Paper long abstract:

Cultural policy was at the core of the decolonisation process, but it was at the same time based on western bureaucratic conceptions of culture. This situation may question any efforts of scientific deconstruction of these hegemonic categories. The domain of culture, in which anthropological research is engaged (among other subjects), adds another layer of complexity, because it blurs boundaries between science, politics, entrepreneurship and sovereignty. In this presentation, I propose to move the debate outside of colonial or domination relationships, to consider more broadly the process of categorisation and of the production of science. On the one hand, the bases of anthropology as a scientific discipline fit perfectly with some decolonisation of science programs from the point of view of the categorisation process: to avoid ethnocentrism, seize sensitivities towards the world , be aware of the language, the situations, the relationships. Ethnology is also a way of challenging conceptions: of relationships to the non-human, of kinship relationships, of economy, politics and so on. On the other hand, as a science that is socially and historically produced, anthropology conveys some of the conceptions and positions from the time of colonisation and the industrialisation period. Instead of opposing a "western" and "African" conceptions, I will rather question the relationships between academic and other systems of knowledge in any country.

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Paper long abstract:

Sexuality is a sensitive and sometimes taboo issue to discuss, practice, research and disseminate openly in many societies. Leave alone in relatively conservative societies like Ethiopia, Irvine's (2014) article shows that sex research remains socially problematic even in the western world.I have been engaged in researching and publishing on the subjects of sexuality and HIV/AIDS since the 1990s. I have undertaken a number of studies, both published or not, related to sexuality in Ethiopia. Some of these studies were perceived as incriminating, exceedingly intimate or 'discrediting' to the researcher and the researched. Researching such topics poses not only difficulty in accessing informants but also include wider issues regarding the ethics and politics of research, and collecting, analysing and publishing the data without jeopardizing the wellbeing of the researcher and informants. This paper uses self-reflective accounts such as personal recollections and correspondences as primary sources of data to explore the intricacies and challenges of researching and publishing topics of sexuality by a straight, male Ethiopian academic. Overall, researching and publishing about sexuality topics in Ethiopia continues to pose considerable challenges and controversies, which may hamper serious scientific investigations as well as create extreme frustration for potential investigators and authors. We should, therefore, do more to identify, discuss and implement strategies for conducting and publishing research on this sensitive topic. Such studies on uncharted territories however seem to have given insight and courage to other researchers and the public at large and it is encouraging to see a few other studies emerging on sensitive and hitherto taboo topics. The significance of such studies cannot be overstated in prompting future researchers to dare engage with these sensitive topics and equipping them to better navigate the inevitable challenges associated with them.

Key words: Reflexivity, politics of sexuality research, publication, Ethiopia

Paper long abstract:

Academic psychology arrived in Africa along with other imports that accompanied European colonization. Given the circumstances that accompanied its importation, psychology as it is taught, researched and practiced is at odds with the human agency observed in the everyday experiences of people on whom it is practiced in Uganda.

The teaching of psychology is largely done using resources that present lived experiences and issues that are framed within particular[western] historical, socio-cultural and economic contexts. The result is a situation where, in Uganda, students do not see themselves in the curriculum nor do they see themselves as potential future sources of knowledge of their own human experience and condition. In this framework, psychology is seen as contributing to epistemic injustice and epistemological violence and with or without mischievous intentions it's practitioners have perpetuated a number of wrongs in the understanding of human experiences in Africa.

To correct this narrow perspective academic departments in Africa (Makerere University inclusive) have tried to reform their curricula in order to project and mainstream multiple perspectives about human experience that include Africa. Central to this is the idea of building a new generation of young scholars from African Universities engaged with knowledge from Africa. Yet a new knowledge for Africa cannot come from merely reproducing a Euro-American epistemology of the last three hundred years.However, there are no available reference textbooks that meet the above needs. But how can we begin to take intellectual traditions from our spaces seriously and not continue with the dichotomy of African fact and European theory?

In this paper we discuss ideas in an ongoing book project on the above topic that arose from PhD student workshops during which the students took these provocations and turned them into new avenues for rethinking new possibilities of theorizing psychological agency. From the workshops, the students developed ideas and theories from their research into draft book chapters. The book is currently under review by the publishers. Among other objectives, the book aims to fill this paucity of reference material that centre the lived experience of the African subject in research and raising the consciousness of psychologists who teach students about the centrality of sociocultural perspectives on the self and mind which envision psychological processes that have a cultural-historical aspect and that moves the consideration of sociocultural beyond the immediate interpersonal and social situation.

Paper short abstract:

This paper sets out to examine the situation of private medical practice in French African overseas at the end of the nineteenth century, when African territories fell under French colonial domination.

Paper long abstract:

In France, the movement for the occupational control of labour of professionalism in the area of health began in early nineteenth century, and was authorized around the end of the same century. This process could not ignore medical practice outside France, from the time of overseas territories up to the colonial occupation at the end of the nineteenth century. It is known from travellers' accounts, the literature on the French empire as well as from some incidental mentions in historical accounts on the development of health system in French overseas, that private practice initiated French medicine in overseas and that it was lucrative. It is also known that competition between different occupational groups for status in the area of health was fierce in France until the end of the nineteenth century, and even beyond. Surprising, archives on private medical practice in the colonies are virtually unavailable. This paper sets out to examine the situation of private medical practice in French African overseas at the end of the nineteenth century, when African territories fell under French colonial domination. This understanding is relevant for a better appreciation of the development of the practice during the following sixty years of colonial occupation, and even beyond. So far African medical historians have tended to focus their interest on the colonial state organised medicine. Investigating privately organised practice can shed new light on the official account of French colonial medical assistance in its colonies of Africa.

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