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The bilingual, French-English journal Méthod(e)s, founded in 2015, is an African initiative with the objective to enlarge the methodological debates on the Global South. The desire for a strong understanding of methodology is to situate it above academic trends, thereby placing it in line with a universal history of the sciences. Just as calling dominant paradigms into question leaves room for creative opportunities, so does the comparison of theoretical approaches and technical models of data collection. Questions related to methods are not purely technical or merely philosophical reflections. The examination of the method used in scientific investigations necessarily leads us to question the validity and consequences of research results. From this point of view, the journal Méthod(e)s is not a forum for simple discussions on the mechanics of research but a tool to question social interests influencing academic research and giving it a political function. It is also intended to lead to a more critical look at the creation of theories dealing with the status of individuals and societies in Africa and the Global South. Méthod(e)s aims to bring into question, connect, and compare the theoretical, technical, and political foundations of the social sciences as applied to human societies. Each contribution is followed by a summary in the respectively other language. In order to ensure a broad intellectual reach, the editors reserve the right to include articles written in other languages. All the abstracts of the papers are also available in Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish.
About the author
Jean-Bernard Ouédraogo is professor of Sociology at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, and Research Director at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Paris. From 2002-2008, he served as deputy Executive Secretary of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Dakar, and from 1989-2002 he was professor of Sociology at the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
