A Partnership of Un-Equals: Global South–North Research Collaborations in Higher Education Institutions

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Keneilwe Molosi-France
Sinfree Makoni

Abstract

With the realisation that institutions of higher learning may play a powerful role in transforming the world, research partnerships between institutions in the Global South and North have gained popularity. These partnerships are meant to empower and strengthen the contribution of higher learning institutions and bridge the North/South knowledge divide. Considering the limited access to research resources in the Global South, it is anticipated that these partnerships will create research opportunities for scholars. However, while it can be acknowledged that the research partnerships can be of benefit to African institutions and economy, there are practical challenges that limit the success of most research partnerships. Using the authors’s experience this article explores and describes issues that surround research collaborations between institutions of higher learning in the Global South and North.

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How to Cite
Molosi-France, K., & Makoni, S. (2020). A Partnership of Un-Equals: Global South–North Research Collaborations in Higher Education Institutions. Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society, 8(2), 9–24. https://doi.org/10.26806/modafr.v8i2.343
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Articles
Author Biographies

Keneilwe Molosi-France, University of Botswana, Botswana

She is a senior lecturer in the Department of Lifelong Learning and Community Development at the University of Botswana. She recently visited Penn State University as a Fulbright research scholar for the year 2019-20. Her research areas are community development and extension services, and decolonial scholarship. E-mail: molosik@ub.ac.bw.

Sinfree Makoni, Penn State University, United States of America

He teaches in the Department of Applied Linguistics and the Program of African Studies at Pennsylvania State University, USA and is Extraordinary Professor at North West University and an Andrew Carnegie Diaspora Fellow at Laikipia University, Kenya. His research areas are in Language Policy and Planning, Southern Epistemologies, and Decolonial Scholarship and Critical Linguistics. One of his recent books co-authored with Alastair Pennycook is Innovations and Challenges to Applied Linguistics from the Global South (2020). London/New York: Routledge. E-mail: sinfreemakoni@hotmail.com.