Director's Ink Fall 2005

Welcome to the era of participation! One of the world's most important dividing lines could be described
as the one between those participating and those not participating. In order to address this ever-
widening gap the Institute for the African Child organized a workshop on participatory research methods
at the Center for Democratic Research and Training, Bayero University Kano, Nigeria.

Our workshop featured participants? presentations from the University of Maiduguri, Amadu Bello University,
Bayero University Kano and other institutions including myself and Professor Matthew Adeyanju from Ohio
University and Nana Kwaku Owusu-Kwarteng from the Institute for the African Child, and Youssef Diallo and
Abba Ali Ahmed also from OU. Topics ranged from problems of research in Nigeria to ethics, and alternative
research approaches.

We wanted to apply our knowledge in a real-life field setting so arrangements were made to transport the
entire group to Rogo, a small town south of Kano. There, the district head, an hereditary ruler who is
appointed by the Emir of Kano, welcomed us to speak with about 25 local officials ranging from school
principals, health officers, women's center leader, agriculturalists, religious leaders, and merchants. Our
topic for discussion between the researchers and the Rogo citizenry was, what has been your experience
with researchers coming into Rogo?

We talked for 3 hours with the group about any recollections they had of researchers-foreign and Nigerian-
coming to their town and how the townspeople reacted to the experience. It seldom happens that
researchers make the effort to listen to the researched on the subject of methodology: How did you feel as
the object of the researcher?s gaze? Few indigenous people anywhere have had a hand in defining local
research priorities. Our conversation was an exciting one, dominated by the voices of the town's
representatives. They described a variety of research experiences, from researchers who made little effort
to interact with them to engaged individuals who learned Hausa, ate in their homes, and got to know them
well.

While workshop participants complained that our conversation was with a relatively elite Rogo group,
we discussed how 'elite' voices would be useful as well, as a place to start, as key informants, etc.
Data lies in a continuum and the researcher moves along that continuum sorting, selecting, refining.

Ultimately the people of Rogo showed that they were honored that we had come to town to seek their
advice and opinions on the subject of research. In that they indicated that they had never had feedback
delivered to them before, this was an historic first step in expanding the notion of participation in
research in Northern Nigeria.

In the African Studies Program at Ohio University we are constantly aware of the need to represent the
talakawa, Africa's unheard voices, in all of the work that we do. Our Kano-Rogo workshop demonstrated
that when given the forum, African scholars and villagers have a great deal to say to each other and can
improve the content, efficiency, and implementation of research through comparative interaction. People-
based compassionate problematizing of the African dilemma is our ultimate goal. We addressed the issue
of power in research and we tried to restore power to 1) Nigerian scholars, and 2) their countrymen and
women who serve as respondents and informants. Strengthening methodological work will assist Nigeria in
joining the global conversation about the status of its people in that methods and data will be more
 comparable.

We founded the Institute for the African Child in order to serve as the action arm of the African Studies
Program. We are delighted to have had this opportunity to demonstrate international cooperation in such
a challenging setting and are grateful to our sponsors, the Association Liaison Office for Higher Education
and International Development. Our own capacity to deliver this type of program was strengthened
through this activity and through the involvement of our graduate students from Ghana, Nigeria, and
Guinea.

Steve Howard.