Abstract
This report summarizes the contributions and debates from a conference on German–Beninese cooperation in social science research (8–10 March 2012, University of Bayreuth). In drawing on the experiences from more than three decades of social science research on this West African country, it refers to examples from the past and present of African Studies in Germany, as well as describing the potential for German–African cooperation in this field in the future. Aside from this, it raises the question of whether and how social science cooperation is possible given the economic and power disparities. It is argued that cooperation “on equal terms” will not be easy to achieve but must be consistently striven for – personally as well as politically.
How can social science research in and with African countries be conceived and carried out when there is such a large economic disparity between Germany and those countries? What experience has been gathered and how can it serve German–African research cooperation in the future? These questions were considered by researchers from Benin and Germany at a conference entitled “Thirty Years of German–Beninese Cooperation in Social Science Research on Benin: Topics, Conclusions, Future Prospects”, which was held from 8 to 10 March 2012 in Thurnau/Bayreuth. 1
The conference was planned jointly by the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Bayreuth (Erdmute Alber, Jeannett Martin) and the Department of Ethnology and African Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz (Thomas Bierschenk and Sarah Fichtner), and was organized under the direction of Jeannett Martin and Erdmute Alber.
The conference reflected more than three decades of social research from Germany on Benin: Since the 1980s knowledge has been growing through research on a broad variety of topics and in different disciplines, frequently in cooperation with Beninese social scientists. Issues included, but were not limited to, power, authority and the modern state in the colonial and postcolonial periods, and especially since the democratization processes; ethnicity and ethnic political movements; the role of NGOs and development brokers; actors and reforms in the state education sector; kinship and family in transition; migration and developments in land law; and the consequences of development aid. The breadth and variety of “German” research on Benin has never been the subject of any specific university or government programme. Rather, it is the result of a large number of personal and institutional initiatives. The organizers therefore decided that social scientists in different disciplines who are interested in cooperation should enter into a dialogue, share their research results and experience, and discuss new proposals and ideas for promoting German–Beninese cooperation.
Thomas Bierschenk (Mainz) opened the conference. He traced the historical and institutional development of African Studies as a regional specialization, and the development of the social sciences in African countries. According to him, social research from Germany on Africa is unique due to its empirical experience and its comparative lack of entrapment in the colonial past. Social research on Benin began in German academic circles with the fieldwork of the late Georg Elwert a few years after the country's political independence, and Bierschenk showed its importance for African Studies in general. In addition to contributing to the “belated modernization” of anthropology, it has produced innovative research models and practical training methods, as a result of which social research relating to Africa is now understood to an increasing degree as doing research “with” – rather than just “on” – Africa. As he underscored, though research on/with Africa is in many respects different today than it was fifty years ago, any cooperation between researchers in Germany and most African countries is still characterized by enormous economic disparities. While conducting research is practically impossible without local partners, the procedures set by most German funding institutions are not designed to take cooperation into account. Cooperation “on equal terms” therefore remains something to be aspired to, rather than a lived reality.
The first session of the conference was devoted to current research relating to social issues in Benin. A paper in the field of rural sociology by Honorat Edja (Parakou) focused on current forms of governance, types of conflict (especially with livestock owners), and negotiation levels in the administration of forest areas in Benin. Based on his own anthropological research, Tilo Grätz (Berlin) then discussed the development of the mass media in Benin and analysed the existing challenges regarding cooperation with local researchers. He pleaded in favour of extended research questions and broader methods and suggested that social scientists and journalists cooperate more closely.
Joseph Akpaki (Abomey-Calavi) described the political differences between different local authorities in Benin, and discussed their conflicts in relation to the concept of frontières culturelles. Sakinatou Bello (Bayreuth), a doctoral student at the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS), spoke about the implementation of international conventions on children's rights in Benin. She described the clear legal regulations and, in some cases, the drastic sanctions for cases of proven child trafficking. Therefore, the very low number of cases brought before courts is striking. Bello described the vidomegon phenomenon, by which children are sent to work in families, and questioned the role of the state and its ability to safeguard children's welfare.
