1. "A PALIMPSEST OF CONTRADICTIONS": ETHNICITY, CLASS, AND POLITICS IN AFRICA.
- Author
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Berman, Bruce J.
- Subjects
- *
ETHNICITY , *SOCIAL classes , *POLITICAL science , *NEOCLASSICAL school of economics , *COMMUNISM - Abstract
The study of Africa has been undermined by attempts to develop and apply theories that claim universal relevance as "objective" science, whether neoclassical economics, rational-choice theory, dependency theory, or some versions of Marxist theory. Such efforts at a scientistic universalism leads to "one size fits all" theorizing that have been found historically fallacious, intellectually misleading, and politically disastrous. The creation of a universal theory has been rejected as the end and purpose of social science and history, and, instead, tried to employ theory as a conceptual toolkit that makes possible the analysis of the similarities and differences between real world cases, with the belief that understanding lies in the explanation of complexity and contingency in a small universe of cases with distinctive idiosyncrasies and trajectories of change.
- Published
- 2004
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