In this essay, we offer an economics-rooted conceptualisation of the term “relationality”. To achieve the fundamental purpose of economic analysis, we argue, it is useful to conceptualise “relationality” as a process of exploring links that explain outcomes. In alignment with the broad objective of economic research, our perspective on “relationality” sheds light on how it can aid in comprehending our world as is and how it came to be. We illustrate the power of our suggested conceptualisation of “relationality” via three specific empirical applications, including the analysis of regional economic integration in Africa. We also discuss the potential of our conceptualisation in “Reconfiguring African Studies”.
This paper investigates the question of ownership of collective memories in the age of digitized archiving. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (henceforth Unesco) philosophy of preserving the world cultural heritage has boosted research on African oral literatures. The emphasis on the documentation of endangered cultures of Africa is salutary but also raises some critical questions. The central question this contribution addresses is that of the authorship-ownership of cultural heritage that is being archived in the framework of digital humanities. The interrogation centres on the role of power with regard to the form in which these (hi)stories are published, where, how and to whom they are accessible, and to the habit of researchers to name people from whom they receive the bulk of knowledge which they transcribe and translate into the academic jargon “informants” instead of giving them more credit by referring to them as research partners or even by recognising them as co-authors. In this vein, the paper rounds up by exploring the possibility of reversing the customary auctorial perspective by bringing into the discussion the idea of “researchers as griots” suggested by (Merolla, Ameka & Dorvlo 2013).
