From c8c7e9395b7d01cc4069c04ef4e1ac896dd8735f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Manan Ahmed Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2019 07:58:16 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Update README.md --- README.md | 603 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 603 insertions(+) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 966b335..016d556 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -3,3 +3,606 @@ author: Mahmood Mamdani date: Jan 2019 title: Decolonization, the Disciplines and the University --- + +I. **Focus and Themes** + +*The institutional form* of the modern African university derives from +the colonial modern; the inspiration did not come from pre-colonial +institutions. The model was a discipline-based, gated, community with a +distinction between clearly defined groups (administrators, academics +and fee-paying students). Its birthplace was the University of Humbolt +in Berlin, a new type of university designed in the aftermath of +Germany's defeat by France in 1810. Over the next century, this +innovation spread to much of Europe, then the United States and from +there to the rest of the world. + +Not only the institutional form but *the intellectual content* of modern +social sciences and humanities is also a product of the Enlightenment +experience in Europe. The European experience was the raw material from +which was forged *the category human*. However abstract, this category +drew meaning from actual struggles within and outside Europe. +Internally, the notion of human was an alternative to that of the +Christian. It was a Renaissance response to Church orthodoxy. The +intellectuals of Renaissance Europe looked to anchor their vision in a +history older than that of Christianity. They found this in pagan Greece +and imperial Rome, and self-consciously crafted these into a +foundational legacy for Europe. Externally, it was a response to an +entirely different set of circumstances -- not the changing vision of a +self-reflexive and self-revolutionizing Europe but of a self-assertive +Europe, reaching out, expanding, in a move that sought first to conquer +the world, starting with the New World, then Asia and finally Africa, +and then to transform and 'civilize' this world in its own image. This +dual origin made for a contradictory legacy. The modern European +university was a site for the study of the human. In their universal +reach for the human, the humanities and the social sciences, both +proclaimed the oneness of humanity and defined that oneness from a very +European vantage point, as a sameness. We may find and study great +examples of institutions of learning in the African world before +European conquest -- in Timbuktu, Cairo[^1], Tunis, Alexandria -- but +these did not shape the contemporary African university, whether +colonial or post-colonial. The decisive influence was the European +university. + +The African university began as a colonial project -- a top-down +modernist project whose ambition was the conquest of society. The +university was in the frontline of the colonial 'civilizing mission.' +Properly understood, this 'civilizing mission' was the precursor, the +original edition of the 'one-size-fits-all' project that we associate +with Structural Adjustment Programs designed by the IMF and the World +Bank in the 1980s. Its ambition was to create universal scholars, men +and women who stood for excellence, regardless of context, and who would +serve as the vanguard of the 'civilizing mission' without reservation, +or remorse. + +The first critical reflection on this colonial project took place in the +nationalist movement. From the ranks of the nationalist movement emerged +a different kind of intellectual, the public intellectual. If the +hallmark of the global scholar was *excellence*, that of the public +intellectual was *relevance*. Excellence was said to be universal, +measured without regard to context; relevance, however, was necessarily +contextual, place-specific. + +The contest between the two unfolded at two very different campuses East +Africa. *Makerere University*, established in 1922, was the paradigmatic +colonial university. *The University of Dar-es-Salaam*, established at +independence in 1963, would soon emerge as the flag-bearer of +anti-colonial nationalism. They stood for two contrasting projects: the +colonial university as the turf of the universal scholar and the +nationalist university as home of the public intellectual. + +The different visions were articulated by two different academics: Ali +Mazrui and Walter Rodney. Mazrui called for a university true to its +classical vision, as the home of the scholar "fascinated by ideas"; +Rodney saw the university as the home of the public intellectual, a +committed intellectual located in his or her time and place, and deeply +engaged with the wider society.