From Neo­liberalism to Pan­Africanism: Towards Reconstructing an Eastern African Discourse

Abstract

The purpose of this short intervention is to review the state of interaction between our universities in East Africa so far as intellectual debate is concerned. If in the process I refer somewhat passionately to the debates of the 60s and 70s, it is not out of nostalgia but to draw inspiration. And we need this inspiration given the state of intellectual inertia and marketisation of academia that has set in with the invasion of neo­liberal agenda in our universities. At the end I am also making a modest proposal as to how we may use the vantage point of this Workshop to start about reflecting on the mechanisms to kick­start the process of an Eastern African Discourse. But the academics that we are, I must provide the background and the context, albeit in somewhat disjointed sketches.