French text, is the state of sociology in that country.
(a) Sur les sociologues du Benin
1. Professor AGUESSY Honorat:

Doyen de la Facult~ des Lettres des Arts et des Sciences Humaines. Specialite: Sociologie des religions Africaines. Universite Nationale du Benin (UNB)Contonou (R.P.B.) 2. Dr OKE M. Finagnon: Chef de Department de sociologie Specialit Sociologie Politique C.N.R.S.-UNBP BP 118 Portnova (R.P.B.)

3. Dr OLOGODOU Emile:

Complexe Polytechnique Lycee Coulibaly CONTONOU (R.P.B.) Specialit: Sociologie des religions Africaines. Ceux-ci font effectivement 1enseignement et la recherche scientifique fait plusieurs publications dans ce domaine.

et ont

18
(b) L in fluence sncinlogique
Benin dans le domaine: - des livres des theories des m~thodologies Les sociologues et anthropologues beninois, quoique de I~cole franqaise de sociologie et de Ianthropologie ne sont pas influences par cette seule ~cole de sociologie. lls sont aussi bien influences par les theories et methodologies fran~aises de E. DURKHEIM G. GURVITCH R. ARON G. BALLANDIER P. MERCIER, etc. que par ceux des anglo-saxons: M. GLUCKMAN
au
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M. FORTES F. NADEL E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD S. M. LIPSET, etcetera. 30

From the brief statement we see clearly that Benins sociologists are exposed to both leading French and Anglo-saxon writers in the same way as are their counterparts in Ghana or Nigeria. The total number of Benins sociologists was not forthcoming. Banji Ogundele explains the prevailing political situation in the country in a way which may account for this gap in our knowledge:
In November 1974, President Kerekou announced the creation of the National Political Bur,eau which would lead Benin to a socialist state based on the MarxistLeninist theory. The Bureau was saddled with making all revolutionary policies and its members were very carefully selected to exclude businessmen, people issued to foreigners, church leaders, as well as politicians. All political opponents and reactionary students and intellectuals were forced to go into voluntary exile upon the implementation of the new socialist policy. 31

to the inner history of sociological developwithin the University, the political process of the nation has also been a determining factor in the state of the sociology in Benin. ment

Thus, in addition

Cote dIvoire: Ivory Coast

Sociology in the Ivory Coast took a significant step in

1964 when

19

Centre dEthnosociologie was established at the University of Abidjan in the Ecole des Lettres. The centre of Ethnosociology has since become, in 1970, an Institute of Ethnosociology and is currently placed under the control of the Ministry of Scientific Research. What is the definition of ethnosociology at the Institute? Whilst there is no formal definition of it in the report of the Institute, yet it is possible to derive one from the objectives contained in the decree (called Dcret 66-372, 8 September 1966) establishing the Institute. Ethnosociology is the study of Man and Civilization, that is Tetude des hommes et des civilisations de la C6te dIvoire .32 Although LInstitut is principally a research institute it has assumed, since 1970, the functions of a university department by offering seminars and special sessions. However, within the framework of the Institute there is a Department of Ethnosociology which is now re-attached to the Faculty of Letters and Humanities of the University. The educational programme of the Department, as distinct from the Institute, may be divided into trois cycles dtudes Universitaires with a set of common objectives which include offering the means for acquiring theoretical and practical competence in sociology, developing awareness of the interrelationship between economic and social data and preparation of students for the occupational market of the Ivory Coast or for the sociological profession itself. Needless to say, the cycles dtudes Universitaires at Abidjan follow the French tradition of university education, with the first cycle in this case devoted to selected courses in History, Geography, English, introduction to the social sciences, and to problems in anthropology. Research at the Institute has for some years concentrated on three main areas, namely (a) modern religious movements in Africa, (b) the phenomena of acculturation, and (c) the problems of professional groups. The Institute boasts of several monographs and other forms of publications such as doctoral theses, in these three areas. There is a particularly keen interest in the following sociological themes; sociology of the family, sociology of work, and sociology of change. Mention should also be made of the sociological work being done at the Centre for the Study of Architecture and Urbanism - a multi-disciplinary centre concerned with the management of space in Africa. The Institutes interests in ethnological studies may be assessed from the repertoire of films dealing with the music and rituals of such ethnic groupings as the Baule Guro, Dan Gwere and Senoufo.

20 with the Institute of Applied Linguistics. In addition, it subscribes to an impressive list of social science journals from Britain, France, the USA and Africa. Acquisition of the journal Africa dates as far back as 1928. Thus both students and staff have available to them the current publications in social science in general and particularly those concerned principally with the ethnosociology of that society. It is commendable too that the Institute has contacts at personal and institutional levels with a number of francophone African countries such as Madagascar and Cameroun. From the impressive list of publications, research projects, film spools, audio-visual tapes, and photographic collections, it is safe to conclude that in the Ivory Coast what is called ethnosociologie represents the theoretical and methodological fusion of the discipline of ethnology and the empiristic techniques of the social survey. There is no doubt that the peoples and civilizations of the various nationalities in the Ivory Coast have been far better studied and documented by both Ivoirian and expartriate scholars than has been attempted in, say, Nigeria. There is a lot of this material now published, which can be exchanged with other West African universities on an inter-library loan basis. Furthermore there are many works which await wider distribution if they are translated into English. One is impressed by these efforts to employ audio-visual techniques in sociological research. They constitute an example worth copying by those other African research centres that have not yet adopted this medium of research. The Ivoirian society, people, and culture continue to attract young scholars, particularly American scholars from universities of Chicago, Stanford, Johns Hopkins (the School of Advanced International studies (SAIS)), Northwestern, Harvard, California, and from Columbia University and New York. Although men and women from these universities normally carry out research in the country for their Ph.D. theses, nevertheless their efforts make significant contributions to sociological knowledge of the country. There is, in addition to the expatriate young scholars, who are sponsored by research foundations in their own countries, a category of sociologists called les chercheurs associ~es, or research associates. By and large these are individuals, African as well as non-Africans, with established competence in the area of their investigation. However, most of their research interests are This is further evidenced by its

co-operation

ethnological.

21

Professor V. C. Diarrassoub, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abidjan recently (1974) summed up the general situation in which sociology has found itself in Ivory Coast as follows:
Evidence shows that most University student protest movements are incited by students enrolled in Humanities Departments, and especially in Sociology and Philosophy. We all remember that the serious events which originated in Europe in May 1968 had repercussions in various African Universities and in most cases this was due to the activity of students in the Humanities. It might therefore be a great temptation to African Governments to withdraw from the University curriculum if not all, at least some of the subjects which offer very few openings to graduate students and which may give rise to discontent. 33

While implicity at least, sociology and philosophy have appeared at Abidjan as disciplines likely to give rise to discontent, Dr Diar-

rassouba took

care to note

that:

There can be no doubt that the Humanities have great educational value. It would have been impossible for me to deliver you this introductory report if I had not had at my disposal one of the great languages of international com-

munication. 34 He then

highlighted

the contributions which

history,

art,

ar-

cheology, and linguistics make in helping African universities to understand their own societies and expressed confidence that the future can be built on solid foundations. He further argued that the scientific study of African languages would reveal their adaptability
scientific language, and with reference to the role of sociology in particular, he maintained that it should help determine the conditions under which imported techniques or technology can most effectively be communicated to the people living in the rural areas .35
to

Egypt (UAR)
The nationstate renamed United Arab Republic (UAR), formerly Egypt, has an estimated population of 27 million people according to a 1968 source. It occupies an area of 396,000 square miles. It gained its independence from Great Britain as far back as 1922.36 By 1974 a number of UAR universities belonged to the Association of Arab Universities. They are, (a) Ain shams University, (b) AI -

22

Azhar University (one of the oldest universities in all Africa), (c) Alexandria University, (d) the American University in Cairo, (e) University of Assial, (t) Cairo University, (g) Cairo University in Khartoum, (h) University of Mansoura, and (i) the Mid Delta University. These universities have among their objects the promotion of interchange, contact, and co-operation among themselves and other institutions of higher learning in Africa, and the encouragement of the development and wide use of African languages. 17 How these facets of the twin British and Arab heritages, the contact with Africa and the development of local languages, have together influenced the development of sociology and its present state in the UAR is a matter for conjecture in the absence of a comprehensive study. From the careful account by a leading sociologist, Professor Ezzat Hegazy, of the introduction and development of sociology in Egypt, we can begin to construct the state of sociology today in that country. We can also start to discuss the development of sociology as a university discipline and its differentiation into substantive fields. This account may be regarded as somewhat typical of those African countries where sociology has either a long history, or is making a recent but very dynamic response to the various aspects of social change. From the Hegazy account the following currents can be identified in the mainstream of Egyptian sociology: (a) the general and full acceptance of sociology in higher institutions of learning, (b) a definite response by sociologists to planned changes within the Republic, (c) the institutionalization of social research, (d) a growing influence of Marxist thought or ideas, and (e) a disenchantment with what the late C. Wright Mills called abstracted empiricism. With reference to the first current, Professor Hegazy states that with the greater appreciation of university education in Egyptian society, the number of universities increased within the decade 1967 to 1977. For sociology this growth resulted in the creation of more departments and in the establishment of postgraduate programmes leading to the Masters and Ph.D. degrees. Consequently, the number of sociologists in the country multiplied and the total number of undergraduate and postgraduate students in other departments and faculties serviced by sociology was also enlarged. This development process has, as may be expected, led to the creation of new substantive areas or subfields in which sociologists can specialize. In a number of footnotes, Hegazy revealed how sociology had been combined with

23
as philosophy and psychology to offer complemenof study for higher degrees. It seems from all accounts too that sociology is considered as an Arts subject, hence its location in the Faculty of Arts in Ains Shams University; the Department of Sociology is also located within the same Faculty at Cairo University, as is a Department of Philosophy and Sociology at

such disciplines
tary
courses

Alexandria.
The

following selective list of Ph.D. theses (from 1959

to

1973),
of

gives some impression of the issues and substantive sociology which those in charge of graduate studies in universities consider academically significant:
1959 1964

areas

Egyptian

1968

Alexandria University A Comparative Study of Social Change in the Government Dakahlia. Mohammed Khary Mohammed, Indrrstrial Location & Social Welfare: With Special Reference to the UAR. Mohammed Abou Ali: The Social Organization of the Petroleum In-

dustry
1971
1973

in the UAR.

Mohammed Ali Mohammed: The Theory of Organi::ation: A Study of the Textile Industry in Alexandria. Ali Galoby, The Social Structure of an Industrial Organization: A Study of Small Groups.
I Ain Sham University

1969 1973 1972 1972

Mohamoud A. Ouda, Patterns of Communication and Social Change: A Field Studv in the Governorate of Manoufia. Noha Fahmy, The Urbanized Village: A Case Study of al-Hawamdia. Samia al-Saaty, The Roles of Husband and V 7fe in the Egyptian Family. Hoda Megahed, The Sociology of Family Solidarity.

Cairo University

1972
1972
1 1971

1972

Abdel Baset Mohammed, .Approaches to the Study of Social Conflict: Study of Social ConJ7ict in Two Egyptian Villages. Sayed al-Husainy, Social Organization.- An Analytical Study of Sonre Variables in the Process of Organization. (3) Salah Abdel Mutaall, Sncial Chunge and the Structure of the Eyptian Family. Nahed Saleh, The Statistical Method in Social Anthropological Studies: An Application to a Social Community.

It would be an injustice, to say the least, to draw conclusions about the range of issues and problems which Egyptian sociologists are concerned with today from the above list. Other bibliographical sources must be sought to complement this list, if we are to know what is being done at the Masters degree level, and it may also

24
be useful
to

examine the

topics undertaken

at the

undergraduate

(see bibliographical appendix). A large number of Ph.D. dissertations, some of which were mentioned above, were obviously concerned with the consequences of planned social development in the United Arab Republic. Par-

long

essay level

ticularly notable in this connection are those seeking to understand and explain the structural changes caused by the textile and petroleum industries. However, from Hegazys account the concern of Egyptian sociologists spans a wider field of interests. A breakdown of the empirical studies undertaken reveals the following areas of planned change to be the major concerns of research; resettlement of newly cultivated areas, family planning, the religious considerations of family planning, industrial organization, rural development and Egyptian folklore. Due attention had always been given by Egyptian sociologists to the persistent social problems of the country, particularly crime and juvenile delinquency. More recently it appears that interest in these two problems is receding into the background, due, I suspect, to over-study of these problems in earlier decades. While this is happening, the sociology of law is attracting the attention of an increasing number of non-sociology scholars. Organized
Research and Research

Offices

The centre for Social and Criminological Research in Cairo has, since its inception in 1950, also established a world-wide reputation for itself as a national social science research institution. It symbolizes recognition of the strong need for a multi-disciplinary approach to organized social research in Egypt, outside the walls of the universities. Hegazy noted: Though
one sometimes runs across a few titles reporting on research projects carried out by some university professors, organized social research has not become one of the universitys major tasks. Research offices established at some universities are mainly administrative bodies. 38

It is likely that the relatively underdeveloped character of organized social research in Egyptian universities may be attributed to the declining interest in abstracted empiricism, as the philosophy underpinning research methodology, and to the rising preoccupation with theory formulation.

