A main purpose of this volume has been to sift through half a century of scholarship on politics in Africa. As such it has covered more ground than other similar texts. It has been an intellectual journey that at times might have appeared taxing yet in the end is hopefully rewarding. Nearing the end of our discussion, we should take stock of the lessons learned. This penultimate chapter addresses three questions: (1) How do we acquire our knowledge? (2) What accumulated wisdom is now available? (3) How is knowledge applied in Africa?

HOW DO WE ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE?

This question applies not only to students of African politics and development but is also one that is especially relevant in a literature review that stretches fifty or so years. Knowledge does not emerge or function in a social or political vacuum, nor is the knowledge of one discipline necessary superior to others. Finally, there are many different ways of producing knowledge. Let us explore every one of these three propositions.

Although the ambition of comparativist scholars is to produce knowledge that can translate across geographical and historical boundaries, there are limits to how far one can take knowledge developed in one country or regional setting to another. As this book has tried to communicate, context, including history, matters. Cross-country or cross-sectional comparisons are important and valuable in their own right, but their purpose is to look at a small slice of reality with a fine lens.