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This book addresses a notable gap in African sociological knowledge by leveraging extensive empirical data covering all 54 African countries and drawing on historical insights from across the continent. Offering a nuanced understanding of African society, it signifies an unprecedented endeavour committed to unravelling the intricate tapestry of African society. The analysis presented in the book goes into the dynamic evolution of sociological topics, their interconnections with African knowledge, the identification of contemporary themes, methodological diversity, and contemporary challenges and issues of indigenisation, decolonisation, and promoting an Africa-centered sociology.

This book explores the connection between family structure and circumstances, parental engagement, and adolescent sexual behavior. Given that South Africa contains the highest portion of the global HIV epidemic within a single country, a comprehensive, book-length investigation into—sometimes risky—adolescent sexual behaviour is necessary. Drawing from the longitudinal Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS) of more than 4,000 adolescents between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two, as well as qualitative interviews and focus group discussions with parents and adolescents, this study pioneers empirical investigation of adolescent sexual behavior within the intricate framework of family dynamics in South Africa.

This book offers an examination of Africa's scientific landscape based on extensive empirical data encompassing fifty-four African countries. It traces the evolution of science on the continent, highlighting research areas, global partnerships, funding sources, research capacity, and the impact of science policies. Acknowledging that Africa relies heavily on external sources, particularly from the Global North, for scientific research, the book identifies and addresses obstacles hindering self-reliance and underscores the urgent need for revitalized partnerships and cooperation to bolster Africa's scientific autonomy. It offers valuable recommendations to promote self-reliance, making it an indispensable resource for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners.

This book is the first comprehensive account of the history and current state of South African sociology. Providing a holistic picture of the subject both as it is taught in universities and as a field of research, it reveals the trajectories of a discipline in a challenging socio-political context. With the support of historical and scientometric data, it demonstrates how the changing political situation, from colonialism to apartheid to democracy, has influenced the nature, direction and foci of sociological research in the country. The author shows how, during the apartheid era, sociology was professionally fragmented and divided along language and race lines. It was, however, able to flourish with the advent of democracy in 1994 and has become a unique academic movement. This insightful work will appeal to students and scholars of the social sciences, and all those interested in the history and society of South Africa.

This book is essential for anyone interested in knowing how science works nationally and internationally in the contemporary world. It offers a comprehensive analysis of scientific collaboration and its relation to development and the productivity of scientists, with specific reference to South Africa in both the past and the present.