25

Growing Interest

in Marxist

Mode of Social Analysis

not be unconnected with the the 1967 war with Israel whose resultant was a felt-need for a critical stance towards social reality and an interest in the critical character of Marxist sociology. As in other African countries today, there is a growing appreciation of Marxist ideas among some sociologists, especially among the younger ones. In some other parts of Africa, however, the ideological division between structural-functionalism and Marxism cannot be neatly correlated with the divide between older and younger sociologists. The growing appeal of Marxist sociology should not be attributed too quickly to one factor or another: it is neither simply nor exclusively a fruitful alternative to existing modes of social analysis, nor solely due to the more critical frame of mind of younger scholars. There is indeed a definite need to study this phenomenon in its own right at some future time. As a step toward such a study, the distinction made by Tom Bottomore in his Marxist Sociology, between Marxism as sociology and Marxism against sociology is suggested as fruitful. However, the basic question to answer in relation to the growing interest in Marxist ideas is one which queries the nature of its appeal by asking Is it Marxism as a sociological theory or as &dquo;abstracted and implicative&dquo; set of philosophical concepts which is the source of attraction?39 Such a study would, I believe, have to take a historical view of the development of knowledge in Egypt. A logical baseline for this study would be 1908 when a privately owned university called The National University was established and courses on the sociology of law&dquo; and other related courseS40 were offered for the first time in Egypt. It was a period, according to Hegazy, dominated by speculative philosophy. This period was followed by the introduction of some sort of scientific sociology. It was not until 1924, after the establishment of a true national university, that sociology was introduced into regular university teaching. Between the decade of the twenties until the seventies, Hegazy notes that Professor Ali Abdel Wahid Wafi played perhaps the most important and certainly the most influential role as the first holder of the chair of sociology in an Egyptian University. During more than three decades, he wrote a large number of monographs devoted to the exposition of the major ideas of Comte and Durkheim on a variety of

This shift in intellectual focus may

shocking experience of

topics.

26

Today, according to Ezzat Hegazy, sociology in Egypt is still in the process of formation. But though the position remains precarious, there are signs of relief in the not so far future .4 This optimism derives from the fact that Egyptian sociologists continue to be extremely sensitive to the history and social change which fashion the essence of their ideas about social development.

Ghana
The information contained in this section on sociology in Ghana has been gathered from three sources; from participantobservation of the tenth anniversary of the Ghana Sociological Association (1975), the questionnaire already mentioned, and a review of some of the papers presented at the Ghana Conference. Two Ghananian universities, the University of Ghana Legon, Accra, and University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, have established chairs of sociology. At the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, sociology is lodged in a sub-department. Two sociologists, Professor P. Austin Tetteh and Mr Yaw Adjei of the Faculty of Social Sciences are the only people offering sociology courses there. Ghananian universities publish an Annual Report which lists the names, qualifications and addresses of social scientists. Copies of these reports are distributed to the libraries of these universities. According to my respondent, current research topics include the interrelationship between medical systems; religious revival; and the pre-school child and the socialization process. Interdisciplinary research projects are being conducted in population studies and the

sociology of family planning. In the departments of sociology of these Universities, British and American traditions compete. The Ghana Sociological Association is the leading professional organization in the country. Research funds come from two main sources: university research funds and the Ghana Academy of Arts and Science. Ghananian sociologists are, on the whole, making quite significant contributions through books, journal articles, and pamphlets, to the field of sociology in Africa. The most recent publications include P. A. Twumasi, Medical Systems in Ghana, published by the Ghana publishing company, Tema..~2 A forthcoming book by J. M. Assimeng is entitled The Social Structure of Ghana. The Tenth Annual Meeting of the Ghana Sociological Association (April 1976) provided excellent

27

for the Nigerian sociologists attending it to meet and views with their Ghananian colleagues. From the papers exchange and the discussions that ensued, a number of needs presented as basic to the present state and future prospects of emerged sociology in Africa. They are: (a) The need to study further the classical writings of the founders of sociology. (b) The need for a very careful examination by African sociologists of a number of monographs written by both Africans and Europeans, which have had an impact on the development of African sociology. (c) A continuous and careful study of ideas and institutions in African communities with a view to assessing, for purposes of further exploration, those notions, concepts and theories that can contribute to the development of a transnational

opportunities

sociology.

study of conflict theory which examines its relevance as a mode of explanation of social reality and social change in Africa. (e) A study of the place of critical judgement in explanatory schemes such as marxism and structural-functional theories. In the paragraphs which follow, I shall review two unpublished papers by two Ghananian sociologists, Max Assimeng4l and K. K. Prah,44 on the state of sociology in Ghana today. The former held the post of Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Legon, while the other was a lecturer in sociology at Cape Coast. One gains the impression that the Cape Coast sociologists are by and large younger than most of those at Legon where the eminent Ghananian sociologist, Professor K. E. De Graft-Johnson holds the chair of sociology. Although these papers differ in tone, content and style, both nevertheless seem to be operating upon the basic assumption that the discipline stands to gain scientifically if they critically question the philosophy, methodology and findings of sociology as a social science. In short, both may be classified as explorations into the emergent area, the Sociology of Sociology in Africa. In his paper Max Assimeng shows that he is quite familiar with the literature and practices in this area, as his bibliography attests. Assimeng begins his task with a long but instructive history of sociology in Ghana. As an academic discipline, sociology in Ghana is nearly twenty five years old; but it has yet to become a familiar -word, as Assimeng puts it, in the vocabulary and thinking of the people of (d)

A critical

28 the country. Different professionals and non-professionals, academics and non-academics use the term sociology with different connotations and a wide range of expectations about the nature of

sociological practices. To Assimeng, the reason for this widespread currency and canvassing of sociology, especially by those not themselves sociologists, may be located in part in the fact that men who have described themselves as sociologists have also engaged in holding public authority and shaping public policy. Their classrooms have transcended the narrow confines of the university. To most Ghanadecades the name of Professor Kofi A. Busia was with synonymous sociology. Assimeng describes him as a former don at the University of Ghana whose political agitations and pronouncements from the 1940s and early 1950s culminated in his premiership of the country between October 1969 and January 1972, when his Progress Party Government was terminated by a coup detat. The names of C. G. Reindorf, J. E. Casely-Hayford, J B. Danquah, E. K. Kurankyi Taylor and R. E. G. Armattoe are also listed among Ghananians whose writings revealed a mode of viewing their society and culture that was sociological even though these men were luminiaries in different intellectual callings. However, I believe that E. K. Kurankyi Taylor and R. E F. Armattoe may more correctly be categorized as a sociologist of law and a cultural anthropologist, respectively, whilst the others may be regarded as proto-sociologists in their writings. Assimeng also recognized the possibility of finding among early Christian missionaires the seeds of the sociological imagination, but he carefully divides the missionary era into distinct phases according to his yardstick for measuring evidence of scholarship (or in lieu of it some form of thinking or speculation on the nature of social structure and social groups). Assimeng acknowledges the contributions of the colonial anthropologists and colonial administrators to the foundation of present day sociological thought and knowledge about Ghananian peoples and cultures. But by far his most illuminating revelation is the fact that it was the voices and writings of protest and rebellion among eminent Ghananians like Sir Ofori Atta, Omanhena Ossandoh, Sir Emmanual Mote Korle I, and Kwegyhir Aggrey who, not only saw and stressed the need for the study and conservation of traditional values in the country, but also pressed that these be reflected in school curricula, which in turn made the search for the services of anthropologists very
two

nians for

29

urgent.

As

Assimeng interprets it:


the colonial

Certainly,

administrative

progress

itself became

increasingly

humanized. Refresher and orientation Courses were for instance, established in Oxford, Cambridge and London Universities where cadets intended for. or already in, the colonial services werc given lessoils in what may not be very appropriately described as African and Oriental Studies, when promotion and future prospects within the senior ranks of the service required, among other

things proficiency in
were

some selected Ghananian languages and customs. There occasional Native Customs examinations. Also, when the colonial burden came to be seen by its protagonists as a civilizing mission, it became imperative for the government to conduct sevcral social surveys into the need structure and need priorities of thc population. 45

of present day sociology in laid in response to the challenges of local social thinkers from the nineteenth century to the mid-decades of the twentieth century. Thus the aims of anthropological activities and colonial state-craft converged in laying the foundations for African sociology. Assimeng emphasizes this fact, because of its importance especially in the light of contemporary criticism, as a result of political independence and nationalist self-assertion.
manner

In this

the foundation

stone

Ghana, and indeed in West Africa,

was

Present Debates and Future

Prospects

Earlier in this section on Ghana, I reported on two of the substantive areas in which my respondent mentioned that Ghananian sociologists, particularly those at Legon, are currently working. Other substantive areas which I noted during the conference are family planning, sociology of occupations, criminology and juvenile delinquency, demography, and sociology of development. Some of the sociologists working in these areas46 are K. N. Bame of the Institute of African Studies at Legon, who presented a paper entitled Some sociological variables which need attention in development support communication. Examples from a Ghananian family planning study; E. Date-Bah who presented her paper, The nature and significance of occupational sociology in Ghana: The Case of the professional drivers; D. M. A. Nortey whose paper Criminology and crime; new dimensions in crime in Ghana attracted the attention and interest of conference members because it threw new light on existing facts about crime in Ghana. A paper

30 The role of demography in understanding the social structure of African societies, prepared by both Professor N. O. Addo and Dr S. K. Gaisie, Senior Lecturer at the United Nations Research Institute for Population Studies, Cape Coast, was presented by the second author. It was an illuminating report on the co-operation and achievements of sociologists and demographers in Ghana, as well as a charting of the areas of useful co-operation in other parts of Africa. These and similar papers listed for the conference are largely reports of ongoing or completed empirical studies of Ghananian society. All of them dealt directly in different ways and styles with the theme of the conference: The Role of Sociology in National Development and Planning. The centre-piece of the conference, however, was what emerged as a colloquium or debate on Origins and Orientations in African Sociology, under the chairmanship of Professor Peter Morton Williams, a highly respected expatriate sociologist with many years experience of living in Africa. He may be described as the doyen of sociologists, expatriate and African, in contemporary Ghana. Among the Ghananian contributors47 to that debate were: J. M. Assimeng, whose paper Sociology in Ghana: context and institutionalisation has formed the mainstay of this Report on Ghana so far; K. K. Prah, The crisis in Ghananian sociology continues: A critique of sociai science in Ghana; Kofi Agyeman, Sociology of the development of Sociology; E. H. Mends, The Sociological relevance of 19th century nationalism, and J. Mensah Sarbah and A. F. Aryee, Sociology in the African context. In his presidential address, Justice Nii Amaa Ollennu, the outgoing President of the Ghana Sociological Association, described sociologists, among other things, as holders up of mirrors to society, and encouraged the Association to promote the free exchange of sociological knowledge with other national associations. One of the most dynamic organizers of the conference was Mrs Martha Tamakloe who also contributed significantly to the debate from the floor at various sessions. She and her colleague, Mrs Yvonne Asamoah, judging from her contributions also made from the floor, may be classified among the radical, critical sociologists in Ghana. Finally, mention should be made of two papers of very outstanding quality in relation to the main theme of the conference - that of social development. The first was by Professor K. E. de GraftJohnson and entitled Fictive thinking and social development,
on

31

while the other by Ebow Mensah, who teaches

at

the Ahmadu Bello

University, Zaria, Nigeria, was entitled On the evitability of instability. Space does not permit me to review the high points of each paper listed above. It is sufficient, however, to state that the central issue appeared to me then, and now, to be the question of what is the
valid and effective scheme of explanation for African to use in their studies of their own and other societies. Is it the structural-functional theory, Marxist-Leninist theory or another theory, yet undiscovered, which will provide a reliable African perspective, yielding correct answers to the multifarious questions Africans and non-Africans alike ask about rapidly changing African societies? What makes any social theory useful or helpful in ones scientific endeavours and what are the relevant criteria of this helping to keep the society going, explanation alone, or practical contributions to social change? Regarding the place of critical judgement in the scheme of explanation, have the various conflict theories, especially those of Marx and Lenin, Mao Tse Tsung, Franz Fanon, Kwame Nkrumah and Amilcar Cabral, to mention but a few, important roles to play? What of classical writers like Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Gabriel Tarde, Durkheim, Gumplowicz, Simmel, Toennes, have their views of social reality any relevance to African social life today? What of the works of nineteenth century and early twentieth-century African writers? Should they continue to be read today and if so, what general significance do their works still have for us? These and many other points were raised and tackled in the writings of
most

sociologists

Ghananian sociologists. There is no doubt that the careful study of the works of European sociological writers of the nineteenth century will yield useful basic concepts that can be used to explain not only African social development, but also the crisis and contention among sociologists, in Ghana in particular, and in Africa in general. K. E. de Graft-Johnsons able use of Comtes fictive thinking is a good pointer to what can be done with the classics. The same paper shows how African social thought can be used to complement, or enlarge, the scope of concepts drawn from classical writings. E. H. Mends paper shows how the careful study of the writings of men like Sarbah, Casely-Hayford and Sekyi Danquah, plus other equally illustrious writers mentioned earlier, may point to various phases in the dialectical interplay between colonialism and anti-

