Postgraduate Course: Research in Africa (PGSP11340)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Research in Africa is a dedicated Africa-focused research training course that equips students with some of the relevant skills required to undertake postgraduate fieldwork on the continent. The course introduces the principal methodologies and strategies that are commonly applied to academic research in the Social Sciences, and considers their practical application for students who might undertake postgraduate fieldwork in Africa. In essence, the course approaches some standard research methods from a perspective that is constantly mindful of the African setting, a setting that can present quite different challenges from the (implied) northern/western setting of many research training courses.
The course is relevant to any student who may be considering conducting fieldwork on the continent, and is equally applicable to researchers from Africa, Europe, North America, or elsewhere, all of whom are studying Africa while at an institution located in a former colonial power. The course introduces research design, with emphasis on interdisciplinarity and the need for flexibility in methods and techniques and a preparedness to adapt to situations when conducting fieldwork. Some practical issues in preparing for fieldwork are discussed, and discussion is given to perceptions of the researcher, be s/he local or foreign, and formal and informal ethical considerations. Opportunity is given to practice research methods, and to reflect upon and begin to anticipate challenges of the African setting punctuated throughout the course in what if? scenarios raised by the convenor. The course culminates in a final session that introduces the dissertation as a project, and suggests how the different components of Africa-based research might be presented in this enterprise. |
| Course description |
Week 1: Politics of researching in, and writing on, Africa
[Students will be encouraged to think about their experience of Africa, their research experience, and why they are taking the class]
- Course overview
- The importance of context, especially the legacy of imperialism, and how academic discourses have created the notion of an other and have shaped our understanding of Africa
- Race, ethnicity and identity
[Preparation for next class: Students are to consider their broad interests for possible dissertation research and, ideally, their specific interests]
Kaufmann, J. 2002 The Informant as Resolute Overseer. History in Africa 29: 231-
255
Smith, L. 1999. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. London: Zed Books
Zeleza, P. 1997. Manufacturing African Studies and Crises. Dakar: CODESRIA
Week 2: Meeting research and research meetings
[Students will be encouraged to think about why they want to undertake research in Africa, and what they want to get out of it]
- Research design
- Learning about the field: The local, national and trans-national
- Multi-sited fieldwork and case studies
- The initial development of a research strategy and methodology
[Preparation for next class: Course convenor alerts students of interview and ethnography research to be conducted during innovative learning week]
Week 3: Early research
- Pilot research and hanging out
- Surveys, sampling and social categories
- Notes and diaries
- Reflexivity
Tripp, A. 1997. Changing the Rules: The politics of liberalization and the urban informal economy in Tanzania. California: University of California Press
Trulsson, P. 1997. Strategies of Entrepreneurship: Understanding industrial entrepreneurship and structural change in northwest Tanzania. Linköping: University of Linköping
Week 4: Interviews
- Interviewing
- Photography
- Oral history and life history
- Language and research assistance
Ranger, T. 1995. Are We Not Also Men? The Samkange family and African politics in Zimbabwe, 1920-64. Oxford: James Currey
Molony, T. and D. Hammett. 2007. The Friendly Financier: Talking money with the silenced assistant. Human Organization. 66 (3), pp. 292-300
Week 5: Ethnography
- Ethnography
- (Participant) observation
Chernoff, J. 2003. Hustling is not Stealing: Stories of an African bar girl. Chicago: Chicago University Press
Leopold, M. 2005. Inside West Nile: Violence, history and representation on an African frontier. Oxford: James Currey
MacGaffey, J. and Bazenguissa-Ganga, R. 2000. Congo-Paris: Transnational traders on the margins of the law. Oxford: James Currey
Trotter, H. 2008. Sugar Girls and Seamen: A Journey into the World of Dockside Prostitution in South Africa. Johannesburg: Jacana Media
Weiss, B. 2009. Street Dreams and Hip Hop Barbershops: Global fantasy in urban Tanzania. Bloomington: Indiana University Press
Week 6: Innovative learning week: no meeting
Prior to Week 6, students are assigned to small groups. Each group is put in touch with an Edinburgh-based African, who they are to interview about his/her life in the UK and how it differs from their life in Africa. (A question frequently put to the convenor in various countries across the continent.) In their small groups the students are then to spend time with the person they interviewed and are to produce an ethnography of his/her working life, or life as a student, in Edinburgh. After conducting their research, the groups are to prepare a short presentation for Week 7 in which they are asked to: give a brief background on the person who they interviewed; present their findings about his/her life in the UK and how it differs from their life in Africa (c.600 words spoken, and also given in bullet points on screen); outline the limitations of their approach to the interview and the ethnography; consider the merits of one approach over the other; and suggest how their approaches would be improved if they were to conduct the research again. Those groups that do not present on Week 7 are to present the following week. The individuals or groups of Africans will be drawn from within the course convenors personal networks, and the course convenor will have explained the project to them in advance and sought their permission. The course convenor will provide initial introductions to the groups.
Weeks 7 and 8: Research presentations
See Components of Assessment and Week 6 above. Following the presentations, the course convenor will draw on personal experience to lead a discussion on the anticipated challenges of interviewing and ethnography in various situations in Africa.
Week 9: Archival research
When it could/should be conducted, where and how
Week 10: Preparing for the field
Raises practical concerns, some of which can/should be addressed in advance that can influence the positionality of the research and affect research findings
- Ethics and ethic review forms
- Research clearance and visas
- Academic contacts, networks, locals and expatriates
Week 11: The dissertation
- Summary session
- Introduction to the dissertation: What it is, timetable, structure, and where Research in Africa might feature
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Students are assessed by an essay plan weighing 20% of the course mark, and a final essay of max. 3000 words length weighing 80%.
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Identify some principal research methodologies and strategies, and have an understanding of their application in an African setting
- Conduct interviews and ethnography, and anticipate and reflect on the different challenges of a non-western research environment
- Consider, and address in advance, some of the practical preparations of Africa-based fieldwork
- Deal with complex ethical and professional issues and make informed judgements on issues not addressed by current professional and/or ethical codes or practices
- Understand the requirements of the dissertation, and appreciate how the issues discussed in the course might feature in it.
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Reading List
- Bender Shetler, J. 2003. Telling Our Own Stories: Local histories from South Mara, Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota
- Bryman, A. 2008. Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press*
- Comaroff, J. and J. Comaroff. Africa Observed: Discourses of the imperial imagination. In Grinker, R., S. Lubkemann and C. Steiner (eds.). 2010. Perspectives on Africa: A reader in culture, history, and representation. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell
- MacGaffey, J. and Bazenguissa-Ganga, R. 2000. Congo-Paris: Transnational traders on the margins of the law. Oxford: James Currey
- Mudimbe, V.Y. Discourse of Power and Knowledge of Otherness. In Grinker, R., S. Lubkemann and C. Steiner (eds.). 2010. Perspectives on Africa: A reader in culture, history, and representation. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell
- Smith, L. 1999. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. London: Zed Books
- Trulsson, P. 1997. Strategies of Entrepreneurship: Understanding industrial entrepreneurship and structural change in northwest Tanzania. Linköping: University of Linköping |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Thomas Molony
Tel: (0131 6)50 6976
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Jessica Barton
Tel: (0131 6)51 1659
Email: |
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