Browsing by Author "Kontinen, Tiina"

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    Disrupting habits of North–South research collaboration: learning in co-authoring
    (Springer Nature, 2020) Kontinen, Tiina; Nguyahambi, Ajali M.
    One of the frequently mentioned manifestations of asymmetrical relationships in North–South research collaboration has been challenges in co-authoring joint international publications. We critically reflect on our attempt to counteract this tendency and analyse a process of producing an edited volume on practices of citizenship in East Africa, which reports selected findings of a four-year collaborative research project between Tanzanian, Ugandan and Finnish academics. The project was based on philosophical pragmatism, and especially John Dewey’s ideas concerning learning as reformulation of habits. Consequently, our reflection of learning presented in this paper draws from the pragmatist notions of habit and disruption. We analyse how some prevalent habits in support of asymmetrical knowledge production emerged and the ways in which we attempted to reformulate them in our own practices by initiating continuous dialogue within the team, introduction of writing retreats and offering short-term fellowships.
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    A good believer is a good citizen: connecting Islamic morals with civic virtues in rural Tanzania
    (Routledge, 2019) Nguyahambi, Ajali M.; Kontinen, Tiina
    Religious communities as arenas for public life are prevalent examples of social embeddedness that need not to be excluded from the design of citizenship initiatives. Across sub-Saharan Africa, religious practices provide some of the most important spaces of everyday identity, belonging and prevailing ways in which citizens participate in community life. While there is expansion in research on Islamic radicalization in East Africa, this chapter approaches religion and faith from the pragmatist point of view focusing on everyday Islam in non-radicalized rural contexts. Based on interviews with rural community members in Kondoa district, Tanzania, the chapter analyses how community members articulate what it means to be simultaneously a good believer and a good citizen.
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    Habits of contributing citizenship: self-help groups in rural Tanzania
    (Routledge, 2019) Matunga, Benta N.; Chang'a, Haji H.; Kontinen, Tiina; Kilonzo, R. G.
    The chapter examines self-help groups in rural Tanzania as practices in which citizenship habits are formed. Self-help groups are referred as locally organized groups established to address the needs and challenges of the members. From the point of view of pragmatism, self-help groups provide concrete examples of a specific form of associated life and of a general human activeness in addressing shared problems. Based on interviews and focus-group discussions conducted in Kondoa district with local self-help groups, the characteristics of these practices are analyzed through three themes: the kinds of shared problems the groups address, the governance of internal interaction of the groups, and the sorts of participants included. Based on our analysis, we suggest a habit of contributing citizenship emerging out of the participation in self-help groups.