[^2] One moral of the story I want to +tell is that we resist the temptation to dismiss one side and embrace +the other. However compelling, these contrasting visions were anchored +in two equally one-sided notions of higher education: relevance and +excellence. At the same time, each contained something of value. Rather +than choose between them, I suggest we identify the kernel of value in +each through a dialectical approach. + +Does place matter, as Walter Rodney claimed? Or do ideas matter, +regardless of place, as Mazrui insisted? Obviously, place matters. If +universities could be divorced from politics, if knowledge production +can be immune from power relations, then place would not matter. But +that is not the case. At the same time, ideas also do matter. If they +did not, why have a university at all? This is to say that politics is +not all. + +The debate began at Makerere University in the early 60s, on the eve of +state independence. The two sides to the debate lined up on familiar +ground -- one side mobilized in defense of academic freedom, the other +called for justice. The first round of change produced resounding +victories for the broad nationalist camp which called for limiting the +autonomy of the university, and of the faculty in particular, so as to +put an end to racial privilege. They said the university should be +national not only in name but also in appearance. To undermine the +disciplinary nationalism and institutional autonomy which propped up the +authority of the expatriate staff would not be possible without a strong +role for the independent state in higher education. Dismissing academic +freedom as a code word in defense of the status quo, they called for +state intervention in the name of justice. It did not take long for the +terms of the debate to change, and dramatically so. With the emergence +of the single party regime, the university turned into an oasis where +the practice of academic freedom allowed free political speech and a +critique of the new order. Instead of a defense of racial privilege as +at independence, many began to rethink academic freedom as the cutting +edge of a critique of nationalist power. + +It is in this context that Rajat Neogy[^3] founded *Transition*, a cross +between a journal and a magazine, one in which public intellectuals +wrote for a public that included both the gown and the town. Those who +wrote in it included writers like James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Nadime +Gordimer, and Chinua Achebe, and politicians like Mwalimu Nyerere and +Tom Mboya. In the main, however, *Transition* made a possible a regional +conversation. Paul Theroux wrote 'Tarzan was an expatriate', an +understanding of Tarzan and Jane as the first expatriates.[^4] Ali +Mazrui wrote 'Nkrumah, The Leninist Czar,' an essay on authoritarianism +with a socialist tilt and 'Tanzaphilia.' of which I will have more to +say. In this latter essay, Mazrui contrasted an apparent 'ideological +orientation' with a deeper epistemological reality that he called 'mode +of reasoning.' + +Compared to intellectual acculturation, ideological orientation is both +superficial and changeable: "To be in favor of this country or that, to +be attracted by this system of values rather than that, all are forms of +ideological conversion. And under a strong impulse one can change one's +creed. But it is much more difficult to change the process of reasoning +which one acquires from one's total educational background. ... After +all, French Marxists are still French in their intellectual style. +Ideologically, they may have a lot in common with Communist Chinese or +communist North Koreans. But in style of reasoning and the idiom of his +thought, a French Marxist has more in common with a French liberal than +with fellow communists in China and Korea. And that is why a French +intellectual who is a Marxist can more easily cease to be a Marxist than +he can cease to be a French intellectual." The year was 1967. If Mazrui +evokes Foucault, let us keep in mind that Foucault would write about +"discursive formations" in *The Archaeology of Knowledge* two years +later, in 1969. + +**The Project** + +This project is the outcome of an ongoing reflection at the outset of +the MPhil / PhD program at Makerere Institute of Social Research, +Makerere University. The MISR project has gone through a six year +reflection based on the question: what should be the mission of the +university in a post-colonial context and how should this mission be +reflected in the curriculum. We seek not to introduce a separate field +of study -- decolonization -- but to think of decolonization as a +methodological imperative, a perspective in which to bathe, rethink and +reshape all intellectual endeavors in the study of the humanities. + +We now seek to expand what has hitherto been a single institution effort +into a larger and comparative reflection, one that involves research, +writing and curriculum development, involving the following +institutions, under the intellectual guidance of particular individuals: + +- The Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana (Professor + Dzodzi Tsikata) + +- CAMES, American University of Beirut (Professor Samer Frangie) + +- Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata (Professors Rosinka + Chaudhuri) + +- Ifriqiyya Colloquium, Columbia University (Professors Manan Ahmed, + Mahmood Mamdani) + +- Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University, Kampala + (Professor Mahmood Mamdani) + +We have formed a committee of 6, with at least one member from each +participating institution, as an informal brain-storming, steering +committee. Chaired by the PI, this committee shall continue to function +through the course of the project. + +**The Changing Context** + +The development of higher education in Africa is basically a +post-independence