Advancing Collaboration between African Diaspora and Africa-Based Scholars: Extracts of Interviews with Selected African Diaspora Scholars

by Patrício V. Langa, Patrick Swanzy & Pedro Uetela

Abstract

A considerable number of African scholars who have migrated to the West have done so due to upheavals in their home country’s economy, poor working conditions, political instability, and a lack of academic freedom and autonomy in their homeland’s higher education systems, many of which are in the process of decolonisation/indigenisation. Drawing on the experiences of four African diaspora scholars – experts in the domains of social sciences and humanities, engineering and education – who visited and collaborated with the Doctoral Programme in Higher Education Studies at the University of the Western Cape’s Institute for Post-School Studies in 2017, this article explores the range of motives for their migration to Western institutions. The article also investigates the importance of the academic diaspora’s contribution to teaching and research in both the West and in Africa, concluding that African diaspora scholars and Africa-based scholars are interdependent when it comes to empowering global science.

Patrício V. Langa, University of the Western Cape, South Africa & Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique. Email: planga@uwc.ac.za; patricio.langa@uem.mz

Patrick Swanzy, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Post-School Studies, Faculty of Education, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Email: ipssdphes@gmail.com

Pedro Uetela, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of the Western Cape and Eduardo Mondlane University. Email: uetelaha@yahoo.com

Advancing Collaboration between African Diaspora and Africa-Based Scholars: Extracts of Interviews with Selected African Diaspora Scholars: par Patrício V. Langa, Patrick Swanzy & Pedro Uetela

Un nombre considérable de savants africains qui ont migré vers l’Occident, l’ont fait à cause de bouleversements dans l’économie de leur pays d’origine, de mauvaises conditions de travail, de l’instabilité politique, et du manque de liberté et d’autonomie académiques dans les systèmes d’enseignement supérieur de leur patrie, dont beaucoup sont en cours de décolonisation/ d’indigénisation. S’appuyant sur les expériences de quatre chercheurs de la diaspora africaine – spécialistes dans le domaine des sciences humaines et sociales, du génie et de l’éducation – qui ont collaboré au programme de doctorat dans les études supérieures à l’Institut des études postscolaires de l’University of the Western Cape en 2017, cette étude examine les diverses motivations de leur migration vers les institutions occidentales. Ce document examine en outre, l’importance de la contribution de la diaspora académique à l’enseignement et à la recherche dans les pays occidentaux et en Afrique, et conclut que les savants de la diaspora africaine et les savants basés en Afrique sont interdépendants dans le domaine de l’habilitation de la science mondiale.

Patrício V. Langa, University of the Western Cape, South Africa & Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique. Email: planga@uwc.ac.za; patricio.langa@uem.mz

Patrick Swanzy, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Post-School Studies, Faculty of Education, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Email: ipssdphes@gmail.com

Pedro Uetela, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of the Western Cape and Eduardo Mondlane University. Email: uetelaha@yahoo.com