The conference continued with a session on experiences with and different approaches to “cooperative research”. Jeannett Martin (Bayreuth) broached methodological questions arising from her research on child fostering in the context of the inter-ethnic relations in the Borgu region, and she discussed the possibilities and challenges of cooperation with Beninese researchers vis-à-vis individual project funding by German funding institutions. Tabea Häberlein (Bayreuth) described her experiences during a short joint research project carried out with Beninese social scientists from the Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherche sur les Dynamiques Sociales et le Développement Local (LASDEL) within the framework of her investigation into intra-family resource flows and inter-generational relations in villages in Benin and Togo. She argued that cooperative research should be understood as a mutual giving and taking on the basis of common research interests, and that any tensions and conflicts arising during the project should be dealt with in an open and constructive way. In the case of this project, cooperation was partly successful, while sometimes it created difficulties on both sides.
Anne Floquet, from the Centre Béninois pour l'Environnement et le Développement Economique et Social (CEBEDES ONG/Abomey-Calavi), outlined the development of and prospects for Benin's universities, specially focusing on the social sciences. In recent years, the number of students at the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC) has consistently risen, as has the number of lecturers and research teams; there is now also a greater variety of subjects and institutions at UAC. However, their continuing development and efficiency is challenged by a critical mass of students and financial discontinuities. Floquet also reflected on the advantages and disadvantages of commissioned research, and on socio-cultural obstacles that hinder independent, substantially innovative and team-oriented social research in Benin. Simone Giertz (Bonn) reported on her experience of cooperation in the framework of the interdisciplinary research project “Integratives Management-Projekt für einen effizienten und tragfähigen Umgang mit Süßwasser in Westafrika” (IMPETUS). She clearly showed that both interdisciplinary cooperation and cooperation with local researchers are fraught with problems, despite the good will of those involved. Interdisciplinary projects and cooperation must be not only desired by all parties concerned, but also taken into account and actively implemented at the project-planning stage.
Azizou Chabi Imorou, from the Beninese research centre LASDEL, reported on his experience as a doctoral student participating in the research project “States at Work” (University of Mainz, LASDEL Parakou), describing another form of North–South cooperation. He discussed the potential of a common training for doctoral students coming from different national and linguistic backgrounds in Africa and beyond, as well as the challenges that arise from such an international and multilingual research framework. In the same context, Sarah Fichtner (Mainz), who also wrote her doctoral thesis within the “States at Work” project, described the potential advantages of “tandem research” between Beninese and German students. She showed that the degree of cooperation in such research partnerships depends heavily on the motivation and commitment of the people involved. But, Fichtner concluded, this is a good way of promoting cooperation “on equal terms”.
Later in the conference, two scholars discussed the important role language plays in joint German–Beninese projects. Simplice Agossavi (UAC), a linguist, began by discussing the current situation and state policies on multilingualism in Benin. Agossavi referred to the interconnections between dominant languages and current power relations, and outlined some social consequences of multilingualism, including in areas such as international scientific cooperation. Abraham Brahima (BIGSAS) discussed similar issues in the context of his paper, reflecting on the special cultural importance of the German language in the context of German–Beninese academic cooperation and arguing for a Goethe Institute to be founded in Benin. These papers were followed by a discussion on how the linguistic competence of Beninese scholars of German could be utilized in the framework of joint research projects in the social sciences.
The last day of the conference was devoted to research practice and relations between university teaching and research. Marit Visiennon, from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) in Abomey-Calavi, presented her experiences with the process of introducing the licence-masterdoctorat (LMD) system into the field of German philology at the University of Abomey-Calavi; in Benin, too, the Bologna Process has triggered debates over the structural reforms that are being implemented. At the two state universities in Abomey-Calavi and Parakou, the changes involve the creation of a uniform higher education landscape and more professionalized training. Visiennon argued that Benin's universities needed to find their own way and to develop a new, practice-related learning and teaching culture.