phenomenon. Except in South and North Africa, the +number of universities founded in the colonial period can be counted on +two hands. From one university in the colonial period, to 41 in three +decades after independence, Nigeria has a total of 152 universities. +Similarly, in Ghana, the National Accreditation Board's 2015 report +recognised 77 Universities, 16 of which were public universities. East +Africa had a single institution of higher learning, Makerere, during the +colonial period. Today, it has almost a hundred. Having a national +university was considered as much a hallmark of national independence as +having a flag, an anthem, a central bank and a currency. If Makerere was +the quintessential colonial university, Dar-es-Salaam stood as the +hallmark of nationalist assertion. The fortunes of the African +university dipped with the fiscal crisis of the African state and the +entry of the Bretton Woods institutions, to bail out countries in +financial trouble in return for subjecting their public budgets to a +strict disciplinary regime. In this era of Structural Adjustment, too, +Makerere was the model university. + +The World Bank took hold of Makerere's planning in the late 1980s, +around the same time the IMF took charge of the Ugandan treasury. The +Bank's proposed a three-fold reform premised on the assumption that +higher education is a private good. First, it argued that given that the +benefit from higher education accrues to the individual, that individual +should pay for it by way of fees. Today, nearly 90% of students at +Makerere are fee-paying. Second, the Bank argued that the university +should be run by autonomous departments and not by a centralized +administration. This was done by a simple formula: by requiring that 80% +of student fees should go to the student's disciplinary department or +faculty, the Bank managed to starve the central administration of funds. +Third, the Bank said that the curriculum should be revised and made +market-friendly and more professional. To give two examples of the +changes ushered in at this time: the Department of Geography began to +offer a B.A. in Tourism; and the Institute of Linguistics began offering +a B.A. in Secretarial Studies whereby a student would be equipped with +secretarial skills in more than one language. + +The Makerere model was exported to other universities in the region and +around the continent over the next decade. In Nigeria, user-fees were +introduced (in 1998) for education and health services. In Ghana, the +"Akosombo Accord," adopted in 1997 introduced a cost-sharing measure +that put tertiary institutions under pressure to contribute 'internally +generated revenues' to fund their own programmes, and on students to pay +Academic Facilities User Fees (AUF) and Residential Facilities User +Fees. Neoliberalism further deepened the alienation of African +universities and academics from African societies that was the result of +the colonial antecedents of those African universities whose histories +lay in the colonial project, and whose practices and curricula +contradicted the nationalist commitment to nation-building and +development of postcolonial Africa. It also deepened the construction of +universities as conservative spaces where heterodox ideas and student +activism were either not encouraged or actively squeezed out by direct +confrontations with authoritarian governments and/or compliant +university leaders. At different times, Ghana and Nigeria experienced +such developments. Decades on, student spaces are currently dominated by +religious and ethnic activism and a focus on school fees and teaching +deficits. In the last few years though, there have been stirrings within +student movements that have raised fundamental questions about tertiary +education. + +The developments in South Africa, that fees were rising around the same +time as 'independence' -- transition to majority rule -- resonated with +those around the continent. And it was no surprise that an expanded +entry of black students into 'white' universities was followed by an +expanded exit of more and more of the same students: either they were +unable to keep up payments or they found it hard to get to grips with +the disciplines in which they were enrolled. As these students looked +for ways to explain their predicament, the only answers they could find +seemed to lie in rising fees and a curriculum that bore little +relationship to their life experiences, or family and community +histories. The 'Rhodes must Fall' and the 'Fees Must Fall' movements in +South Africa have engaged with topics which are of general interest to +universities across Africa- questions such as the purpose of education, +the institutional and intellectual cultures of Universities, the +curriculum and the racial and gender composition of faculty and student +body of educational institutions. To understand the changing face of the +Humanities, this study will offer an opportunity for a comparative +reflection on different regional responses in the broader context of the +changing landscape of higher education. + +**The Problem** + +The intellectual in a post-colony has necessarily to straddle two +locations, one as a scholar and the other as a public intellectual. The +scholar is a member of the global community of scholars; the public +intellectual is engaged with issues that concern the public, usually +local or national. If the former tends to avail of a scholarly +discourse, the latter combines this discourse with a measure of social +activism. A product of the modern university, the distinction between +the scholar and the public intellectual has been repeatedly challenged +in various contexts. We have seen that in East Africa, this distinction +was at the heart of several debates, in particular those carried out in +the literary/political magazine Transition in the sixties, and that +between Ali Mazrui of Makerere University and Walter Rodney of the +University of Dar es Salaam in the late sixties and early seventies. In +Ghana, these questions came to the fore with the Kwame Nkrumah's +intervention in higher education: what should be the purpose of a +university in an independent African country? What should be the object +of African Studies in an African university? During the leftist moment +of the sixties in the Arab world, both scholars and public intellectuals +crossed over this moment. In the contemporary period, these questions +have been evoked with the inclusion of research into artistic practices. +In the South Asian academy, the question has been raised most +productively by the Subaltern Studies School. The challenge in a +post-colony is to link the epistemological to the political. + +With this background in mind, we propose a comparative reflection, +research and writing project that will focus on a series of themes while +being sensitive to the difference in regional and temporal contexts. Our +overall objective is to explore colonization and decolonization as a +*frame* for critical theory and historical research. This would mean not +thinking of knowledge as some kind of stable formation on long +historical periods but as critical thought that comes out of reflection +over historical turning points -- such as colonization and +decolonization -- that create space for the encounter of historically +different modes of thinking. We shall seek to study critical events in +different regional and national contexts. By 'critical' developments we +mean developments during which the coming together of different ways of +thought may be open to observation and debate. + +Though our central focus will be the colonial and the anti- and +post-colonial, we shall be concerned to rethink the premodern from this +vantage point, not necessarily as precursor to the colonial, nor as a +particular against a universal modern, but as a historical resource for +(an)other universalism(s). To take one example, recent scholarship on +the Indian Ocean is beginning to think of Vasco de Gama's voyages at the +end of the 15^th^ century as having a dual consequence: practically, +cutting off links that constituted precolonial Indian Ocean trade, but +also restructuring the imagination by expunging the historical memory of +these routes. The scholarship that is growing around the official +Chinese initiative called 'One Belt One Road' is refreshing that memory +as a resource for the present and the future. In the Arab world, 1948 +and 1967 appear as major turning points for a rethinking of this +history. To take another example, the conventional periodization of +South and Southeast Asian history into the pre-modern and the modern, +with the advent of European colonial rule providing the dividing line, +has been complicated by recent historians by the use of the concept of +the Early Modern which, in different fields such as statecraft, economy, +literature and art, has produced very different chronologies and +trajectories of change marking the emergence of something significantly +new both before and after colonialism. To take a third example, the +comparative study of premodern and modern trans-African slaveries in a +research network jointly established by the Ifriqiyya Colloquium at +Columbia University and the Makerere Institute of Social Research raises +questions about the prevailing tendency to think premodern slaveries +through lenses forged during the study of modern, trans-Atlantic +plantation slavery. This study raises larger questions about the +relationship between slavery and state formation in the premodern +context. + +Within this larger historical re-think, we shall identify two particular +*themes* for reflection, research and writing. Admittedly, these themes +are very broad. We arrived at them after discussion among the five +participating institutions. They reflect the range of interests that +animate the researchers and doctoral students at our institutions. Our +objective is not to address the themes comprehensively but to define two +umbrella themes under which doctoral and post-doctoral students will be +encouraged to pursue initiatives. + +It will be the purpose of the Institutes and Workshops to introduce +participants to the relevant literature and debates on decolonization +generally and the two themes specifically. The goal would be to guide +each participant to adapt their existing or intended research project to +address questions raised in the course of each workshop. In contrast, +the Institutes will be designed to focus on the research projects +prepared by each participant. It is those who go through the workshops +and whose proposals are critically shaped by institutes who will +comprise the research team. + +**The University and the Disciplines**: The colonial and +post-independence histories of