Makerere University Alumnus Prof. Nakanyike Musisi has underscored the importance of Humanities and Social Sciences in providing foundational knowledge and understanding of Africa.
Prof. Nakanyike was delivering the key note address during the international Humanities Conference 2022 organized by Makerere University College of Humanities and Social Sciences on 24th August 2022, titled, “ Unstoppable Scholarly Activism and Paradigmatic Transitions in the Humanities and social Sciences: ”Refusal” as Theory and Praxis.
In her address Prof. Nakanyike said irrespective of their importance in providing foundational knowledge and understanding of Africa, the Humanities and Social Sciences are often neglected by many African governments as well as goodwill interventions that fund higher education.
Looking at the pressing challenge for the Humanities and Social Sciences Prof. Nakanyike commenced from a strong belief that in any given country there ought to be an intimate relationship between Humanities, Social Sciences knowledge, and development--social, economic and political.
The most pressing challenge for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ research according to Prof. Nakanyike is its limited appreciation outside academic circles, its inability so far to be deployed in service of social change or impact policy formulation.
“This challenge emerges out of the fact that the relationship between scholars’ research, communities (beyond field work) and governments is very much underdeveloped in most African countries and nonexistent in some. Scholars in our disciplines have a pathetic history of lobbying governments or the end users of their research products”, Prof. Nakanyike asserted.