Epistemology, African Scholarship in Human and Social Sciences and demands from African Societies

Abstract

This paper is a re-assesses anthropological methods and frames broad epistemological question on knowledge production and distribution. Sampling published materials, it argues that the fundamental question African scholarship faces in the African Studies is the recourse to an outdated epistemology of comparative methods meant to serve the western views of otherness. Using Anthropological Hermeneutics would help lighten problems of comparison and lead other forms of knowledge. With that background and questioning the fundamentals of the intellectual property right, the paper concludes that knowledge is to be a public good, paid by society and should be accessible to all.