A Diopian Analysis of the Symbolisms of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa.

This paper probes two major research questions: First, what does the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) symbolize to its members; and second, what do CODESRIA's symbols represent? In order to answer these questions, the Diopian Methodology is employed. Three sources were utilized to collect the necessary data for the study. One of the sources is an E-mail questionnaire sent to a sample of 299 nonrandomly/ non-probability selected CODESRIA members asking them to answer the following question: What does CODESRIA symbolize to you? The other two sources comprised CODESRIA's Charter and its Emblem. The substantive findings generated after the data collected were systematically analyzed by using the qualitative descriptive and linguistic semantic techniques within the context of the generality of the African presence in the world. Results suggest that CODESRIA symbolizes Abrahamic connections (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), African Nationalism, essential dignity, gnoseology, and Ubuntu. It is therefore suggested that CODESRIA develop an ambassadorship approach through which its members in various countries might be encouraged to get their governments and young scholars to know more about the institution's ethos and work. Such an initiative is vital because it will give the institution more visibility and penetration comparable to those of foreign institutions of similar stature with presence on the African continent, as many of these institutions undermine CODESRIA's commitment to an alternative narrative on Africa's potential and prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]