| dc.description.abstract | In this book, we offer a number of illustrations of what citizenship means and
how it is practiced in selected locations in Tanzania and Uganda. Moreover,
we discuss the potential contribution of philosophical pragmatism when it
comes to conceptualizing citizenship in general, and in everyday practices in
these East African contexts in particular. Therefore, we hope, on the one
hand, that the phrase “philosophical pragmatism” in the book title will not
scare off those interested in practices in these particular contexts, and on the
other, that those having a more conceptual interest will be inspired to reflect
further on the implications of these particular contexts for theorizing about
citizenship. In other words, we would like to invite any reader interested in
citizenship, from everyday practice to philosophical conceptualization to join
us for a dialogue.
Three ongoing debates have motivated us to engage in a dialogue between
development research and pragmatist philosophy. First, we respond to the
eagerness of development research to contribute to “intentional develop-
ment” (Cowen & Shenton 1996) and, therefore, to use theories and concepts
in a normative way: to describe what should be the end state of “develop-
ment” and accordingly, to prescribe needed interventions in order to reach
the desired situation. While, as researchers, we cannot, and should not,
escape our normative ideas of what the good life is, our analytical endea-
vour nevertheless seeks a relatively non-normative starting point with a
focus on analyzing the present situation. Second, we seek to adhere to the
methodological principle of philosophical pragmatism according to which
concepts and theories should be informed by human practices and devel-
oped through joint inquiry. In accordance with this view, our aim is to
investigate selected philosophical concepts through inquiry into practices in
African locations, which are often marginalized from philosophical theori-
zation. Third, we were motivated by the recent debates in development stu-
dies concerning the importance of civil society and citizen engagement in
societal change and, consequently, chose the notion of citizenship, exten-
sively discussed in both development research and philosophy, as the locus
of our inquiry.
These three motivations, discussed in detail below, set the academic fra-
mework for the book, which is not clearly situated in any particular discipline.
It represents a genuine attempt to make sense of everyday citizenship by
drawing on contributions from a variety of disciplines. It presents selected
findings from a four-year research project, “Growth into citizenship in civil
society encounters” (2015–2019), and is thus an important milestone in a
collaborative research journey that has combined expertise in educational
philosophy, philosophical pragmatism, adult education, sociology, political
science and development studies from four universities: the University of
Dodoma, Tanzania; Makerere University, Uganda; and the Universities of
Jyväskylä and Oulu, Finland. | en_US |
