Child Development in Africa: Views From Inside

Book excerpt: In this volume, African scholars engaged in research on thecontinent reflect on their recent and ongoing empirical studies.They discuss the strengths and limitations of research methods,theories, and interventions designed outside Africa to spurinnovative research on the continent. And they explore how insightsfrom African philosophical, theoretical, and empirical work can becombined with exogenous forms of knowledge to generateunderstanding of the processes of African children’sdevelopment in ways that are responsive to local contexts andmeaningful for indigenous stakeholders. A new field of African child development research is emerging inAfrican societies, focusing on children as valued and vulnerablemembers of society and potential civic leaders of the future.Systematic inquiries are now designed to enhance our understandingof how African children think, to discover effective ways ofcommunicating with them, and to inform successful strategies ofpromoting their health, education, and preparation for adultresponsibilities in society. This is the 146th volume in this Jossey-Bass series NewDirections for Child and Adolescent Development. Its mission isto provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edgeissues and concepts in this subject area. Each volume focuses on aspecific new direction or research topic and is edited by expertsfrom that field.