Applying for a PhD Programme

I have not been able to post anything on my blog for the past few days because I have been busy running around. I have just made an application to the University of Ibadan for a PhD programme in African Studies (Anthropology option). Doesn’t that just sound a bit strange, especially if one thinks that I did a BA in Communication and Language Arts, an MA in Development Studies, and then a PhD in Anthropology? Well, I am a bit wary of saying that I will be doing a PhD in Anthropology. The basic reason I am doing it there is that my research interest calls for such a discipline. In the last post I mentioned it before that I will be working on trans-border trade, but I did not give more insight into the issue. Now, I am pasting the abstract I had to submit with the application:

An Ethnographic Study of Rural Trade Networks

Taking studies with backgrounds in regional integration and network theories, and those on informal trade associations as points of departure, I aim to conduct an ethnographic study of trans-border trade networks. What is now referred to among academics as the ‘new integration’ claims that integration in West Africa, instead of being a state-centred endeavour, should incorporate people who have hitherto been ‘regionalising agents’ – the trans-border traders. In other words, trans-border networks and traders are considered the real integrating forces, pathfinders whose trajectories can guide the policies of governments seeking regional consolidation. Other researchers, on the other hand, have written to say that transborder networks can neither serve as forces for true integration, nor as globalising forces for West Africa, for to serve as integrating forces would negate the fundamental basis of their existence: the differences in the fiscal, monetary and other economic policies of the countries in which they trade. This study will primarily be directed at examining the structure of trans-border networks. Its premise is that to be able to say if these networks could either be integrating forces or not, one has to first understand them and decipher the kinds of relationship that they foster among the peoples who have worked them out.
Yea, that is it. I have a longer version, in pdf format, but I don’t know how to attach it; when I get a better hang of using this blog thing I will be attaching things. Anyway, from this, you can see that the theories I have mentioned are theories that combine Political Science and Sociology. In fact, one can say that the best place to do such a study is an institute of Development Studies. There is none around here so I am doing it at an Institute of African Studies. And, as you can also see, the best research methodology for the study would be a field work that is informed by anthropological methods. The main theories I will be exploring, therefore, are the ones I mentioned in the abstract, and any of their siblings. But then, I would want the field to find theories itself. In other words, theories that lend themselves to analysing the results of the data I collect in the field will be given special attention. In order to get myself ready for the work I am already looking through theories in Anthropology. I got a book my Marvin Harris, The Rise of Anthropological Theories. It is a really introductory text. It traces the history of anthropological thoughts to the Enlightenment, of course, with an agenda: to show that Cultural Materialism is the best nomothetic theory and research agenda for investigating and understanding cultures. I am not well-read in the theories as yet so I cannot start critiquing the theory.

I am also looking for books on research methods in Anthropology. In fact, I think that those books are the ones I need the most. I have asked a friend I did my Masters with to help me get Anthropological Locations: Boundaries and Grounds of a Field Science. It sounds like a book that I would have to read, especially because it is an edited volume. I somehow have a feeling that edited texts are usually rich, probably because it is not just the idea of one person. Of course, the argument can be made that articles are often too short for one to develop and deliver a complex thought, but on the other hand, it is often fascinating to see different people tackle the same issue in different, and sometimes conflicting, ways. Another reason I would love to have the book is that, often, it is understood that ethnological studies focus on cultures of particular societies. But then, I am not doing an ethnography of a particular society, but of a group of people who would have evolved a culture over time, a culture that is based on shared interests. Wao! I better stop saying more now; I am yet to have a reasonable understanding of Anthropology. I postpone any elaborations on culture until then. Anyway, I have a feeling that fields extend beyond particular societies. In fact, I have read articles where allusions have been made to people who study the culture of international organisations like the United Nations….. Wait, let me search my computer for the name fo the study. Cant find it, but I am sure it is somewhere there. It is basically a study of the culture of particular organisations….

Alright, I think that is alright for today. By the way, I am trying to leave the room I am sharing with Chuks and Ben. They are nice guys but I just do not think staying in the same room with other people can work. I have to study and all. Even for the most sociable persons, there are times when one just wants to be alone. I think I’ll get one soon, when I do, I’ll let you know.

Cya.