IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gig/afjour/v48y2013i2p107-115.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Comparison Re-invented: Adaptation of Universal Methods to African Studies (Conference Report)

Author

Listed:
  • Franzisca Zanker
  • Katharina Newbery

Abstract

Drawing from a combination of specific, empirical research projects with different theoretical backgrounds, a workshop discussed one methodological aspect often somewhat overlooked in African Studies: comparison. Participants addressed several questions, along with presenting overviews of how different disciplines within African Studies approach comparison in their research and naming specific challenges within individual research projects. The questions examined included: Why is explicit comparative research so rare in African Studies? Is comparative research more difficult in the African context than in other regions? Does it benefit our research? Should scholars strive to generalise beyond individual cases? Do studies in our field require an explicit comparative design, or will implicit comparison suffice? Cross-discipline communication should help us to move forward in this methodological debate, though in the end the subject matter and specific research question will lead to the appropriate comparative approach, not the other way round.

Suggested Citation

  • Franzisca Zanker & Katharina Newbery, 2013. "Comparison Re-invented: Adaptation of Universal Methods to African Studies (Conference Report)," Africa Spectrum, Institute of African Affairs, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 48(2), pages 107-115.
    • Handle: RePEc:gig:afjour:v:48:y:2013:i:2:p:107-115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/afsp/article/view/652
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, 2006. "French historiography on Africa: A historical and personal contextualisation," Africa Spectrum, Institute of African Affairs, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 41(1), pages 107-126.
    2. Lijphart, Arend, 1971. "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 682-693, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Petteri Repo & Kaisa Matschoss, 2019. "Social Innovation for Sustainability Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Jennifer Robinson, 2011. "Cities in a World of Cities: The Comparative Gesture," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 1-23, January.
    3. Gustav Lidén, 2013. "What about theory? The consequences on a widened perspective of social theory," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 213-225, January.
    4. Gisselquist, Rachel M., 2020. "How the cases you choose affect the answers you get, revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    5. Dishil Shrimankar, 2023. "Comparative Assessments of Indian Democracy," Studies in Indian Politics, , vol. 11(1), pages 134-139, June.
    6. Rachel M. Gisselquist, 2018. "Legal empowerment and group-based inequality," WIDER Working Paper Series 039, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Vik, Jostein, 2020. "The agricultural policy trilemma: On the wicked nature of agricultural policy making," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    8. Andrew Murray Faure, 1994. "Some Methodological Problems in Comparative Politics," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 6(3), pages 307-322, July.
    9. Jaap Woldendorp & Hans Keman, 2010. "Dynamic institutional analysis: measuring corporatist intermediation," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 259-275, February.
    10. Kristin Bergtora Sandvik & Ingunn Bjørhaug & Astrid Espegren & Adèle Garnier, 2023. "Protecting skilled Afghan women: Brain save and the politics of vulnerability," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(1), pages 5-15, February.
    11. Bryan K. Ritchie, 2010. "Systemic Vulnerability and Sustainable Economic Growth," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13731.
    12. Virginie Boutueil & Thomas Quillerier & Anna Voskoboynikova, 2019. "Benefits and Pitfalls of Deregulating Taxi Markets: Can Contrasted Case Studies Help Inform the Debate?," Post-Print hal-02422160, HAL.
    13. Cacace, Mirella & Ettelt, Stefanie & Mays, Nicholas & Nolte, Ellen, 2013. "Assessing quality in cross-country comparisons of health systems and policies: Towards a set of generic quality criteria," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 156-162.
    14. Klára Báliková & Natacha Jesus-Silva & Noémia Bessa Vilela & Michaela Korená Hillayová & Jaroslav Šálka, 2023. "The forest land tax systems in Slovakia and Portugal," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 69(10), pages 427-437.
    15. Arts, Bas & Brockhaus, Maria & Giessen, Lukas & McDermott, Constance L., 2024. "The performance of global forest governance: Three contrasting perspectives," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    16. Hervé Dumez & Alain Jeunemaître, 2005. "La démarche narrative en économie," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 56(4), pages 983-1005.
    17. Huiqi Yan & Jeroen van der Heijden & Benjamin van Rooij, 2017. "Symmetric and asymmetric motivations for compliance and violation: A crisp set qualitative comparative analysis of Chinese farmers," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1), pages 64-80, March.
    18. Pointvogl, Andreas, 2009. "Perceptions, realities, concession--What is driving the integration of European energy policies?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5704-5716, December.
    19. Mathieu Rousselin, 2012. "The EU as a Multilateral Rule Exporter - The Global Transfer of European Rules via International Organizations," KFG Working Papers p0048, Free University Berlin.
    20. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Van de Graaf, Thijs, 2018. "Building or stumbling blocks? Assessing the performance of polycentric energy and climate governance networks," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 317-324.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gig:afjour:v:48:y:2013:i:2:p:107-115. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Andreas Mehler (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dueiide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.