32

colonialism. Mends is on firm ground when he suggests that Sarbahs studies of traditional social institutions were not only informed by a sociological perspective but, in themselves, are contributions of sociological relevance today. Although K. K. Prah was attacking those who may be labelled as establishment sociologists who are guilty, according to him, of always communicating in a language which mystifies rather than enlightens, he was also seeking not merely to enthrone Marxism, but to legitimize it as a sociological perspective. He states his claims on page 2 of his paper; Marxism is not a disease. It has been the only critical science of society in this era of human history, and no social scientist worth his salt has not in one way or the other been affected by dialectical materialism. Unfortunately, the language of the conflict school, at least in Ghana and Nigeria, often generates more heat than light and tends to cloud the issue by a reductio ad absurdum style of logic. The methodology of the critical approach undoubtedly leads to an over-kill of opponents views, styles of writing, and methodological techniques, leaving the reader or listener with little if any substantive contribution to an understanding of the social realities which are the concern of us all. Ebow Mensahs paper On the evitability of instability points out how the theme of the inevitability of political instability can provide a framework for explanation of change over time from one era to another. It was the Catholic prelate, Reverend Father J. OConnell, who first used the phrase in 1967 to explain that the frequent coups and political changes in African states were unavoidable. What Mends discerned as fatalistic undertones in OConnells statements were essentially contained in similar statements, made much earlier (in 1948) about economic uncertainty and political discontent in African colonies by Martin Wight, of Nuffield College, Oxford. In response to the latter, Dr J. B. Danquah sought to provide a challenge by underlining what things are excluded by making such assumptions. Dr Danquah wrote as follows in reply to Martin Wight:
-

I have read an account of an article of yours in the Observer commented upon in the Cape Coast Observer of August 27, and I am entirely in sympathy with premise that one damned thing deserves another: namely, because of the political discontent and economic uncertainty in the Gold Coast as elsewhere in the world, political instability would become self perpetuating, the conception of a probationary period meaningless, political revolutions more frequent in the colonies than general elections at home (i.e. in the United Kingdom).

33
I cannot, however, subscribe to your final statement and education for self government would not exist, it being a case of putting the cart before the horse. Historically, education for self government consists in the adjusting of the people by changes in the constitution to meet economic uncertainty and political discontent. With those two prerequisites there might be no Cromwell and no Restoration and English people might have suffered the fate of the French people ; no king or centre of gravity, and a new prime minister every two or three

months. ,48

quotation illluitrates very clearly that Ebow Mensah was following in the footsteps of J. B. Danquah when he adopted a critical attitude towards OConnells conceptualization of political instability. He pointed out the inadequacy of certain of the latters basic assumptions, just as Danquah had done in the case of Martin Wights conceptualization of political discontent. This critical tradition of scholarship, from Danquah to Ebow Mensah, has its place in the general state of sociology in Africa today. Its main objective is intellectual emancipation, which is a necessary step, as Mensah correctly observes, towards originality and inventiveness. Before concluding this report on sociology in Ghana today, it is only fair to refer to K. K. Prahs Essays of African Society and History (Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 1976). In the preface the author indicates that three different topics are treated in the essays. In the first essay, he deals with the phenomenon of colonised attitudes and uses the phrase African ideological interiorisation of European economic and social domination to conceptualize it. In the second he studies the exploitation which Northern Ghananians suffered while the Europeans defined and demarcated the frontiers of African feudalism. These essays, despite their shortcomings, which result from an effort to employ a method of analysis that
This Prah describes as rooted in the intellectual tradition of Marx because of its truly scientific character, nevertheless form a significant part of sociology in contemporary Ghana. In my judgement, these essays compel one to grapple with the concepts and methods of analysis being used by African Marxist sociologists, if only to understand what they are saying each time they write or talk.

Liberia One of the oldest republics in Africa is Liberia and it also has one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in West Africa, called

34

College at its foundation. This institution was the predecessor of the contemporary University of Liberia. Yet according to my correspondent from the University of Liberia in
Liberia

Monrovia:
The status of sociology and hence sociologists is low both within and outside the academic community. Though a Department of Anthropology and Sociology was created within the College of Science and Humanities in 1955, it was only in 1971 that the University of Liberia graduated six students with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in economics and/or political science, let alone sociology. As far as the public is concerned, a sociologist is a social worker. A sociologist is supposed to help the poor. A young sociologist who has just returned from the United States was told that she had come back home to help the poor. As a result she was employed as Director of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Health and Social Velfare. The very small number of sociologists in Liberia is exceedingly conscious of the low esteem in which sociology is held. We are doing everything to gain recognition and support for sociology comparable to that give to Economics and Political Science. At present we are planning to form the Liberian Sociological Association. In this way, we hope we will be able to achieve respectability and acceptability for sociology in Liberia.

This was the briefest report on sociology in an African country that I have received. Consequently, there are many gaps in our knowledge. For example, we do not know whether or not sociology is offered at Covington College, nor do we have a list of sociologists in Liberia, their qualifications, the institutions from which they received their training and their areas of specialization. We need more information on current trends in research, or publications. Most likely the dominant academic tradition will be American. It is too soon to expect contending schools to emerge. There may be minor differences in points of view about what to emphasize on the curriculum or the direction of development to be taken by the sociology department. These are the differences that may be expected even among scholars trained abroad in the same country but in different universities which may belong to different traditions. The gaps in our knowledge about the state of sociology in Liberia should therefore be seen as a challenge to those who profess it in Liberia as well as for those, like us, who are trying to monitor its development there. Sociology in Liberia stands in need of a small but dedicated core of people who are committed to explaining it to the academic public. It may well be that its acceptance and legitimacy amongst the academic community may depend

35
upon how well sociologists perform in the applied areas of social welfare within which opportunities are now opening up for them in their society, given the inner history of the discipline in Liberia. Those who go into the Ministry of Social Welfare have a good opportunity to influence planning for social development and the execution of social development plans. What is crucial in the next five to ten years is the extent to which academic sociologists and civil service sociologists can establish a strong professional bridge between one another which will enable them to act in concert. Theory and practice stand in a mutually beneficial relationship, ab inito in the sociological enterprise in Liberia. This potential can be fulfilled if this relationship is carefully fostered in the decade of the eighties when, hopefully, the aggregate number of sociologists trained at home in Liberia and abroad should have increased. It may even be that a few new universities will be created in the decade ahead with departments of sociology: thus sociology in Liberia will develop in response to its own inner history, and that of the history of the nation and people of that senior African state.

Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia


The University of Malawi is the only university in Malawi; but it is a member of the Association of African Universities. Although, according to my responden t49 there is no established Chair of Sociology there yet, the subject is taught along with anthropology, philosophy and psychology in the Department of Human Behavior at Chancellor College of the University. There were, in 1976, two full-time sociologists: Dr J. A. K. Kandawere and Miss J. Muwalo at the University of Malawi. The former specialized in social institutions, sociological problems of colonial Africa and anthropological theory, while Miss Muwalos area of specialization is urban sociology. Her current teaching interests are social change, sociology of the family, and sociology of development. Dr Kandawere took his Ph.D. in Edinburgh; Miss Muwalo received her foundation training in sociology at home. She later did additional work - a Diploma in Sociology and took a Masters Degree from Manchester University. There used to be a third member: J. M. Schoffelers, but he has left to join the Free University of Amsterdam. These active sociologists show in their current research topics that sociology is very responsive in Malawi to the

36
land tenure, the survival of oral traditions, the changing roles of Malawi women, and to social welfare problems of poverty and old age. In both teaching and research the academic tradition followed is British. Interdisciplinary research involving the Department has not yet begun and the formation of a profesisonal association is a thing of the distant future. As regards the sources of research funds, the University underwrites all ex-

problems of leadership,

penses.

Diffusion of Sociological Knowledge


The

following journals have served and are serving sociological communication from Malawi: published

as

outlets for

(1) Dziko: The Geographical Magazine. (2) Journal of Eastern African Research and Development,
in Nairobi. (3) Kalulu: A Bulletin of Malawian Oral Literature and Cultural Studies, published by the Department of English, University of Malawi. (4) The Sociely of Malawi Journal, published in Blantyre. (5) Africa: Journal of the international African Institute, London. Journal (6) of Social Science, published at the University of Malawi. (7) Cahiers des Religions Africaines. Conferences and books also provide outlets for the works of Malawian behavioural scientists, including sociologists and an-

thropologists.
The inner history of sociology in Malawi is very different from that of Liberia; but it is reminiscent of its beginnings in many countries with a dominant British colonial educational tradition. The survival of the colonial influence is reflected in the writings of Kandawire Muwalo and Schoeffelers respectively, particularly in their writings on land tenure matters, the mobilization of labour, and rural development. It should be recalled that Malawis 3.75 million people (according to a 1968 source) gained their independence on 6 July 1964 from Great Britain, but since then its economic dependence on trade with the apartheid regime of South Africa has not been reversed,50 nor have the effects of its establishment of formal diplomatic relations with South Africa totally died out. The salience of the racial discrimination issue and the challenge of the

37
liberation movements, along with the larger issues of social development within the East African community as a whole, made sufficient impact on the University to provoke a movement away from the methodological and theoretical assumptions of preindependence social anthropology. There is, however, a noticeable effort being made by the few Malawian sociologists to know what is going on in the discipline within other universities of Africa, and it may be hoped that the exchange of ideas will inevitably lead to the radicalization of sociology in Malawi in the next decade. When one considers the paucity of information on the state of sociology in Malawi, the urgent need to seek, in a systematic manner, a fuller knowledge of the East Africa region becomes clear and immediate. The nearest source of information on sociology in the entire eastern region of Africa is an eight year old report of the fifth Annual Conference of the University of East Africa Social Science Council. Even this source does not tell us in much detail what is currently going on in sociology. We know that when the Social Science Council of the University of East Africa held its twentieth Conference in Nairobi, from 8 to 12 December 1969, three hundred scholars drawn from the then Congo, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malagasy Republic, Malawi, the Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia, participated. The papers read and discussed at the Nairobi Conference were divided into four parts. It is in part three in particular Problems of Methodology in Social Science Research in Africa; Sociology, Social Psychology and Education that papers are found which have a direct bearing on this Trend Report. At the turn of the century, sociology in the East African community was dominated by such names as G. H. Boehringer, S. J. Fjellman, A. Kuper, J. Van L. Mas, J. Weatherby, J. Rex, F. Nursey-Bray, T.Weisner, J. N. Morgan, J. Fry and R. Woods and J. Saul, and several others. There were also African-sounding names such as A. Chilivambo, A. Matjeko, E. Muga and K. Ndeti. At the Conference some of the topics which the papers touched upon included the reliability of Zambian statistics, social defence planning in Tanzania, the restructuring of state education in Buganda before colonial domination, the role of fortune-tellers in Nandi society, social and cultural change among the Luo in Kenya and the socio-economic problems of resettlement schemes. There were other papers some of which were of theoretical interest, such as one on the concept of the intelligentsia by A. Mat-

38

by J. Rex, and Saltmans study of the Kipsigis. One may classify another of Matjekos papers on boundary-crossing as being oriented towards internal migration. There is no doubt that these topics pointed to the existence of more challenging research enterprises by sociologists in the East Africa region. At this point it is important to state that by the beginning of the 1970s, the centre of social science research and teaching had shifted from Makerere University to the University College of Nairobi, where there were such leading sociologists as Professor Arthur T. Porter, who at the same time was the Universitys Vice-Chancllor, and Professor Zev Barrace

jeko ; the concept of

status of customary law among the

bu. Professor James Coleman was director of the Institute of Development Studies; while Dr John Kiernan represented the Department of History and Dr S. Kimeni the Geography Department.