the universities have varied trajectories +in the postcolonial world. We shall study specific countries, their +universities and the attempts to decolonize or nationalize the +humanities and social science disciplines. This attempt is marked by two +sets of debates: historically, the first is born of the nationalist +critique of colonial knowledge forms; out of this is born a subset of +debates about what constitutes national knowledge. The second set of +debates have developed around two separate but related discussions: one +a discussion on inter-disciplinarity that raised questions about +disciplinary nationalisms, and the second a specifically post-colonial +discussion on the relationship of the university to the post-colonial +state. Key amongst these was the university and country-wide academic +conference on 'relevance of higher education in a socialist Tanzania,' +one that followed the Arusha Declaration of 1967, declaring the +country's goal as one of developing 'socialism.' This conference led to +a protracted debate on disciplinary vs inter-disciplinary education and +the call for a 'continuous' process of curriculum reform. + +Earlier debates in the colonial period that juxtaposed 'excellence' to +'relevance' in the context of the relevance of higher education for +national emancipation gave way to post-colonial debates around the +'relevance' of higher education to 'development,' given that the +university remained deeply embedded within a developing economy and +state that required modern skills for new occupations and expansive +networks created by modern technologies. The specific forms of the +critique of colonial knowledge differed from country to country and +region to region. For example, the close association in Africa of the +discipline of anthropology with colonial officials and missionaries led +to the virtual disappearance of that discipline from African +universities after independence, whereas in India an entire discipline +of Indian anthropology was created to deal with the supposedly unique +institution of caste in the context of equal citizenship in the new +republic. + +One debate very important to study in the Arab world pertains to the +question of the Arabization of knowledge, which did not only imply a +linguistic translation, but also opened the way for a conceptual +translation, associated mostly with the nationalist and Marxist +frameworks, dominant in the fifties and sixties. It is out of this +question that the critique of Orientalism, that preceded Said's 1978 +book, emerged. And it is one that was related to the question of the +historiography of the Arab world, and the stakes of a non-colonial +history. Another, albeit more local, example has to do with the +emergence of public universities, for instance in Lebanon in the late +fifties. The entry of a public university in a field dominated by two +universities established by French and American missionaries in the +19^th^ century, led to a debate on the meaning of public university, the +question of the language of instruction, the issue of translation, and +again in a moment of leftist ascendancy. In a similar moment, +non-academic spaces of intellectual production, around political +parties, magazines or intellectual figures, were proliferating. + +Tracing this history until the present, we can see the demise of the +public university and the multiplication of private universities +providing services in exchange for high fees, in line with the +neo-liberalization of the academic field. This tendency can be observed +across the several regions that will be of interest to our study. In the +Arab world, we see a renewed proliferation of non-academic spaces of +intellectual production, especially around art institutions. The whole +question of translation and Arabization has been taken over by the +emergence of gulf based universities that are now acting as the funder +of a large swath of academic and intellectual production. + +University education in the post-colonial world has exploded since +independence. In 1947, undivided India had a total of 20 universities; +today, the three countries have nearly a thousand public and private +universities. In the early sixties, Nigeria (which is home to a quarter +of the African population) had one university with 1,000 students; three +decades later, it had 41 universities with 131,000 students. Similar +figures can be cited for East Africa which too had a single university +at independence, Makerere University. Along these lines, we shall study +the logic behind Nkrumah's initiative to establish an Institute of +African Studies in Ghana, or the establishment of the University of +Dar-es-Salaam at independence, or the establishment of Jawaharlal Nehru +University in India as an institution of advanced social science +research and training for the first postcolonial generation. At the same +time, we intend to study how premodern institutions of learning were +restructured and rethought under the influence of the discipline-driven, +fee-paying, diploma-issuing, gated, modern Western university. One among +these will be a study of al-Azhar in Cairo. + +A key discipline in the modern university has been that of history. In +the post-colonial university, this has presented two research challenges +in the study of modes of history-writing with a focus on (a) mythical +narratives of origin that have shaped