"Next time we touch base we should be assessing how far the measures we have leveraged the authorities to put in place are working."
Olayinka
I don't think the Nigerian university system is so bad it has to take interventions from USAAfrica Dialogues to begin to put systems in place to tackle negative possibilities of the system.
Is the more realistic approach not to see what systems are already in place, assess how effective they are and suggest refinements of the existing systems, additions to these or a rethinking of extant procedures?
It would be helpful to avoid a messianic, savior, or parachuting mentality, in which one drops in from above into a social situation, ignoring already existing social frameworks, forgetting that institutional procedures are executed within social contexts.
In an earlier discussion on this group, Nigeria based academics presented sex abuse guidelines in place in their universities. Can they give us updates on these?
The issues involved, particularly as outlined by Moses, run from sexual conduct guidelines to teaching and mentoring to publishing strategies and promotion criteria. It would be wonderful to read from those directly involved because they understand the heat in the kitchen. For example, what is the relationship of Nigeria based scholars to the more prominent journals in academia, most or all of which are based abroad, most likely in the West?
In discussing sensitive issues, I have experienced two frustrations on this group.
It is difficult to get Nigeria based academics to open up on allegations of negativity in their system.
On the other side, it is difficult to get African immigrant US academics to open up on the challenges faced by Black people in the US. Throughout the season of the highlights of the recurrent unjustifiable murders of Black people by US police during Obama's tenure, I don't recall any discussion about that terrible problem on this group which seems peopled significantly by African immigrant scholars in the US. The one person whose voice I remember speaking unequivocally on the negativities of the US establishment is Kwame Zulu Shabbaz and to some degree Kenneth Harrow, but Shabbaz is African-American and Harrow is a Caucasian Jew.
The horrible treatment meted out to one of, if not the most prominent Black Humanities scholar in the US, Henry Luis Gates Jr, in which an almost elderly man dependent on a walking stick for mobility was handcuffed by a policeman in an incident involving his insisting the policeman identify himself as the officer challenged him as to whether or not his house belonged to him, an incident in which even President Obama became involved, passed without a comment on this group of people a good number of whom fall into the Gates demographic-Black academics.
If I am right, why is it the case in both instances? Are these populations embarrassed by the circumstances in which they find themselves? Are the Nigeria based academics jaded by their presence in a situation they see themselves as having little control over? Are they afraid of vicimisation by their colleagues?Do they feel intimidated by the fierce condemnations of their system?Are the US based academics far removed from the painful realities of Black life in the US or do they see those challenges as of little consequence compared to the brutalities evident in their countries of origin or are they
wary of reprisals in the spirit depicted by Ogbechie?
How shall we pool resources to tackle these challenges if we don't discuss them in public?
thanks
toyin