The Vice-Chancellor of welcome:

explained this shift

as

follows in his address

In the preceeding decade, Makerere undoubtedly commanded the acknowledged leadership in the social sciences in this region. Makereres distinguished East

African Institute of Social Research created, nurtured, and institutionalized this Annual Conference as a regional gathering and earned for it an international report for its scholarly excellence. 61

However, he added that the number and composition of scholars


in conferences since the shift to Nairobi had increased and had become greatly diversified. In addition, he noted that:
The number of African social scientists presenting papers has quadrupled (six to twenty-four); that there is a noticeably greater diversity of nationalities represented among the non-African social scientists; that the number of individual scholars from Universities in the other countries of Eastern Africa has increased more than ten fold (two to twenty-two); and that the number of invited student participants has increased from virtually nil to a total of forty-five, invited from the three University Colleges, including students at postgraduate and undergraduate levels. This increased participation by both established and potential African social scientists and the expansion in the number of participants from University Institutes within Africa, from Lesotho, Malawi, the Congo Kinshasa, Ethiopia and Sudan, means that the Conference is becoming at once markedly African, and at the same time, more cosmopolitan.

taking part

The address of welcome also talked about the opportunities which faced the social sciences at the time as a result of the

39

generous provision University College Councils made for the development of the social sciences in (that) region. That was some eight years ago. Today, the University College of Nairobi has attained full status as the University of Nairobi. Uganda has also her Makerere University and Zambia, her University of Zambia. With
these universities response to the

emerging, and with many more still to come in continuing demand for university education

more departments of sociology will no doubt main whose thrust may well be towards increased emerge, of the various societies that are being formed and of knowledge the themselves are parts. which universities

throughout Africa,

Nigeria
Since the publication, in 1974, of Contemporary Sociology in Nigeria&dquo;12 by this author, new departments of sociology have been introduced, to undertake necessary fields of study, in the Universities of Benin, Calabar, Jos, Maiduguri and Sokoto. In a recent stencilled brochure, Professor Justin J. Tseayo, Head of the Department of Sociology, University of Jos, writes about the object of sociology in that new university in these terms: Sociology in the University of Jos does not intend to shut itself off from the rest of the non-African Sociological World, nevertheless we do not intend to be principally a bastion of the &dquo;Western Sociological Tradition&dquo;, and thus removed
from our own African peoples and their social environment. Sociology in Jos will direct itself to tackling the question of how to transform our social structures and processes into viable social institutions, through teaching and the promotion of relevant research.

Further

on

he declares:

In other words sociology in Jos is going to be responsible for organizing the use of sociological knowledge in ways aimed directly at coping with our national issues, i.e. how the African cultural background and national resources, can and should contribute to solving our present problems and needs. For example, there is the pressing phenomenon of urbanism and urban growth in Nigeria. What do these mean and by what characteristics can we define them: by physical size, character of ethnic relations, economic and technological features or the composition of its population?

These two

statements

indicate the

teaching

and research

con-

40

only of the University of Jos, but also of the other newer departments as well. Sociology is coming of age in Nigeria. It now enjoys the same recognition on most, if not all campuses, as political science, economics and geography. Chairs of sociology are currently held in Lagos, Ibadan, Nsukka, Jos, and Benin Universities, the last two being newer universities. There are sociologists who hold the post of Senior Lecturer in all the universities, while at the University of Ife the highest position currently held by a sociologist is that of Reader. Due to its inner history, the University at Ile-Ife has not been able to fill its chair of sociology yet. There is a large corps of creative, young, up-and-coming scholars (both men and women) not only teaching in universities, but also in the polytechnics as well. A few more are engaged in research at Incerns, not

stitutes of Social and Economic Research at the Univerities of Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello. Today one of the Federal Commissioners is a sociologist and a former lecturer at the University of Lagos. Another, an industrial sociologist, is also a Commissioner in Ogun State. In the work referred to above, this author traced the place of sociology as an intellectual discipline in Nigeria and discussed its professionalization. At that time (1974), sociology and anthropology did occupy less enviable positions vis-d-vis other social sciences. I also reviewed extensively the ongoing teaching and research interests of most of the sociologists in the country. Today, a number of books have been published by Nigerian sociologists. Peter Ekeh, of the University of Ibadan, has published Social Exchange Theory: The Two Traditions;53 Ikenna Nzimiro, Studies in the Political Systems; Chieftancy and Politics in Four Niger States;54 T. O. Odetola, Military Politics in Nigeria: Economic Development and Political Stability,55 and more recently, Ethnic Relations in Nigeria56 has appeared, edited by A. O. Sanda. In addition, there are the books on Tiv political structure by Professor Justin Tseqyo of Jos University and on the Social Anthropology of Africa by M. Onwujeogwu .51 Two books by E. E. Ekong are forthcoming, firstly the Sociology of the Ibibio and secondly, Evaluating Development: The Case of Western Nigeria (soon to be released by a Nigerian publisher, Ilesanmi Press). In addition O. Imoagenes, Social Mobility in Emergent Society, A Study of the New Elite in Western Nigeria, is to be released by the Australian National University Press.58 Mention should also be made of the unpublished doctoral dissertation by Ibrahim A.

41

Tahir, Scholars, Sufis, Saints and Capitalists in Kano, 1904-1974. The Pattern of Bourgeois Revolution in an Islamic Society, submitted to the University of Cambridge in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Also of note is the doctoral dissertation by Martin Igbozurike, entitled, Problem Generating Structures in Nigerias Rural Development, published by the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, 1976. In addition to books, several new journals have been established
in Nigeria for social scientists. These are the Nigerian Behavioural Science Quarterly, under the editorship of D. J. Idiang, Department of Political Science, University of Calabar, and the Nigerian Social Science Review, under the editorship of O. Ojo, Department of Economics, University of Ife. Mention should be made too of the Nigerian Journal of Manpower Studies, produced from the Faculty of Business Administration, University of Lagos, and the West African Journal of Sociology and Political Science, edited by Justin Labinjoh, Department of Political Science, University of Exeter, England, now a member of the Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan. The most recent learned journal is edited by Dr Akin Sanda, from the same Department, and is called the Nigerian Social Science Quarterly Review. Finally, it should be recorded that the Nigerian Journal of Anthropology and Sociology, the official organ of the Nigerian Anthropological and Sociological Association is now being edited by William Ogiowo, Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan. He succeeds the late Professor Francis O. Okediji as Editor.
Creative

Confrontation

We have already seen how, in Ghana, a critical analysis of society and a critical approach to sociological practice, by members of the various schools or traditions, represent a creative response on the part of sociology to the development of Ghananian society. The present state of sociology in Nigeria is not, in a general sense, very different from the situation in Ghana. There is also a group of sociologists here who apply the Marxist-Leninist theory of the materialistic basis of social existence and the historico-dialectical method to the explanation of social phenomena. Fortunately, annual general meetings provide the needed forums for the discussion of topical issues and also mutual criticism. Unlike Ghana where the Cape Coast is seen as the main seat of

42

radical sociology, the Nigerian sociological radicals may be found in at least three universities. There are, however, those who see, according to I. Eteng, 59 of the University of Nigeria in any sociologist the radicalizing objective of the association since Nigerias traditional social past demands a fusing together of patriotism and scholarship. However, as Eteng was quick to point out, the development of a radical Nigerian sociology, realistically speaking, faces major constraints, some of which are historically politico-ideological as well as institutional. To clarify his statement, Inya Eteng asks these profound and basic questions:
How do we resocialize a majority of Nigerian sociologists and anthropologists whose basic training in Euro-American institutions does not equip them either with a radical orientation or the intellectual flexibility to accommodate new paradigms? How do we get across the fundamental fact that a majority of Nigerian social scientists are typical, intellectual compradores in the service of capitalism and neo colonialism? How do we sell our new wares to incredible conservative Nigerian publics and the governing elite who are either generally ignorant of what sociology basically is, or who erroneously believe that sociology is fundamentally synomynous with socialism? How can a radicalizing orientation thrive in the Nigerian society where the civil war and other drastic secularization processes have intensified an increasing monetarization of traditional wholesome relationships and our moral philsophy of alirLIlsm? How effectively will the new radical sociologists and anthropologists play their liherating ovant-garde role given the present constraints of structured inequalities, monolithic and unresponsive decision-making processes, pervasive corruption and clientelistic dependency relations in the Nigerian society?

sociology in Nigeria today stem from honesi attempts question:. What should an authentic be like? Some sociologists, including this Nigerian sociology see the main issue now as being essentially a conceptual author, one. It appears that if the conceptual schemes or paradigms of explanation which came with sociology from Europe and the United States are to be adequate, then they must, (a) be developed into new ones whose units of explanation include those which carry African significations; (b) creative efforts must be undertaken at synthesizing the contradictory approaches to the study of society in Africa; (c) a serious charge must be counteracted which is made against the developments taking place among African social scientists in general, and sociologists in particular, namely that of harbouring attitudes which are tantamount to intellectual nationalism and isolation, and hence, (d) Nigerian sociologists must
to answer the

The main issues in

43
demonstrate a creative awareness of the work of European, American and Third World sociologists in their own works. On the other hand this important task of developing new concepts which are capable of capturing the linguistic and dialectical nuances of particular language communities in Africa should also be viewed as part of a more fundamental one: that of generating one common international language for sociology, il~ a babel of tongues is not to

importance to the conceptual issue is that of the communication and diffusion of sociological knowledge in Nigeria. Given a strong belief in the fictitious nature of some supposed international standard, which is endorsed by certain well placed members of the Nigerian academic power-elite today, and implies that Nigerian scholars must first achieve acceptance and recognition by European and American scholars, then several fundamental issues present themselves what to communicate? Who should it aimed at? What to be ought constitute the acceptable style of communication and format of scholarly journals? All of these loom large in discussions about the diffusion of sociological knowledge of Nigeria. Related to these problems concerning the communication of knowledge is a fundamental inability or unwillingness on the part of the Nigerian intellectuals, generally, to depart from the methodological paradigms inherited from their universities of socialization. On the other hand, there are some Nigerian sociologists who advocate the re-writing of the socio-economic history of their society in the hope that this would be likely to stimulate methodological breakthroughs in the attempt to clarify new approaches to the object of study. Furthermore, there are others who hold that the critical revision of the major works of European, American and Third World writers may itself facilitate the communication of sociological knowledge. Finally, there remains the problem of the relative isolation of African sociologists from one another at national, regional and continental levels. Increased contacts between sociologists, not only in Nigerian universities but in and between universities in different parts of Africa, is seen as a positive step towards reducing such isolation. The rich but conflicting body of ideas, definitions and beliefs, which now preoccupy sociologists in Nigeria today, can be subsumed under the generic notion of RADICALIZING SOCIOLOGY. Thus the coming of age of sociology in Nigeria is accompanied by the phenomenon of intellectual radicalization amongst its practitioners.
-

emerge. Next in

44 Zaire

The present state of Sociology in Zaire, the former Democratic Republic of the Congo, is best considered within the framework of the complex structure of its university system. In 1971, the Universi1 Nationale du Zaire (UNAZA) was established. It incorporated the former three individual but interdependent universities which have now become local campuses of the National University. According to the source-material on OAU member countries, Zaire, w~hose capital is Kinshasha, had a population of 15 million inhabitants by 1968. There are no current figures available on the total number of students in the universities. What is clear is that eleven years after her independence, the Republic of Zaire has formed one strong institution of higher learning from the former Universit Lovanium, otherwise called the Catholic University, established by the Belgians and located in Kinshasa, the former Ulliversit Officielle du Congo (OUC), otherwise called the State or Secular University, located in Lubumbashi, and the former Free University of Zaire, otherwise called the Protestant University, located in Kisangani. The educational programmes of these branch-universities are today divided along the lines of different Schools. On the Kinshasa Campus there are the Schools of Medicine, Law, Economics, Science (including mathematics, physics and chemistry) and the School of Engineering (where public building, electricity, and civil engineering are taught). The UNAZA at the Lubumbashi Campus also has five schools of Letters, Veterinary Medicine, and Medicine, Social Science, Science and Engineering. At the School of Social Science, politics, public service (i.e. public administration), sociology and anthropology are offered. At the School of Science, geology, minerology and geography are offered, as well as mining, metallurgy, and industrial chemistry. Finally, there are three Schools at the Kisangani Campus, namely Schools of Farming and Agricultural Sciences, Educational Sciences, and Science. At the School of Educational Sciences courses in psychology, pedagogy and professional training are offered.
-

The Place

of Sociology sociology in Zaire is at Campus, whilst there


the School of Sciences in
are

The only chair of the Lubumbashi

sub-departments of

45
the Kinshasa and Kisangani Campuses respectively. The latter campus is located in the upper region of Zaire. Many of the Zairean sociologists have doctorate degrees and some of their main areas of specialization are anthropology and political science. In addition to doctoral degrees, some Zairean sociologists have taken the licence in philosophy, public administration, pedagogy and ethnology. The following are some of the current areas of research interest of these sociologists: urban anthropology, witchcraft and sorcery, mass media, political institutions and the sociology of work. One of the leading sociologists in Zaire is Doctor Ngoma Ngamm Kukabile me Ngumba, Professeur Ordinaire, in the Facult des Sciences Economiques at the Kinshasa Campus. Professor Ngoma was born at Dianga-Luozi, in Lower Zaire. He studied pedagogy and education at the former Universit Officielle du Congo (OUC), from which he graduated with distinction in the equivalent of the B.Sc. (Education) in Nigeria or Ghana. He holds a licence in social anthropology, a Diploma in Political Science, and a Doctorate in Sociology from the Sorbonne, Paris. He is also proficient in English and holds the Certificat danglais. He has held very important occupational positions in Zaire between 1950 and 1970 when he became Rector of his alma mater and Vice Rector of the National University. He has attended several international congresses including those held by the ISA at Evian in 1966, and at Varna in 1970, and has several publications to his credit. He has been Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago, the University of British Columbia and the University of Brazzaville. Among his colleagues today are Drs Bola Nteto, Bukasa Tulu, Malembe Tanzem, Munzada Babole and Muwabila Molela on the Lubumbashi and Kinshasa Campuses. It is in the hands of men and women sociologists of the calibre of Professor Ngoma that the development of sociology in Africa lies at present.