individual cultures, and (b) the +articulation of modernity with local histories from a conceptual +perspective. The discipline of history has come under considerable +stress in the post-colonial university for several reasons. First, the +very framing of the modern European discipline of history as primarily +the history of nations and the denial of the consciousness of nationhood +to the colonized peoples led to the search for nationalist histories in +colonial and postcolonial countries. However, in each country, there +were often contending versions of nationalist history, reflecting +unequal relations of power within society. These disputes were reflected +as methodological debates within the historical discipline over the +critical evaluation of sources, the establishment of archives, the use +of mythical or legendary narratives, the relative value of textual as +against oral accounts, etc. Second, even though professional historians +located in the university have tried to stamp their authority over the +writing of national history, the production of historical narratives has +proliferated outside the university. This has forced historians to +intervene in public debates where the protocols are not necessarily +under their control. Third, since universities in most postcolonial +countries are heavily dependent on government funding, history +departments in universities often become embroiled in political +controversies over curriculum, textbooks and research priorities, +leading to serious erosion of the academic autonomy of the university. +Once again, the situation is not necessarily the same in every region. +In some cases, as in India, the study of history has both expanded and +become more contentious; in other contexts, like in Africa, both +governments and international donors have tended to devalue the study of +history from a 'developmental' perspective: the overwhelming tendency +has been to fold the study of history into newly established departments +of 'development studies.' Hence, a comparative study of the history +discipline in three or four countries will be extremely instructive. + +**Language, Nation and the University**: We begin with the question of +the relation between the colonial language (English, French, Portuguese) +and local languages, of the standardization of particular dialects as +languages in the course of state construction and/or missionary efforts +at conversion, both as a way to reflect on the relationship between +decolonization and multilingualism. In this context, we shall examine +the relation between literacy and orality, folklore and canonical +literature, standard language and dialects, rooted languages and lingua +franca. A comparative study of Kiswahili, Urdu and Afrikaans that +reflects on history and identity in the context of pre-colonialism and +colonialism will be fascinating. A study of the development of Afrikaans +during apartheid from a folkloric language in the colonial period to a +language of high culture, politics, administration and intellectual +discourse -- and the relative success/failure of Swahili to follow that +same path -- will be instructive. + +We have already mentioned the importance of studying the question of the +Arabization of knowledge from the vantage point of decolonization. It +opens on other questions, such as the relationship between the Arabic +language and nationalist (and even religious) ideology. Kurdish, Berber +and francophone literature has been some of its victims, with the latter +the question of colonialism being more prominent. The varied examples of +India, Pakistan and Bangladesh -- three South Asian countries -- in +managing multiple languages with instruction and research in the +universities are striking. While colonial higher education was carried +out in English, universities such as Madras, Calcutta, Bombay, +Allahabad, Banaras or Lahore were closely tied to the standardization of +modern Indian print languages such as Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, +Hindi and Urdu. After independence, the spread of higher education has +been accompanied by a stratification of higher education. At the upper +end, elite universities, both public and private, foster advanced +research and post-graduate education in English and seek to maintain +close links with global academic networks. Lower down the scale, +undergraduate as well as post-graduate education is provided in the +regional languages in order to supply school and college teachers, +regional bureaucrats, lawyers and journalists, and a large mass of young +people seeking upward mobility and social respectability. The +stratification of the universities is tied to the social and political +process of democratization as well as changing relations of power. This +phenomenon will comprise a significant component of our project. + +II. **Process and Activities ** + +The project will develop around to types of activities, each with a +different focus. *Workshops and training institutes* will be designed +with an eye on the needs of doctoral students. Their disciplinary +orientation reflects a pedagogical intention. *Symposia* are designed to +bring together participating faculty. We shall have a preparatory +symposium (Year 1), three workshops and institutes (Years 2, 3, and 4), +and a concluding Symposium (Year 5). If finances permit, we shall seek +to have