The state of knowledge in French-speaking West Africa: the experience of the state and the institutionalisation of science in Burkina Faso and Senegal

Abstract

Abstract

Studying the trajectory of a “knowledge state” in Africa is a challenging task. This is ironical in the sense that the institutionalization of science is the oldest research topic in the sociology science (Ben-David and Sullivan 1975), going as back as the 1920’s. Interestingly, the scholarly interest in this topic led to a significant shift in the understanding of science, which breaks with the scientism (Kleinman 2005) of the old paradigm and defines science as “an institution based on a set of values and standards to which scientists are expected to conform” (Vink 2007:38). Most importantly, studies on this topic have shown that the rise and consolidation of scientific institutions in Western societies can be explained by mainly state sponsorship, thanks to its perceived value for the political leadership. In contrast to this background about science in Western societies, there is a gap in the literature on science in Africa regarding the status of scientific institutions in society; little is known about the relationship between scientific institutions and the other institutions of the social system –particularly the state, whose sponsorship has been shown to be historically instrumental, elsewhere, to the institutionalization of science. The present research project sets out to contribute to fill this gap in the literature on science in Africa, by looking at the configuration processes between the state and science in two African countries, namely Burkina Faso and Senegal.