sociology

on

Southern Africa

Two of the objectives laid down at the foundations of the Conference of African Universities held at Rabat, Morocco, in November 1967 were (a) to promote interchange, contact and cooperation among university institutions in Africa, and (b) to encourage the development and wider use of African languages. When considered against these two objectives the universities of so-

46 called Southern African are deficient in themselves, regardless of the reasons that have accounted for their deficiencies. The main cause is the leading role that the universities of the apartheid Union of South Africa have played and are playing in the organization of higher education in that region of the continent. By Southern African is meant, in this Report, the Union of South Africa, Namibia or the former South-Western Africa, and Zimbabwe, otherwise called Rhodesia. This of course contrasts with the usage employed by the publishers of the Journal of Southern African Studies, edited from the Department of Political Science, University of Bristol, England, in co-operation with the Association for Sociologists in Southern Africa (ASSA). This group considers the following as constituting Southern Africa: the Republic of South

Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia, Malawi, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Angola and Mozambique. On some occasions, the editors of the Journal also include Zaire, the Malagasy Republic and Mauritius.
The isolation of Rhodesia and the Repubic of South Africa from the rest of Africa is physical, political, intellectual, and also spiritual to some extent, for as Dr E. N. Dafala, Vice-Chancellor, University of Khartoum has put it:
The African University should be looked upon not only as a material institution but also as the depository and promoter of all the good values inherent in the African culture and language. It should live with its society, ever ready to study and disseminate knowledge about the achievements of individuals outside its walls. Likewise, the African University should live with the world community, upholding its identity but sharing contributions with it, realizing the whole time that the area of knowledge is a human heritage, handed from the past through the present to the future, from which all can draw and to which all those worthy should contribute. 60

The various universities in those two countries are not known nowadays for promoting the good values of the various African cultures within their territories, nor do they disseminate, if indeed they study, their knowledge of the achievements of their black members. They sometimes give the impression that during the decades of the sixties and seventies, they lived with the rest of the world community without sharing with it their knowledge of their own societies and peoples. This, to me, has been due to the ideology and policy of racism which is the bedrock of the governing bodies in those two southern states of Africa. Racism, in my judgement, prevents the attainment of what Anthony F. C. Wallace has termed psychic unity with the rest of the human groups in Africa

47
-

which would, in turn, have facilitated cross-cultural

com-

munication. The paradox of racism in the Union of South Africa and in Zimbabwe is that these two societies continue to exist to all, given their different maze ways. As Wallace defines it, a maze-

way is the organized totality of learned meanings maintained by an individual (organism, person, or groups) at any time.&dquo; To explain
the paradox of the continued existence of the social orders of Zimbabwe and South Africa one may start from Wallaces view point that Societies of organisms will be to a greater or lesser degree culturally organized if the organisms are sufficiently proximate and sufficiently capable of learning so that their maze-ways will contain either identical or merely equivalent meanings for a standard stimulus. 6 One would therefore expect the sociological enterprise in these countries to be concerned, to a greater or to a lesser degree, with the examination and critical analysis of this paradox of the continued existence of these societies which have been organized around the dominant ideology or policy of apartheid or separateness of human groups. This expectation has prompted me to examine selected papers submitted at the First Annual Conference of the Sociological Association of Southern Africa for clues as to the sociological insights attained by Southern African sociologists into the pervasive issues of their social orders. The Association for Sociology in Southern Africa was formed in July 1971, after a year of careful preparation. 61 Its first President is Professor S. P. Cilliers, of the University of Stellenbosch, and its first General Secretary is Homero Ferrinho of the Centro Mocam bico de Estudos Co-operation, Mocambique. Members of the Executive Council were drawn from higher institutions of learning in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Angola. Probably because of its racial policy, the first Annual General Meeting was held at the Scientific Research Institute of Mocambique, Louren~o Marques, from 26 June to 1 July 1972. It is significant to note that the grant to publish the papers presented at the Meeting was provided by the Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa Ltd., and De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd., also of South Africas Among the published papers used as references in this Report are those by sociologists from the following South African universities : Cape Town, Natal, Stellenbosch, and Witwatersrand, and from the University of Malawi, and University of Rhodesia respectively. Professor Wade C. Pendleton from California State University was the only contributor from a University outside the African

48 continent. I shall now consider first the following two papers: Some Remarks on the State of Sociology by S. P. Cilliers, first President of the Association, and The Values Problem and the Role of the Sociologist in Society: towards Humanistic Sociology, by Jan J. Loubser. Professor Cilliers Presidential Address, in which he reviewed the state of sociology, is most disappointing because it tells us nothing about the state of sociology in Southern Africa; it is rather a brilliant and sensitive assessment of the state of sociology in general. In it, there is displayed an impressive knowledge of the contributions of notable American sociologists beginning with Talcott Parsons and including Zetterberg, Robert Merton, C. Wright Mills, and more recent writers like Alvin Gouldner, Robert W. Friedrichs, and Jackson Toby. Controversial sociologists like Irving L. Horowitz were conspicuously absent, although it was admitted that the advancement of sociology as an academic and scientific discipline is dependent upon continuous critical evaluation15 and that it is most enlightening to apply the rest of the sociology of knowledge in an exposition of the development of sociology itself.66 The review, however, was also concerned with describing the internal state of our discipline as well as the status of the discipline in the public arena. Professor Cilliers could have seized the opportunity offered him to comment, at least for the benefit of sociologists in other parts of Africa, on the status of sociology in the Southern African region. The faintest hint about the attitude of the public to sociology in Southern Africa is contained in the following seemingly harmless statement: although it is rather ironical that while the main internal revolt is currently directed against alleged conservatism- the main charge from external sources is one alleged radicalism. 67 His reference to Peter Bergers article Sociology and Freedom, published in The American Sociologist (1971) helped further to crystallize the contradictory images which appear to be held of sociology in South Africa. I suggest that these statements: (1) sociology is subversive of established patterns of thought, and (2) that sociology is conservative in its implications for the institutional order, reveal more about the state of sociology in South Africa than about the state of sociology in general. In other words, this Presidential Address is more significant for what it does not say about the state of sociology in Southern Africa, and for what is said between the lines than for anything else. This is also the case for what is said, implicitly, about the reasons why young South African students take

49

discipline and their expectations of it. While Professor Cilliers Address is concerned with the state of sociology in international circles, Jan J. Loubsers paper remains closer to home. He mentioned the existence of a sociological association in Suid-Afrika, called The Suid Afrikannse Sociologiese Verenigning, and also refers to the preoccupation of several national associations with the professional ethics of sociology. His main concern is with the conflict between the so called establishment of the profession and those generally referred to as practising radical activist sociology. 68 Again, however, like Cilliers, he avoids any direct discussion of the conflict within the Republic of South Africa between establishment sociologists and the radicals. This is not to deny the importance of this paper which contains quite explicit propositions favouring the humanistic tradition in sociology. Also, one can read between the lines that the training of young South Africans in the field of sociology is such that it has probably improved their effectiveness as social critics and enhanced the validity of their criticism of social injustice in the Republic. It is also likely that the very effectiveness and validity of their critique have earned or are earning a bad name for sociology from some who now want to see an end to it, or the end to those who profess it in the Union of South Africa. How otherwise does one interpret the statement; it is small wonder that social and political injustice will tend to be intolerant of the discipline of sociology. It was not a mere personal idiosyncracy of Adolf Hitler which led to the persecution of sociologists under the Nazi
to the

Regime?69
Jan J. Loubser, however, has raised a very serious charge against sociologists in general which is particularly relevant for African sociologists. This is that it is most regrettable that so much time and energy is being devoted by sociologists to commenting in subjective vein on their colleagues and predecessors,7 while they ignore the outside world which is assailed by problems of unprecedented complexity and magnitude.&dquo; This undoubted tendency may lead in Southern Africa, and specifically in Suid Afrika and Zimbabwe, to a considerable disenchantment with sociology.

Social Issues and Social Problems

The empirical studies contained in the ASSA proceedings tell us a lot more about the social issues with which Southern African

50
are concerned than do the two theoretical papers of Cilliers and Loubser. For example, Michael Savage of the University of Witwatersrand, in his study of interlocking directorships in South Africa, reveals a great deal about the enormous, far reaching, exploitative economic and political powers of those who control the South African national economy. This study also demonstrates the potential use of Gerhard Lenskis status consistency theory in the study of the distribution of directorships within different categories of companies. This paper should be read as a companion to chapters 7 to 12 in Kwame Nkrumahs, NeoColonialism. 72

sociologists

The Last

Stage of Imperialist

B. A. Phipps paper on the process of social change in Malawi from colonial to independence times, tries to identify and describe the various types of entrepreneurs in Malawi. His generalizations may be extended to all Africa, although certain ones are now out of date for some areas. Sociologists in West Africa may find that Wade C. Pendletons Ethnicity as a factor in occupation prestige contains valuable information about the practice of apartheid in Namibia; the most obnoxious aspect being the deliberate creation of an interethnic boundary-maintenance system even within the African

population. Space does not permit a detailed review of all the other papers presented at the ASSAs first Annual General Meeting, therefore I
shall present a summary of them. These papers may be divided into (a) those with a theoretical concern, (b) those of methodological interest, and, (c) others focussing on social problems in South Africa. Papers in the last set included a study of the unification of South Africas white oligarchy which is made up of Afrikaaner and English elites respectively. This paper is, theoretically speaking, a study of structural integration. There are also studies of Jewish ethnic persistence, of the Cape Coloureds as a minority group, and a study of rural-urban migration among African females in Southern Natal. In the same set, but of a more theoretical nature, are (d) a study of the perception of personal adequacy, and (e) a social survey of anomie as a correlate of authoritarianism and ethnocentrism among 15 ethnic groups in the

Johannesburg municipality.
There
were

also two papers

on

Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) whose

51

primary emphases were on methodological skills.


was a

study of social stratification

One of the papers among African women, while

the other was concerned with the relation between aspiration and achievement among African secondary school students. Daniel J. Websters Mozambique study, of Chopi Kinship classificatory terms, stood out, both in its methodology and insight, as an important study in cognitive anthropology or the sociology of African knowledge. Finally, there were another two noteworthy papers entitled Towards a Dynamic Conception of Social Order by T. Dunbar Moodie, and Deviant or Variant? Some sociological perspectives on homosexuality and its substructure, by Brunhilde Helm, a Cape Town study of male homosexuality among the white

populace.
I should like to conclude this section on sociology in Southern Africa with an observation. There is no doubt that the sociologists in Southern Africa, as defined earlier on, are interested in a number of social issues in their apartheid social system which their colleagues in other parts of Africa should also endeavour to know about. However, there is no direct evidence of their critical confrontation with the system. Instead, rather, there appears to be a strong theoretical dependence on leading American theorists and methodologists. As the liberation movement hots up in Namibia, Zimbabwe and in Suid Afrika itself, it will be interesting to watch if sociology and sociologists will continue to enjoy the patronage of both the Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa Limited and De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited. How many sociologists will be forced to leave the country for other parts of Africa, Europe, or the USA if they discover that they must in the final analysis repudiate the ideology and policy of the South African

government?
Tunisia The Centre dEtudes et de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (CERES) of the University of Tunis is one of the most active centres for social science studies and research in Africa. Through its prestigious journal, the Revue Tunisienne de Sciences Sociales the research interests and orientations of not only those in economics but also those in linguistics, Islamic studies, and sociology are widely publicized throughout the arabophone and francophone

52 countries of Africa. The Revue also provides a respectable forum for geographers and students of literature and aesthetics, as well as those engaged in the specialized study of patrimony. The sociological cahiers include works by such as internationally known Tunisian sociologists such as Abdelwahab Bouhdiba, and Hassouna Ben Amor, and others with expatriate-sounding names such as Paul Sebag and Carmel Carmilleri. The sociological enterprise in Tunisia is based in several university departments. Among these are the Facult des Lettres CERES, CERFAG, ENA and the Ecole du Service Social, all at the University of Tunis. The sociologists, and these include anthropologists, who work at the Facult des Lettres comprise two women and three men, while those at the CERES also include representatives of both sexes. The following are the CERES sociologists: Mme Badra Bchir, Mme Naima Karoui, Hachmi Karoui, Salah Hanzaoui, Khelil Zamiti, Bechir Maaloul, Brahim Bouzaiane, and Abdelkader Zghal. Those working at the other centres are Lilia Ben Salem, Alya Baffoun, and Tahar Lebib Jedidi. For most of the sociologists listed above, it was possible to obtain a list of ongoing research projects from CERES, including work by both permanent and associate members, for 1976. Their- research topics then included the study of elites and development, social change in Saharan settlements (rural and urban communities) and in Kairouan. There was a joint study being conducted by Mrs Salah Hamzaoui and the husband and wife team Hachmi and Naima Karoui. There was also Stamboulis study of rural schizophrenia in Tunisia from the close of the World War II. This represents a sample of the ongoing research projects in the sociological division of CERES. A number of sociological works have been published over the years. The most recent was published in June 1976 (number three in a monograph series), entitled Dveloppement et le Probleme de cadres: le case de la Tunisie by Lilia Ben Salem. The first in this series of monographs appeared in 1968 and was prepared jointly by Paul Sebag, Abdelwahab Bouhdiba et al., and entitled Les Precorrditions Sociales de lindustrialisation dans la rgion de Tunis.73 The second represented the transactions of the colloquium on Identit culturelle et conscience nationale en Tunisie. I should mention two very recent articles whose titles greatly fascinate me and for which it is desirable to have English translations. These are Badra BChirs Lcombinatoire dramatique du Theatre en Tunisie, and Larabisation: probl~me ideologique by Salah Hamzaoui,

