Browsing by Subject "Knowledge Production"

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    Open Access
    Knowledge production practices in higher institutions of learning in Zambia: a case of the University of Zambia
    (University of Cape Town, 2020) Kanyengo, Christine Wamunyima; Smit, J Gretchen
    The core business of higher education institutions such as universities is knowledge production. This is achieved by conducting research which results in various research products being produced, as well as through teaching and the production of graduates. The main objective of the study was to explore and describe knowledge production practices and their attributes within a university environment at the University of Zambia. The study's major contribution to knowledge is that it indicates to what extent this objective is achieved. A mixed methods case study approach that used both quantitative and qualitative research methodology was adopted for the study. The mixed methods analysis framework was based on grounded theory, bibliometric techniques, and concurrent triangulation. The site of investigation was the School of Medicine at the University of Zambia. The sampling technique also adopted a mixed methods approach by using purposive, availability and stratified purposeful sampling to sample the respondents. The PubMed/Medline database, academic staff, key informants and the documents reviewed all served as the key sources of information for the study. Data obtained from PubMed/Medline, questionnaires and semi structured interviews were quantitatively analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, while the more qualitative information that was gleaned from open-ended questions, semi-structured interviews and documentary sources was analysed thematically. The subject analysis of PubMed/Medline articles was done using the VOSviewer software and Microsoft Excel. The findings reveal that the yearly research output from 1995 to 2015 was 281 scholarly papers in 159 journals. The lowest number of papers published were recorded in 1997, 2000, and 2004 while the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 show the highest number of papers per year; and the highest was recorded in 2015. It was found that, except in 1997 and 2000, most of these papers were authored by more than five researchers. This indicates a high degree of collaboration. The journals in which the academic staff were publishing in emanated from all over the world; Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. The journals themselves are also a combination of both high impact factor journals such as the PLoS One, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, The Lancet, Malaria Journal and those with no impact factor like the Medical Journal of Zambia. The results indicate that the respondents mostly investigated and published in subject fields related to diseases most prevalent in Zambia, i.e. HIV and Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis. In addition, the findings indicate that the majority of the academic staff were born after 1960 (73%), with high digital information retrieval skills (95.2%), and with their research output published mainly in journals. The knowledge was produced for various reasons: 85.4% for research purposes, 80.5% for academic promotion, 80.5% for production of knowledge, 73.2% to improve teaching, 61% to provide evidence, 51.2% to change practice, 41.5% to improve policy, 41.5% for personal advancement, and 24.4% for research funding. The knowledge was produced ethically, advancing scholarship, and deemed to be beneficial to society. The overall conclusion drawn from the study is that the knowledge productivity of the School of Medicine has steadily increased over the years and that this is supported by various institutional policies. Additionally, there is increased collaboration with persons outside the continent, whilst there is less collaboration with countries in Africa. The key recommendation for the School of Medicine is that it should work with and within the various layers of the university's institutions such as the Library, Directorate of Research and Graduate Studies, University of Zambia Press, and the Centre for Information and Communication Technology. This would ensure that impediments to knowledge production, diffusion and utilisation are mitigated.
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    Open Access
    Until lions learn to speak... placing the African oral tradition at the centre of power, knowledge, and media
    (University of Cape Town, 2020) Kennedy-Kwofie, Nana Afua; Chuma, Wallace
    The production of knowledge has become a matter of power rather than truth and can serve either serve as a tool of liberation or domination. This creative project seeks to explore the interaction of power, knowledge and media in Africa given its history with European colonialism. This period painted Africa as an uneducated and dark continent that had no history and no knowledge. This belief has led to assumptions about knowledge production which are embedded in racist conventions rather than the free and fair pursuit of complete knowledge. The processes of knowledge production are ranked in a hierarchy and in this system of classification, focus on the written word has dominated curriculums while other systems of knowledge production, specifically the oral tradition, have largely been undervalued and ignored. As such, what is a vibrant, complex and active tradition of African orality in the pursuit and preservation of knowledge has been relegated to the back rooms of academia and scholars are not allowed to access to a variety of methods that can be used to know and understand the world. In analysing the current climate of knowledge production and the role media plays in Africa one must examine several questions: How did the West become the centre of knowledge production? What value can be extracted from the African oral tradition in the pursuit of knowledge in the current system of knowledge production? What are the implications of this on Africans as producers of knowledge and Africa's media landscape? While this creative project does not answer these questions entirely, it opens conversations about how we understand and experience knowledge, media, and power in an African context. Guided by the frameworks of power and postcolonial theory and decolonisation, this creative project aims to offer a critical but open-ended analysis of the state of African knowledge production and media while centring the African oral tradition. This project also aims to begin the work of creating a collection of oral stories to highlight the wisdom and insight that comes from the African oral tradition and what it can offer. Ultimately, this project is a call to widen our epistemological landscapes by including African ways of knowing and media use.