another symposium in Year 3. + +**Preparatory Conference (2019)**: The preparatory conference will take +place in Kampala in March-April 2019. Each member of the consortium will +present an individual program that will take the *focus and themes* +paper as the starting point and propose an institution-specific program +of research. + +**Workshops and Institutes** (2020, 2021, 2022): We shall hold three +sets of workshops and institutes on three different disciplinary themes: +the Historical Method (2020), cultural studies (2021) and Political +Theory (2022). Though disciplinary in focus, each workshop will be +designed set in a wider inter-disciplinary context that highlights the +central challenge of the project: decolonization. + +Training Workshops will take place in three different places. Each +workshop will include 3 to 5 students from each participating +institution and a total of 3-5 seminar leaders / lecturers drawn from +different institutions. A further three global scholars will be invited +after we have a clear idea of the interests of the students coming to +the workshop. This group of around 20-25 persons will meet over three +days. Out of the Training Workshop will be selected a cohort of 10 +persons who will come together for an Institute of 5-7 days. They will +be joined by three scholars of global standing. Training Workshops will +focus more on lectures and instruction; Institutes will be more +participatory. Participants will (a) present own work, (b) do collective +readings for reading seminars, (c) participate in roundtables on +particular topics, including pedagogical discussions for people who seek +to make programmatic statements. There will be cultural activities and +site visits between seminars and lectures, and evening walks with +discussions. + +Workshops will be held in different locations. All Institutes will take +place in Kampala, unless individual partner institutions volunteer to +shoulder the responsibility of hosting an institute. Partners will cover +some of the local costs. + +**Research**: There will be research funding for students and faculty +selected for the Institute on each theme. The students will be +registered at four of the five collaborating institutions (all except +Columbia University). They will be located in Kampala, Legon, Beirut and +Kolkata. They will be registered in five-year doctoral programs. This +application seeks funding for only the three-year research component for +each student. We aim to secure full funding for all five years for each +student. The reason we did not include full funding in this project +application is because of the sense that it might inflate the final +budget and compromise the entire project. + +**Year 5 Symposium (2023)**: Research funding will be for five years for +doctoral students and four years for faculty. It will commit the +recipient to produce a publishable paper for presentation at the Year 5 +Symposium. A working draft will be presented at the Year 3 symposium +should it be held. Doctoral students at the participating institutions +are usually on a five year cycle, out of which two to three years are +committed to research. We would like to ensure the three year research +funding to every student and then look for funding for the remaining two +years, hopefully from Mellon, if not from other donors. + +The five members of this initiative commit themselves to this project on +the basis of a shared perspective summed up in the paper titled *focus +and themes*. The research will develop on the basis of loosely connected +but separately run research programs. Student researchers will benefit +from a joint training and reflection process which will comprise the +above mentioned Training Workshops and Institutes. Each institutional +participant will present a set of initial research statements at the +Preparatory Conference in Year 1 (2019), a progress report at the Year 3 +Symposium and the results of the research will be presented at the Year +5 Symposium (2023). We shall invite four scholars with global standing +to act as discussants at each Symposium. + +**Publications**: A selection of individual papers will be published in +*The MISR Review* (or other institutionally-based journals) and the +final set of papers will be published in three edited and thematically +organized books. Participating institutions will at the Preparatory +Conference in Year 1 brainstorm the possibility of a more popular +literary/political publication, modelled after the hybrid +magazine/journal *Transition* published in Kampala in the 1960s. + +**What will Success Look Like?** We have two responses to this question: +one is immediate, from the point of view of all collaborating +institutions, and thus the project as a whole; the other is over the +medium run, from the point of the view of the lead institution, MISR. +Immediately, success would be measured in publications, training +outputs, and the development of research networks leading, hopefully, to +more exciting collaborative work in the future, exploiting the +connections made in these five years. For the lead institution, Makerere +Institute of Social Research, the intermediate goal is to develop an +Inter-Disciplinary Centre for Decolonization Studies as an institutional +base from which to deepen the research program and further develop the +international collaboration initiated by this project.