{"id":45991,"date":"2018-11-15T12:18:55","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T20:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=45991"},"modified":"2018-11-15T12:18:55","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T20:18:55","slug":"consultant-or-researcher-the-dilemma-of-young-academics-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/consultant-or-researcher-the-dilemma-of-young-academics-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Consultant or researcher? The dilemma of young academics in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nHow to respond to requirements that arise from the provision of knowledge in contexts where requests for technical expertise in health or medical intervention are increasing?<\/span><\/p>\n

In June 2018, at the West African Research Center (WARC) in Dakar, we presented for the first time our collective book\u00a0<\/span>Tu seras docteur.e mon enfant<\/span><\/em><\/a>\u00a0, in the presence of Professor Laurent Vidal, author of\u00a0<\/span>Faire de l’anthropologie: sant\u00e9, science and development<\/span><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(La D\u00e9couverte editions, 2010).<\/span><\/p>\n

Among us, a young doctor in sociology confessed with a pinch of bitterness that he would have liked to “continue” at the university, but that he was no less “proud” to be a consultant for a large non-governmental organization :<\/span><\/p>\n

“The constraints are not the same.\u00a0We work with imposed terms of reference […].\u00a0But it feeds his man well.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The case of this young colleague is absolutely not isolated.\u00a0For the many doctoral candidates on issues such as education, agriculture or health, consulting proves to be both a marker of the doctoral path and a professional project.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the aforementioned collective work, among the motivations to engage in a doctoral thesis, there are very often the opportunities opened by projects funded by foreign actors.\u00a0These projects are serious incentives to engage in research during his master’s or PhD, and the desire to work full-time for the organizations that fund these projects is considerable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Move away from the objectives of the research<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Indeed, the insufficiency, or even the lack of resources for research in African universities, as well as the growing demands for local expertise on so-called development issues, are pushing young researchers. s to move away, sometimes for a long time, from the specific objectives of research which are: positioning in scientific, empirical and theoretical debates through publications;\u00a0priority to rigorous and intensive field surveys;\u00a0priority to the production of empirically based new knowledge;\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>respect for international norms and standards in science<\/span><\/a>\u00a0.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consultancy and expertise respond to different logics.\u00a0The terms of reference are more or less imposed, the time allotted for data collection is short, the pressure for help for action in the service of the sponsor, etc.\u00a0In the end, there is nothing to indicate that the sociological expertise solicited has a real impact.<\/span><\/p>\n

One theme: “Africa” \u200b\u200bor “Africans”<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The young researcher in social sciences and health in Africa is from the beginning caught between several logics that he must reconcile.\u00a0First, the choice of his research objects.\u00a0Postcolonial or geographical constraint?<\/span><\/p>\n

Almost all of the research conducted by young African health researchers has as a common denominator, shared unity and starting and ending point of “Africa” \u200b\u200bor “Africans”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, research on the continent by the continent’s children is young and needs to be deepened.\u00a0However, the subjects treated are (almost) always related to development.\u00a0Is Africa not the\u00a0<\/span>laboratory par excellence<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of development aid policies?<\/span><\/p>\n

Has not the university itself, this colonial legacy, been designed to meet\u00a0<\/span>the requirements of development?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

For example, when we choose to work on maternal health, malaria or HIV \/ AIDS rather than on smoking, mental health or obesity, it is certain that these themes are of interest to northern actors ( NGOs or research centers).\u00a0In the current state of affairs, that is to say, given the state of our universities and the imbalance of North-South relations, it seems almost impossible to escape this vice.\u00a0There is however a freedom to conquer in the choice of its objects, no matter who we are and where we come from.\u00a0The first issue is that of autonomy.<\/span>
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