Hippolyte Amouzovi (Abomey-Calavi) described how the relatively large number of Beninese social scientists who trained in Germany were influencing methodological training in the social sciences in Benin and elucidated their impact on the establishing of such training structures. Amevor Amouzo-Glikpa (Parakou), the head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Parakou, described the challenges he as a social scientist who trained in Germany and later returned to Benin faced in connection with the department's degree programme. He and his colleagues at LASDEL are confronted with the challenges not only of planning course content following the LMD reform, but also of coping with teaching and supervising the approximately six hundred students who registered in the first year after the introduction of this degree programme, with a minimum of teaching and administrative staff.
In the conference's last session, Erdmute Alber (Bayreuth) summarized the most salient points brought up during the conference and opened the concluding discussion on how the experience of the participants and the potentials they have recognized may be applied to the design of future joint German–Beninese research projects. It became clear that different kinds of cooperation are possible between Beninese and German social scientists as a result of different research-funding formats. Thus, joint projects offer excellent opportunities for the systematic training of young scholars from Africa. There is a multitude of possibilities for collaboration, even within the framework of individual project funding. But we need to not only distinguish between the separate areas of collaboration (in training, thematic content and teaching) but also take into account organizational and financial aspects, along with infrastructure developments.
The participants agreed that setting up a list of criteria for planning and executing future research projects in Benin will be an important step toward supporting and institutionalizing international cooperation. The following concrete measures were agreed upon to ensure the continuation and intensification of cooperation:
Social scientists from Germany doing research in Benin and social scientists from Benin doing research in Germany should present their work in the host country – for example, through lectures or workshops.
Researchers should utilize opportunities to teach in the other country on a short-term or long-term basis in order to encourage cooperation in teaching.
If colleagues in Benin indicate a need or desire for support in developing their degree programmes, ways to assist them should be sought.
An electronic platform will be set up for the purpose of exchanging information between German and Beninese researchers. The network is mainly intended for scholars in the social and cultural sciences but will also be open to researchers from other disciplines interested in joint German–Beninese projects.
Project planning and applications for funding shall in the future be the subject of greater cooperation between social scientists in Benin and Germany. This will require time and persistence, but if the aim is to approach the ideal of conducting research cooperation “on equal terms”, it must be accepted that the joint planning of research projects requires more time.
Joint research projects should generally result in joint publications presenting the results of the research.
The LASDEL research centre in Parakou agreed to take steps to create its own website.
A colloquium on German–Beninese research cooperation in the social sciences should be held every two years, at which researchers can review the current situation, report to each other on their various experiences, and plan or discuss future joint projects.
Both sides should consider the possibility of creating a Beninese research-funding institution modelled on the German Research Foundation (DFG).
The trend toward no longer seeking knowledge only “about Africa” but increasingly also “with Africa” is slowly becoming established; this was documented with regard to German–Beninese cooperation in social research on and in Benin. Important questions discussed beyond the particular case included: How can we reduce the power difference that results from economic disparities, which continues to affect many German–African joint research projects? How can we create structures that will increase motivation and personal commitment on all sides with regard to cooperation projects, open up space for scholarly exchange, encourage the growth of trust and transparency, and ensure the long-term duration of joint projects?
Many conference participants expressed the wish for more cooperation “on equal terms”. The presentations and discussions revealed that different opportunities and forms of cooperation between researchers, universities and research institutions already exist. At the same time, cooperation on equal terms is not easy to achieve. It requires commitment and reflection on the part of many individuals, as well as favourable structural conditions. Cooperation-oriented research institutions, such as LASDEL in Benin and BIGSAS in Germany, have the potential to serve as “lighthouses” in the field of joint research projects but they need to be further strengthened and developed.