53
which appeared in the Revue Tunisienne de Sciences Sociales, Vol. 13, No. 34, 1976. In all of these and other sociological works, the tradition of scholarship was French, even though arab script is often used in the publication of works by scholars in Islamic studies. It is difficult, however, to judge the extent of French influence from the reference in the footnotes alone. It should be added here that the Tunisian government is the sole source of research funds. Lest I am guilty of an oversight, it should also be mentioned that a considerable amount of work is conducted in demography and some of these studies are concerned with various demographic aspects of life in Northern Africa since the post-war years. Despite the fact that French is the official language of sociology in Tunisia, the discipline is, I suspect, Maghrebian in outlook and involvement. By this I mean that the major social issues with which colleagues grapple in their research activities can be seen to concern not only Tunisia but other countries in that northwestern corner of which Andrew Boyd and Patrick van Rensburg described Africa as the relatively fertile coastal belt, 2,600 miles long and, except in Morocco, seldom more than 100 miles wide. They share an Arab-Berber configuration of culture. Boyd and van Rensburg have grouped Tunisia, Lybia, Algeria, Nlorocco, Spanish Sahara, Mauritania, and Ifni under the Maghreb. Tunisia now belongs to the Organization of African Unity, modern Tunisia having gained its independence from France on 20 March 1956. When, therefore, we try to conceptualize sociology in Tunisia from a distance, we can, at least, do so within the context of both its geographical and cultural dimensions. Even though economic and social factors are common to a number of countries in the Maghrab there are certain aspects of the internal economic, cultural and social structure which are peculiar to Tunisia. Nevertheless, of greater importance are the historical impacts of contacts with other powers which have served to shape Tunisian civilization: the French in the recent past, the Arabs and Islam in remoter times, and before them, the Romans, who were themselves preceded by the Greeks and Pheonicians. All these factors, in addition to contacts through trade with Kano and other historic centres of trade in what are now Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, and Chad in the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, are the formative elements of Tunisian society today. They are the building blocks of Tunisian society of whose statics and dynamics, in the Comtean sense of these terms,
-

54

contemporary sociology is attempting to uncover. The highest Tunisian institution of learning, the Universit de Tunis which is the seat of the sociological enterprise, reflects the historico-cultural dimensions of Maghrebian civilization by being a member of both the Association of African Universities and, at the same time, an active member of LAssociation des Universifs Arabes. Significantly membership in the latter organization includes universities from Jordan, Beyrout, Bagdad, and Khartoum, to mention but a few Middle-Eastern universities. Members of these universities have been studying ways and means of exchanging staff, students and teaching methods, and the coordination of research where possible. In this section of this Report there is obviously a definite gap in our knowledge about sociology qua sociology, in the arab-speaking region. One would like to know the content and orientation of sociological training at the University of Tunis, what degree programmes exist, what textbooks are used, how many chairs of sociology exist if any, and the academic backgrounds of the lecturers and professors who are sociologists. Until this and other information is provided by Tunisian sociologists themselves, the scope of this section of the Report must be considered as inadequate.

SOCIOLOGY AND UNESCOs ACTIVITIES IN AFRICA

This part of the Trend Report is a brief but bold incursion,into an aspect whch may rightly be regarded by some readers as tangential to the Report. Yet I have the feeling that a Trend Report on sociology in Africa today is incomplete without some discussion of UNESCOs efforts to make a significant contribution to the development of the discipline in Africa. Now, to do this is not an easy task because of the complex structure of the delivery system for UNESCOs intellectual, moral and financial support to social scientists in general, and to those in Africa in particular. For example, it is possible to trace the impetus for sociological development in Africa from UNESCO through the International Sociological Associations (ISA) Executive Committee, congresses, and research committees. Whenever an African

55 in the activities of any ISA congress or in to be a direct or an indirect beneficiary of UNESCOs support. William M. Evan, of the USA, in a paper delivered before the Special Session on Sociology in UNESCO and International Organizations at the World Congress of Sociology, Toronto, August 1974, observed how a content analysis of the papers presented at ISA World Congresses between 1953 and 1966 reveals several indices of the internationalization of subject matter, authorship, citations, et cetera. Among the authors, citations and subjects were some which represented different sections of Africa. Such representation has been made possible by UNESCOs policy of contributing to those international organizations in which African participation may be mere tokenism, but it is a tokenism which often too has far reaching, unanticipated, but beneficial consequences for sociology or the social sciences in general. Consequent upon the increasing participation of African social scientists in international conferences, UNESCO has taken a bolder step forward with different resolutions designed to develop social science in Third World countries by working through National Commissions. Unfortunately, certain National Commissions have sometimes failed to live up to the expectations of UNESCO, Paris, or of the local sociologists, when it comes to liaising between the local social scientists and the Paris headquarters in matters affecting financial support of national or regional conferences, or the publication of conference proceedings. This is because, more often than not, the officials at some National Commissions, though good administrators per se, are primarily civil servants trained in disciplines other than sociology, economics or allied social sciences. There is the fact too that the offices of some National UNESCO Commissions are located in the capitals of African nations and are generally inaccessible to the social science departments of universities which are established in provincial towns or on entirely new locations in the hinterland. The point being made is that it is not in all African countries that sociologists, or other social scientists for that matter, benefit maximally from UNESCOs activities in Africa through the National Commissions of member countries. There are constraining factors, such as the particular style of local civil service bureaucracy, the academic backgrounds and interests of the staff at the World National Commission, and the particular preferences of the ministry

sociologist participates
any of its

sub-bodies, that sociologist is likely

56

within which the Commission may be located. Another avenue of indirect UNESCO assistance to sociology in Africa is the International Social Science Council (ISSC) whose activities are, in part, financed by UNESCO. Recently, in 1974, a Committee on World Social Science Development was established by the General Assembly of the ISSC to review conditions and infrastuctures for social science research in the Third World and to prepare specific projects across three continents: Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Although this project was successfully launched in 1975, there are no clear and immediate pay-offs for sociology in Africa. However, one of the most encouraging statements came from the late Professor Stein Rokkan, the previous President of the ISSC. He said,
The interdisciplinary programme of the ISSC can only be developed in close consultation with the social science sector of UNESCO. lt is essential that the two programmes be co-ordinated to ensure maximal multiplication effects. The ISSC programme must of necessity reflect a greater concern with the health and growth of the social sciences as intellectual enterprises in their own right, while UNESCO obeying the instructions of Member Governments, will be more inclined to treat the social sciences as arsenals of tools to be used in its efforts to promote socioeconomic and cultural development. 74

not all member Governof UNESCO regard the social sciences as relevant arsenals of tools to be used in efforts at social development, nor is it universally the case that sociology is even perceived as a tool at all. While, therefore, agreeing that the establishment of a distinctive social science section within UNESCO is highy commendable, perhaps the time has now come when thought should be given to its subdivision into complimentary departments of economics, geography, sociology, anthropology, social psychology and history. Such a sub-divsion, despite the potential problem of unnecessary competition within the social science sector, may nevertheless facilitate the earmarking of specific funds to each discipline by National Commissions. As one approaches the regional level, there is another indirect manner in which the social science sector of UNESCO may prove to be of help to sociology in Africa. That is, by convincing member-governments of the importance of establishing a National Social Science Council which can harness local social science talent and provide some leadership in the applied sphere or in relation to

However, it should be remembered that

ments

57 the constitutive disciplines. In this respect the Centre for Coordination of Research and Documentation in Social Science for Sub-Saharan Africa (CERDAS), under the directorship of Professor Bongoy Mkepesa in Kinshasa, Zaire (as well as the CODESRIA) have far reaching influences to exert on behalf of UNESCO. Already these two institutions which are becoming more widely known throughout the anglophonic regions of Africa may find themselves being called upon to undertake innovative roles on behalf of UNESCO member-countries. It is very encouraging to note that those two organizations are seeking ways and means of contributing effectively to the intellectual and organizational activities of national sociological associations. It is hoped that UNESCO, or similar agencies, can make funds available to a few scholars located in different universities or research institutes of Africa, every year, for the purpose of financing their trips to these centres. The benefits to both the scholars and the centres would undoubtedly be incalculable.

6 SOME PROBLEMS OF COMMUNICATING AND DIFFUSING SOCIAL SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE

The scope and effectiveness of the media by which African sociologists communicate and share ideas and research findings command attention in a Report of this nature.There is no doubt whatsoever that African social scientists in general seek various outlets for their ideas or works within and outside their own countries, as well as outside the continent of Africa. What are the types of book publishing houses and publishing bodies of learned social science journals available in African countries today? From which disciplines are these journals run? What are the objectives which the journals and publishers pursue? We need to know something too about the readership and periodicity of publication for the

learned journals.

58

Publishing

of Books and Learned Journals


z

In a forthcoming article being prepared for the International Social Science Journal (ISSJ) by this writer, an attempt will be made to investigate some of the problems encountered by social science editors as they seek publication outlets for their colleagues. When published, it is hoped that it will provide useful information and insights into other social science journals in neighbouring West African countries where few social science journals exist. With respect to the publishing of books, there are four or so, major types of bookpublishing houses in most African countries to which sociologists may turn for the publication of their works: university presses, government-owned presses, foreign-owned presses, and indigenous, privately-owned publishing houses. These types of establishments differ in objectives and in financial and manpower capabilities. Even if the existing presses can and are willing to accept manuscripts dealing with social science subjects, there is the real problem of obtaining suitable manuscripts from university social scientists. Some local publishers complain that African scholars, by and large, are simply not making enough effort to come forward with manuscripts fit for the market. They further allege that African social scientists seem not to have new ideas to develop, or if they do, they have not the time and incentive to devote to the development of those ideas in written form. They attribute this to the large amount of time spent in African universities, especially in those following British traditions of administration, on committee work, such as membership of senate, interfaculty boards, faculty boards, departmental ad hoc committees and also in giving service to the nation.

The Mass Media

media as another outlet for academics also syphons off of the creative moments of sociologists in certain countries. This is particularly true of controversies over public issues. Quite often on such occasions, university men, especially social scientists, are invited to speak at the shortest notice. Unfortunately, the media give the impression that social scientists share a group point of view and use the same set of concepts, language, and style of presentation of ideas. They also give the public a false impression that
mass some

The

59

university people are those with book knowledge alone, and this in turn serves to portray African social scientists as having no ideas of their own outside what the whiteman tells them in books about themselves and their country, or to present their views as being of little relevance to the local problems which affect the lives of the masses of people living outside the academic community.
the Universities

Pre-empting
some

the mass media, of the finest minds in many nations of Africa, today, are to be found in the universities. Certainly the social sciences and Arts have their fair share of them. One hard fact is, ironically, the disproportionate value placed by African University authorities upon publication for publications sake, and the seeming lack of appreciation of those who are, first and foremost, good teachers. There is no indication of any appreciation of the dilemma faced by those who combine together teaching, administration, and research. Yet it is the creative University Lecturer, the dedicated Senior Lecturer, and the experienced Professor who together devote their talents to the training of the much needed manpower produced by the universities on whom many African governments

Despite the unfortunate impressions given through

place

very

high premium.

It is from the same group of intellectual workers, especially social scientists, that some African governments draw men and women for top level posts in the ministeries concerned with internal and external affairs. From this group there is also a certain amount of brain drain into the various branches of the private sector. Given both of these factors replacement is not occurring fast enough.

