In Search of Modernity: Science and Technology in Africa

Africa has been grappling with the question of modernity and modernization for a long time. This quest for modernity, one that is at once global and distinctly African, intensified during the twentieth century, a period that was marked by colonialism, decolonization, and independence, and has become more urgent in the new millennium. Modernity is a profoundly intellectual, cultural, political and economic process and project. It entails, among other things, the ascendancy of science and technology for the productive mobilization and management of resources. In an increasingly knowledge- based global economy, the power of scientific and technological skills is more important than ever. This volume examines Africa's scientific and technological literacy, production, and consumption. Specifically, it focuses on the constraints and challenges, opportunities and developments, and the vision and strategies required to promote the advancement of information technology and biotechnology in Africa in this so-called new age of knowledge economies and globalization. The essays combine concerns for scientific research and policy relevance with academic discourse and development practice, and collectively, they help advance our understanding of the challenges, conditions, and contexts-infrastructural, political, economic, legal, cultural, and social-of science and technology development in Africa.