CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa)
Abstract
Understanding culture through rigorous research into cultural processes and
products, as some of the chapters in this volume seek to do, as well as seeking to
interrogate the representation of Africa by others and Africans, leads us in the
direction of creating work that re-defines – doing so by decoding, re-coding and
recording. The 2007 CODESRIA Annual Social Science Campus on the theme
of Contemporary African Cultural Productions offered a critical space for dialogue
among contemporary scholars of Culture and Cultural Production led by a highly
distinguished convenor, Valentin Y. Mudimbe, who generously deployed his vast
knowledge and experience to catalyse participants to question received wisdom
and assumptions, and explore new directions in researching and understanding
culture and development. He was also to skilfully guide the laureates of the Campus
to rework their thoughts, culminating in this volume which, in many ways, is a
first for CODESRIA and the community of scholars it represents. Without doubt,
this book will both bring to a broader audience, the rich debate in which participants
in the 2007 Campus partook and further extend discussions in new directions on
the key subjects they covered. In the end, it will be the distinct merit of the book
that it gives full meaning to the long-standing commitment by CODESRIA and
scholars such as Mudimbe to the increased privileging of the production of
holistic inter-disciplinary knowledge in which the social sciences not only speak
more to one another, but also to the arts, humanities, and other sciences.
Pinkie Mekgwe
Adebayo Olukosh