Social Science Journalism and the Numbers Game


The style of social science journalism in some African countries often creates moral dilemmas for the sociologists of those nations with respect to communication and the diffusion of knowledge. Of course, this is not confined to our discipline. Indeed, it is a widespread dilemma facing African scholars regardless of discipline and field of specialization. The dilemma arises from the universal pressure to publish or perish which impels the academic

60

play the numbers game and acquiesce to a widespread use of the double standard in assessing ones own work and that of ones colleagues. The unfortunate and shameful truth is that every one playing the numbers and standards games knows deep down that when a colleague is described as having not published enough, or has published an impressive number of papers which lack a focus, or that certain publications are not quality papers, or when book reviews and review essays are described as not counting as publications, one is either acting against ones own conscience or operating as a killer of dreams. The consequence of this for those who want to get ahead at all costs within the academic community is a resort to sycophancy and kow towing in order to smooth their pathway to promotion. In a situation of such pervasive deception and occasional arm twisting, attention and value are not placed first and foremost upon originality of ideas. A university don who deviates from the prevailing and traditional role played in the search for professional honour and recognition, may find himself or herself being regarded as a controversial figure or a non-conformist in relation to those who are in position to pronounce on that dons competence. The playing-out of the role of he-who-can-pronounce-on-competence, again obeys the double standard where assessment of publications is concerned. One who is elevated to pronounce on another persons competence is invited to serve temporarily on a selection panel. On another occasion, his colleagues may be invited to serve on a panel set up to pronounce upon his competence. This is often the case when prospects of advancement or stagnation are in the balance. The composition of the panel and the unwritten rules about what is said are a good set of cues by which an individual facing a panel can predict whether or not he will be declared to have performed well at interview. It is highly probable that it is because of the continuing importance of the oral tradition in most parts of Africa that such significance is placed upon The Interview as a vital tool of the Selection Panel in deciding what judgement to pronounce on the life work of an individual scholar. Many African sociologists therefore have perfected the art of interviewing well, for promotion or appointment. Woe betide anyone coming before the Selection Panel who allows himself or herself to be ruffled by some of the questions put to him at an interview, no matter how brilliant he may be or how deep is his understanding of his discipline. The lato

61
tent function of The Interview

is, from my point of view, to reinprevailing belief that he-who-interviews-well is the most knowledgeable in his field, and that both he-who-mustpronounce as well as he-who-must-bear-witness-to-thepronouncements together possess the wisdom of village elders, although it may be obvious that both groups lack the humanistic principles followed by elders in a village convocation.
force the

Why African Sociologists Communicate Poorly

to Each Other

These then are some of the major forces that act as constraints on full and effective communication and diffusion of sociological work in Africa, especially the work of university scholars. These forces have also produced the phenomenon which Robert H. Thouless in his book, Straight and Crooked Thinking7&dquo; calls habits of thought and prejudices ,76 both of which work by force of suggestion, acting on the minds and individual habits of work of African

sociologists.
inclined to think that this is the case for Nigerian and I imagine it may be similar for those in other African countries where such conditions also prevail. Because of this, African social scientists may therefore be forced to develop habits which discourage them from pursuing the highest and best in their intellectual activities in their bid to meet the demands of promotional expediency. In my judgement, this kind of expendiecy in the affairs of knowledge building ensures the non-cultivation of a proper perspective on social processes, social issues, social problems and other social phenomena which constitute the subject matters of sociology. The pursuit of promotion qua promotion as an end in itself in academic affairs may make us see the true worth of our colleagues but it also inclines us to enthrone mediocrity by choice. Indeed Syed Hussein Atalas is correct, when he said of the Third World that the higher institutions of learning in fact promote the increasing influence of the captive mind. 7-1,
am

sociologists,

62
7 CONCLUSION

the end of this Report, I recall an observation made by Irving Louis Horowitz of Rutgers University, United States of America, in a preface to a collection of papers, submitted by a group of American colleagues, on Sociological Images, which he edited for publication in a special issue of the American Behavioural Scientist, a decade ago. He remarked that: As I
come to

This set of papers on sociological self images has had a large scale impact on me. Little did I know that in requesting a set of answers to a battery of biographical questions the results would be as close to an informal methodological guidebook as anything currently extant in the social science literature.78

The impact on me of this Report on sociology in Africa today has been to leave me with a deep feeling of appreciation for the immense efforts being made by African and non-African sociologists all over Africa to establish the discipline as a natural element of our intellectual life, in the face of many fundamental problems and stringent constraints. Among these problems the main one is how to make sociology reflect sufficient of the intellectual and social reality of Africa so that it can truly be called an African sociology. African and non-African sociologists alike attempt to tackle this problem according to their mental and emotional dispositions. Some regardless of nationality, take a phenomenological-cumlinguistic approach to the understanding, explanation, and manipulation of social reality. Others, believing in the adequacy of existing concepts and theories in sociology today seek their refinement, whilst studying various social problems and issues of their choice. Unlike Horowitz, very few, if any are giving a great deal of thought to the question What do you consider to be the most uniquely defining characteristics of your way of doing sociology?, although they are busy doing sociology in both the technical and intellect ual senses .&dquo;9 At both levels of doing sociology, Africans show that they are more influenced by North American sociologists for whom they show far greater respect than they demonstrate towards their own colleagues. In the substantive field of demography, British and Australian sociologists command more of the admiration and

63

respect of African sociologists. Classical writers, like August Comte, Durkheim and Weber, continue to be relevant whenever African

clarify for others and for themselves their own In this connection, certain contemporary writers like Alvin Gouldner, Neil F. Smelser, 1. L. Horowitz, and A. Etzioni are frequently cited too. However, in relation to radical sociology, it is Karl Marx, Lenin, Mao Tse Tsung, African revolutionaries living or dead, such as Amilcar Cabral, Franz Fanon, Agostino Neto, and to a less extent today Sekou Toure, who are accorded recognition. Kwame Nkurumah is now receiving some attention but probably not by very many writers. It is gratifying to note that in Nigeria, at least, a few African sociologists are beginning to pay attention to the work of their own colleagues, such as K. de Graft Johnson in Ghana and Ikenna Nzimiro in Nigeria, even if it is only to register strong disagreement with them. Otherwise the painful truth is that African sociologists are woefully ignorant of the excellent work being done by their colleagues both inside and outside their own countries. An important reason for this is the fact that African sociologists are either anglophonic, arabophonic, or francophonic in the language they use for professional communication. The seriousness of this problem does not yet seem to have registered fully even at the Council of Vice-Chancellors of African Universities, let alone at the level of national professional
to

sociologists seek ideal of society.

sociological associations.
previously aware of (or had insufficient time to to) the excellent studies in the sociology of rural development produced in Tunisia, the diverse and exciting writings of Zairean sociologists and the mine of ethnosociological works accumulated at the University of Abidjan, or the problem of being a sociologist in an extremely exploitative, capitalist and racialist nation-state as is the Republic of South Africa. It has taken the writing of this Report to bring me to understand the importance of the sociology of civilizations, which Anouar AbdelMalek has, without much success it seems, been endeavouring to develop within the International Sociological Association. I wonder how many other African sociologists are in the same predicament as I now find myself? Another of the reasons for the mutual ignorance among African sociologists is most probably due to the fact that the power elites of African universities, in their obsession with acceptability and inwas not

I, for one,

pay proper attention

ternational standards

are

forcing

the creative minds of both

64
younger and older scholars away from their real calling. Unless there is a change in the sociological perspective towards a looking-

from-within approach, present day African scholars will not escape the indictment of future generations of social scientists. For too long the power-elite among African academics has paid nothing but lip-service to making knowledge relevant to African reality. For the time being, giving lip-service has become the proper thing to do, but we are slowly beginning to know ourselves by the fruits of our individual works. In some African countries, especially where education is under the control of central government, the insistence that academics put their main emphasis on the applied aspects of their discipline has led to a form of anti-intellectualism. This denies Horowitzs useful tennet that a fruitful mind empowered by a complex culture can get on further than enculturated mindlessness, lacking in rich preconceptions. 10 Consequently, as Professor K. E. De Graft Johnson of Ghana, has discerned there has developed even among the African intelligentsia a form of fictive thinking, in the Comtean sense, which one would not normally expect to find among university-trained minds, and its effects are strongly felt in university politics, especially in West Africa.12 There is a good lesson for us to learn, in this connection, from the efforts of Polish sociologists. According to Christopher G. A. Bryant, the Poles have had a continuing involvement in theoretical sociology which enabled them to provide their own theoretical framework for the conduct of research and the interpretation of its

findings.&dquo; By not allowing themselves to be disillusioned by antiintellectualism and party ideologues, they eventually succeeded in producing a macro-sociology of Poland, i.e. an account of the development of the national social structure [that not only] does not correspond to party beliefs or policy [but also] amounts to an implicit criticism of those beliefs and policies. 84 I must be careful to add here, knowing full well our readiness to imitate what others have created, that in saying that the Polish development of macro-sociology represents a good example to us, I do not mean by this that we should wait until socialist states have been created all over Africa before we begin the hard work of producing macro-sociologies of our respective societies. What I mean is that we must endeavour to cultivate a comparable attitude of mind and devotion to the sociological enterprise which can eventually lead us to the formulation of various suitable concepts and theories for understanding and explaining our societies, regardless

65

of the changing political climate and the prevailing social structure,

ideology, or absence of ideology. As a prerequisite of this, however, we must fulfil a self-imposed obligation to work on a conceptualization of human society (of the
man and of human behaviour) that reflect African and world views. But in doing so, I do not believe that we need to draw our inspiration from the period of European Englightenment or stage a drama of clashing philosophies as was the case in the development of Positivism as a scientific philosophy in nineteenth century Europe; nor do we need to wait for urbanization and industrialization to be fully established before we become acutely sensitive to our society and the social ills which confront us all over Africa today. There are social upheavals of one sort or another, there is history in abundance, and rapid social change brought about by interventionist economic planning. These are surely sufficient to challenge our intellectual capabilities and humanistic concerns to a point at which we will come up with African sociological matrices, incorporating a distinctive constellation of values, axioms, concepts, methods, and basic theories. These will constitute the object world of sociology in a particular way and point up the work which still needs to be done. Here then is the principal

nature of

challenge.
The

Opium

of the African

Intelligentsia

One extremely important consequence of this situation is that African sociologists, particularly outside Southern Africa, find themselves impelled by the traditions of their universities and the policies of their governments, to ignore the essential unity amidst diversity which is the sine qua non of scientific work - a fact which African artists have long ago realized in their own milieux. Hence the concentration on acceptance by and integration with Europe or America, hence the absence of critical awareness in social science writings and the corresponding amount of imitation found there. African sociologists, as members of the intelligentsia, emerge from this Report as being un-alienated from their respective homelands, despite their opposition to the bourgeoisie and inclination to radicalism15 and despite the position of cultural symbiosis in which Zygmunt Komorowski argues that the African intelligentsia finds itself. They possess to an amazing degree many of the

66

characteristics of the ideal type intelligentsia which Raymond Aron 16 has identified; in particular their attitude toward politics, their relationship to the ruling class, their readiness to engage in moral and technical of the social order, as well as criticism their tendency to resort to trade union tactics when their professional interests are threatened. However, African social scientists differ essentially from their European counterparts in their inability to demonstrate a capacity to construct African modes of explanation, relevant to their daily preoccupations as social scientists in their homelands, as sociologists in Europe and North America have done for their own countries. Nevertheless, sociology is not only a plant alive everywhere, to borrow the vivid metaphor of the Spanish sociologist, Amendo de Miguel of the University of Valencia,87 it is also a tree which, like the eucalyptus that was transplanted to Nairobi in Kenya, will grow in the years to come into a tall and strong tree of knowledge with a sturdy trunk and roots which penetrate even the African soil. By soil, here, I mean metaphorically the higher institutions of learning in Africa and the minds of the men and women who make sociology their calling on this continent. Meanwhile, African sociologists must assume and carry out the responsibilities of tropicalizing the transplanted tree before it can grow in this way. This means nurturing its survival so that it can become acclimatized to the varied societies in which it has been introduced. Nurturing involves actively investing the best of our ideas, thought and theories, and working carefully and strenuously to understand the discipline as a system of knowledge about mans patterns of organized and purposeful living. Only thus can we ensure that sociology is truely universal and only thus can it be shown to make sense to the rest of our non-westernized (or westernizing) fellow men and fellow women. This is a two-way process in which sociology in turn will benefit from the languages and concepts used in African systems of thought. At this stage of husbanding sociology, African sociologists appear, by and large, to be ignoring the sharply focussed and vital images which emerge in their minds as they perceive, recognize and explain the social realities that confront them daily, for they undertake sociology in a much more intellectual and technical vein. In their sociological work they give preference to the blurred images brought to their minds by European languages and concepts which they use for the study of social reality. It seems we can hardly help
-

67
but do so, because if we are to be accepted by the university powerelite, who see the international standard as the hallmark of intellectual achievement, we must be seen to be scientific, that is to demonstrate, in the words of Robert A. Nisbet, the hard analysis that rigorous thought requires .8&dquo; Now hard analysis or rigorous analysis as it is sometimes called, is often nothing more than an ability to string sociological jargon together to form what is then called a paradigm or model of the social reality being studied; empiricism, as a methodology of investigation, then enables the sociologist to produce a logical and linguistic analysis of the object of study and to advance such postulates and propositions as are suggested by the paradigm or model. Finally, if true African sociologies, nurtured by African minds in and outside the institutions of higher learning, are to emerge, then those who profess sociology in Africa may have to re-orient the discipline to African reality through an integrated system of conceptual schemes, theories, and methodological techniques drawn up in relation to both African and European thought-ways and social practices. I should like to bring this Report to a definite close by making the following observations. Firstly, the essential aim throughout has been to convey information, notwithstanding the fact that I have deliberately permitted my own judgements to enter at certain points. My basic concern has been to present verifiable facts about the state of the sociological enterprise in certain parts of Africa. However, in assessing the worth of this Report, factual criteria should not be used alone because any such exercise must fall short of them: it is utterly impossible to give a full and detailed account of what transpires among sociologists at the official and unofficial levels of the profession in any one country. What I have done throughout, except perhaps in the case of my own country, Nigeria, is to let my imagination work with the limited facts, to fill in the gaps, and to employ verstehen in relation to my colleagues whose work I may be reviewing at a given time. Third, it is quite evident that for many years to come the fortunes of the disciplines of sociology in African are very closely tied-up with the future of the various universities of Africa where it is firmly lodged. This is because as Alvin W. Gouldner has noted, intellectual tendencies do not develop in a social vacuum.89 In this context, Sir Eric Ashby has given a masterly description of the con-

