Скачать или смотреть Searching for superheroes: Analyzing academic work

The Kenyan discourse on solutions has created the phenomenon where people skip understanding the problems discussed in academic research, and in so doing, the readers miss the different actors, information and nuances of complex social issues. The haste for solutions also creates the image of the academic as a superhero with the capacity to single-handedly diagnose and propose comprehensive solutions to complex problems.

This discussion pushes back against solutionism by discussing two articles, by Hilda Oburu and by Elizabeth Cooper, on arson in Kenyan secondary schools. It criticizes the expectation that academic research must provide solutions to problems. It also draws insights from Mahmood Mamdani's article on the consultancy culture in African universities. The goal of the discussion was to show the importance of complex and more realistic interpretations of academic research.

Readings:

Oburu, H. (2020). Social representations of the burning of boys' secondary schools in Kenya in 2016 [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Stellenbosch University.

Cooper, E. (2014). Students, arson and protest politics in Kenya: School fires as political action. African Affairs, 113(453), 583-600.

Mamdani, M. (April 21, 2011). The importance of research in a university. Pambazuka News. Retrieved from https://www.pambazuka.org/resources/i...