Hello there!

Along with Dr. Syed Farid Alatas, I am editing a book on Academic Dependency in the Social Sciences (in the global South) with different articles in it and related to the introduction we prepare, I have the following questions to all of you:

1. Do you think there is something like "Academic Dependency"?
2. If so, what do you understand by it?
3. Who is depending on whom and what and where?
4. Should something be done to do away with it?
5. If yes, what and how?

Please respond to this wherever you are!

Thanks,

Kathinka

Hello,

Are you accepting contributions to the book?

Siri Gamage

Hello and happy 2009 to all,

I have seen that many have viewed my message on academic dependency but there are, unfortunately, NO REPLIES. Why not?

What type of contributions are you talking of?<br /><br />Post edited by: Moderator, at: 2009/01/23 07:30

Academic dependency can have many faces. Most academics depend on existing literature on given subjects, and interdisciplinary areas for constructing their own work. While it is reasonable to survey the literature available on a given topic or issue, it is not desirable for free thinking academics to DEPEND on such literature for constructing their own arguments and conclusions etc.

Speaking from the perspective of the South, one can observe a dependency on the so-called Western theories, paradigms, concepts et. also.For example on matters like democracy, development, human rights and so on, some academics try to advocate the western ideas developed over centuries in particular historical, social, economic and political contexts as suitable for the rest of the world also. In so doing, the academics depend on these concepts to a high degree. Partly this is because they have been trained in Western academic thought and traditions-even if they come from the South.

In the current context where universities in developed countries and to some extent developing countries also are run by using neoliberal market economic logic followed by corporate management systems(including top down decision-making processes rather than bottom up ones!), academics are increasingly becoming silent over issues of concern to them an their existence as professionals. They are adopting a silent posture displaying features of a conformist culture within universities.Thus by doing this they leave the managers a lot of space to determine what goes on within universities. Academics who are conformist and silent do so in the hope of survival within a competetive enviorenment where they seek rewards for such behaviour from the top managers. In other words, they are dependent on the managers for their career growth-without realising that even if they adopted a more vocal posture, they are still able to progress in other ways.

In countries of the South, academics seem to depend on research funds coming from developed countries for their own research as the funds available locally are restricted.Some do involve in research where they dont have substantial expertise even. Over time, such academics grow into being research businessmen producing reports and reports which do not carry much academic or intellectual value.A dependency is created this way too.

If we adopt the perspective of Orientalism advocated by Said, we can talk about another kind of dependency,ie. colonial, where the people in the South are considered as 'subjects' who are weak, inflexible, etc. and those from the North are considered objective, scientific, and strong. Academics from the South who train themselves in the Western traditions of scholarship, then start to look at their own societies, cultures, and people from those lenses -as if they are also Westerners. This is another kind of dependency.