68

ditions which will give rise

to

African academic sociologies in

statu nascendi. In summary these are (a) the inevitable change which must come upon African universities in the same manner
came upon universities in the USA, when they changed radically from their English beginnings in response to the social, cultural, and political habits of the American people, namely an adaptation of African university institutions to the cultural climates of the societies in which they are located: (b) changes in the government and administration of university institutions which will involve a definite restructuring of the curriculum so that African social thought, social organization, and history become core subjects and are not merely listed as options. These internal changes, Ashby maintained, will not be made whilst simultaneously sustaining an unswerving loyalty to international standards of scholarship, a continued responsibility for helping to provide the men who build nations in West Africa, and an onging role as a spearhead of change in the community.90

that it

Sociology will have to meet some of the same conditions that Sir Eric Ashby spelt out for the universities in general: indeed the discipline itself is one of the agencies by which change in the curriculum and response to the cultural climate will come about. However, although one may agree with Sir Eric on the need to maintain unswerving loyalty to international standards of sociological scholarship, it should nevertheless be made very clear that the means whereby this loyalty is maintained will never be such that the elite among the university intelligentsia, who dominate the reward systems, can use it to destroy true intellectual91 contributions which push forward new frontiers of knowledge and which do not necessarily coincide with the tradition inherited from British, French, American or other university systems. Fourthly, the learned social science journals offer African sociologists a very good opportunity to set their own editorial and intellectual standards. A criterion for judging the worth of a learned journal should not be where it is published, but whether it succeeds in performing the difficult task of communicating and diffusing social science throughout different parts of Africa, i.e. whether those who come into contact with it are convinced that the articles carried are worth the time spent in reading them. There is no reason why African editors cannot be innovative by, for instance, publishing articles in any of the written local languages alongside those written in English or French.

69

Fifthly, and lastly, African sociologists only stand to gain from and to contribute better by continuing in the intellectual tradition of writers like Edward W. Blyden, S. P. Danquah, Henry Carr, J. Sarbah to mention but a few of those who challenged the pronouncements on man, culture, and society in Africa made by European writers of earlier decades or centuries. Furthermore, it will be no loss to sociology if we perpetuate the different philosophical spirits of African traditional thought and Islamic religion in our quest for a more universal knowledge of the nature of man and of the living human group.

Notes
1. Paul F. Lazarsfield, Main Trends in Sociology. London. Allen & Unwin, 1970. 2. Peter C. Ludz, Focus on Human Behavior, Bildung und Wissenschaft, No. 10-7(A): 151-156. 3. Pierre L. Van Den Berghe, Africa, Social Problems of Change and Conflict. San Francisco, Chandler, 1965. 4. E. E. Evans-Pritchard et al., The Institutions of Primitive Society. Oxford, Blackwell, 1954. 5. Ibid. 6. Christopher G. A. Bryant, Sociology in Action: A Critique of Selected Conceptions of the Social Role of the Sociologist. London. Allen & Unwin, 1976. 7. E. E. Evans-Pricthard, et al., The Institutions of Primitive Society. Op. cit. 8. Ibid. 9. Ibid. 10. Howard W. Odum, American Sociology: The Story of Sociology in the United States through 1950. New York. Longmans, Green and Co., 1951. 11. W. Cartey & M. Kilson, The African Reader: Independent Africa. New York. Random House, 1970. 12. Ibid. 13. Ibid. 14. Ibid. 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid. 17. Syed Hussein Alatas, The Captive Mind and Creative Development, International Social Science Journal (UNESCO, Paris) (4), 1974: 691-700. 18. W. Cartey & M. Kilson, The African Reader: Independent Africa. Op. cit.

19. Ibid. 20. Ibid. 21. Ibid.

70
22. Pierre Van Den

Berghe, Africa, Social Problems of Change and Conflict. Op.

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Andrew Boyd & Patrick Van Rensberg, An Atlas of African Affairs. New Praeger, 1962. 27. Benjamin C. Ray, African Religions: Symbol , Ritual and Community. Prentice-Hall, 1976. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 28. Ibid. 29. Zdenek Cesvenka, The Organization of African Unity & its Charter. London. C. Hurst and Co., 1969. 30. M. Finagnon Oke, Personal Communication. 31. Banji Ogundele, Kerekou and his hot seat of politics, Sunday Times (Lagos, Nigeria). 20 February 1977. 32. University of Abidjan, Rapport pour la Commission des programmes du Ministre de la Recherche Scientifique de la République de la Côte dIvoire: Activités et Programmes de lInstitut dEthnosociologie. March 1973. 33. Bulletin of African Universities 1 (1), 1974. 34. Ibid. 35. Ibid. 36. Zdenek Cervenka, The Organization of African Unity and its Charter. Op. cit. 37. Bulletin of African Universities 1 (1), 1974. 38. Ezzat Hegazy, Chapter 23 in: Ray P. Mohan and Don Martindale (eds.) Handbook of Contemporary Developments in World Sociology. Illinois. Greenwood, 1975: 379-390. 39. Tom Bottomore, Marxist Sociology. London. Macmillan, 1975. 40. Ibid. 41. Ezzat Hegazy, Chapter 23 in Ray P. Mohan and Don Martindale (eds.), Handbook of Contemporary Developments in World Sociology. Op. cit: 388. 42. See Bibliography, item number 74. 43. See Bibliography, item number 113. 44. K. K. Prah, The crisis in Ghananian Sociology continues a critique of Social Science in Ghana. Paper presented at the Tenth Annual Conference of the Ghana Sociological Association, 2-5 April 1976, Legon. 15pp. 45. See Bibliography, item No. 113. 46. Papers read at the Tenth Annual Conference of the Ghana Sociological Association, 2-5 April 1976, Legon. (Unpublished.) Kofi Agyeman, Sociology of Development and obstacles to the development of sociology, 8p. Ansa Asamoah, Strategies in development and planning, 11 p. Max Assimeng, Sociology in Ghana: Context and Institutionalization, 42p. K. N. Bame, Some sociological variations which need attention in development support communications: examples from a Ghanaian Family Planning Study, 11p. Eugenia Date-Bah, Professional Drivers in Ghana: Preliminary findings, 10p. E. E. Ekong, Africanizing the A case for relevance, 16p. Inya A. Eteng, Africanist Sociological Enterprise "Nobel Savage" Model of West African Development: A Critical Evaluation", 38p. K. de Graft-Johnson, Fictive thinking and social development, 8p. E. H. Mends, The Sociological relevance of a nineteenth century nationalist: J. M. Sarbah, 9p. Ebow Mensah, "On the evitability of instability, 21p. D. N. A. Nortey,
—
—

cit. 23. 24. 25. 26. York.

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New Dimensions of crime, 10p. T. O. Odetola, Social Science Research: National Development and public policy in Africa, 18p. O. Olorumtimehin, The Sociologist the case of Nigeria, 16p. and the national development plan 47. See previous note. 48. H. K. Aryeampong (ed.), Journey to Independence and After C. J. B. Danquahs letters (1947-48), Vol. 1. Accra. Presbyterian Press. 1970. 49. Personal communication from J. A. K. Kandawire, Department of Human Behavior, University of Malawi. 50. Kofi Agyeman, Sociology of Development and obstacles to the development of sociology. Op. cit. 51. University of Abidjan, Rapport pour la Commission de Programmes. Op.
—

cit. 52. Akinsola A. Akiwowo, Chapter 24 in Ray P. Mohan and Don Martindale (eds.) Handbook of Contemporary Development in World Sociology. Illinois. Greenwood, 1975: 391-407. 53. See Bibliography, item number 20. 54. Ikenna Nazimiro, Studies in Ibo Political Systems: Chieftaincy and Politics in Four Niger States. Berkeley. University of California Press, 1972. 55. See Bibliography, item number 42. 56. See Bibliography, item number 63. 57. See Bibliography, item number 57. 58. See Bibliography, item number 26. 59. Inya A. Eteng, Report of the Proceedings of the 1973 Nsukka Conference of the Nigerian Anthropological and Sociological Association (NASA), 5-7 December 1973. 32p. 60. Bulletin of African Universities 1 (1), 1974. 61. Anthony F. C. Wallace, The Psychic Unity of the Human Group. Evanston, Illinois. Row Peterson, n.d. 62. Ibid. 63. Association for Sociologists in Southern Africa, ASSA Sociology Southern Africa 1973; Papers from the First Congress of the ASSA. Durban. Printed by University of Natal [1973]. 64. Kwame Nkrumah, Neo-Colonialism, The Last Stage of Imperialism. London and Edinburgh. Nelson, 1965. 65. Association for Sociologists in South Africa, ASSA Sociology Southern Africa 1973; Papers. Op. cit. 66. Ibid. 67. Ibid. 68. Ibid. 69. Ibid. 70. Ibid. 71. Ibid. 72. Kwame Nkrumah, Nen-Colonialism. Op. cit. 73. M. Abdel-Wahab of the Centre dEtudes et de Recherches Economiques et

Sociales, personal communication.


74. International Social Science Council, The draft programme of UNESCO for 1977-78. Paris. 75. Robert H. Thouless, Straight and Crooked Thinking. London and Sydney. Pan Books, 1974.

72
76. According to Thouless, our habit of thoughts and prejudices are somewhat similar: the first are those directions which our thoughts normally and habitually take, while the second are those ways of thinking which are predetermined by strong emotional forces in their favour, by self interest (real or supposed), by social Robert H. Thouless, involvements with ones own or alien groups, and so on ibid: 128. More relevant is the whole of Chapter 10, Habits of thought, pp. 127-143. See also Syed Hussein Alatas, The Captive Mind and Creative Development, op. cit: 694. Professor Alatas has a more detailed and thoughtprovoking work on intellectuals in ex-colonial developing societies today in his new book, Intellectuals in Developing Societies. London. Frank Cass, 1977. 139p. This book is recommended to all African sociologists at home or overseas. 77. Syed Hussein Alatas, The Captive Mind and Creative Development. Op. cit. 78. Irving Louis Horowitz, Mind, Methodology and Macrosociology, American Behavioural Scientist 12 (1), September-October 1968: 14-18. 79. Ibid. 80. Ibid. 81. In his short but closely argued eight page paper Fictive Thinking and Social Development, delivered before the tenth Annual Conference of the Ghana Sociological Society, Professor K. E. de Graft Johnson concludes thus: I have sought somewhat sketchily to demonstrate that there are prevalent in our society forms of thinking and conduct that are neither scientific nor logical, that such thinking influences significant areas of national life. Such fictive thinking is not restricted to illiterate or untutored people. Indeed it is more glaring among highly educated persons because the explanation for their conduct or thought cannot be attributed to their ignorance of the underlying scientific facts (Page 7). 82. Ibid. 83. Christopher G. A. Bryant, Sociology in Action. Op. cit. 84. Ibid. 85. Aleksander Gella (ed.), The Intelligentsia and Intellectuals. London and California. Sage for the ISA, 1976. 86. Raymond Aron, The Opium of the Intellectual. New York. Norton, 1962. 87. Tom Bottomore (ed.), Contention in Sociology. London and California. Sage for the ISA, 1975. 88. Robert A. Nisbet, Social Change and History, Aspects of the Western Theory of Development. Oxford and New York. OUP, 1969. 89. Alvin W. Gouldner, The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology. London. Heinemann, 1977. 90. I find in writing this conclusion, that the paper entitled The Functions of West African Universities, as originally presented by Sir Eric Ashby, still contains, after a decade and a half, some very pertinent ideas about the conditions which will have to pertain if the prime task of making universities in West Africa into West African Universities is to be achieved. This paper was presented at the seminar on Inter-University co-operation in West Africa, held in Freetown, Sierra-Leone, 11-16 December 1961 and published in the volume entitled The West African Intellectual Community, by Ibadan University Press, 1972. More recently two eminent West Africans have updated Sir Erics points, in the light of their experiences after 1962, in two public lectures delivered during the Tenth Anniversary Celebrations of the University of Ife, October 1973. The first was a University Vice-Chancellor and the second a top civil service administrator. Their ideas have subsequently been publish—

Crisis and

73
ed in expanded form: see Dr Alex A. Kwapong, Problems of University Administration in a Developing Society. Ibadan University of Ife Press, 1973; and Dr Peter T. O. Odumosu, Government and University in a Developing Society, Ibadan, University of Ife Press. 91. Syed Hussein Alatas, Intellectuals in Developing Societies. Op. cit.

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