Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Sociology and Political Science

African Studies and Ethnography

African Studies and Ethnography is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 7.7k research works in it since 1951. 10.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores governance, social movements, healthcare, and political dynamics in various African countries. It covers topics such as urban protest, media pluralism, ethnic relations, decentralization, and youth employment. The papers provide insights into the complexities of governance and social dynamics in Africa.

  • Africa
  • governance
  • social movements
  • healthcare
  • political transition
  • ethnicity
  • urban protest
  • media pluralism
  • decentralization
  • youth employment
Research works
7.7k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
839
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+23%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
France
57% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
African Studies and Ethnography

Which countries lead African Studies and Ethnography research?

By volume, France and Côte d'Ivoire publish the most (842 and 118 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 France 842 works
  2. 2 Côte d'Ivoire 118 works
  3. 3 United States 108 works
  4. 4 Democratic Republic of the Congo 70 works
  5. 5 Canada 68 works
  6. 6 Cameroon 65 works
  7. 7 Senegal 62 works
  8. 8 Burkina Faso 60 works
  9. 9 Germany 50 works
  10. 10 ?? 47 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

France: 56.5%Côte d'Ivoire: 7.9%United States: 7.3%Democratic Republic of the Congo: 4.7%6 others listed: 23.6%57%largest
France842 · 56.5%Côte d'Ivoire118 · 7.9%United States108 · 7.3%Democratic Republic of the Congo70 · 4.7%6 others listed352 · 23.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead African Studies and Ethnography research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most African Studies and Ethnography research, followed by Université Alassane Ouattara and Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 321 works
  2. 2 Université Alassane OuattaraCôte d'Ivoire 45 works
  3. 3 Université Félix Houphouët-BoignyCôte d'Ivoire 40 works
  4. 4 Cheikh Anta Diop UniversitySenegal 33 works
  5. 5 Université de MontpellierFrance 29 works
  6. 6 University of KinshasaDemocratic Republic of the Congo 27 works
  7. 7 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 25 works
  8. 8 Université de LyonFrance 23 works
  9. 9 Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'EnvironnementFrance 22 works
  10. 10 Université d'Abomey-CalaviBenin 18 works

Who are the leading researchers in African Studies and Ethnography?

The most-cited researchers publishing on African Studies and Ethnography include Pierre Bourdıeu, Bruno Latour and Jean‐Yves Reginster.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Bruno Latour France 129k citations
  3. 3 Jean‐Yves Reginster Belgium 91k citations
  4. 4 Benoı̂t Roux United States 79k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in African Studies and Ethnography?

The most cited paper in African Studies and Ethnography is "How Native Is a “Native” Anthropologist?" (Kirin Narayan, 1993), with 1,173 citations. Next come "Twilight Institutions: Public Authority and Local Politics in Africa" (982) and "Participant Objectivation*" (633).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 How Native Is a “Native” Anthropologist? Kirin Narayan · American Anthropologist Sep 1993 1,173
2 Twilight Institutions: Public Authority and Local Politics in Africa Christian Have Lund · Development and Change Jul 2006 982
3 Participant Objectivation* Pierre Bourdıeu · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Open access 22 May 2003 633
4 The biopolitics of otherness: Undocumented foreigners and racial discrimination in French public debate Didier Fassin · Anthropology Today Feb 2001 443
5 Arbitrary locations: in defence of the bounded field‐site Matei Candea · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 8 Feb 2007 343
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is African Studies and Ethnography research done?

The largest centres of African Studies and Ethnography research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), Montpellier (France) and Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Bouaké, Kinshasa and Abidjan.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 301 works
  2. 2 AbidjanCôte d'Ivoire 54 works
  3. 3 MontpellierFrance 52 works
  4. 4 KinshasaDemocratic Republic of the Congo 46 works
  5. 5 BouakéCôte d'Ivoire 45 works
  6. 6 DakarSenegal 42 works
  7. 7 OuagadougouBurkina Faso 41 works
  8. 8 LyonFrance 35 works
  9. 9 NanterreFrance 31 works
  10. 10 MarseilleFrance 30 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BouakéCI · 45.2 works575×
  2. KinshasaCD · 46.2 works159×
  3. AbidjanCI · 53.9 works134×
  4. OuagadougouBF · 40.7 works129×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in African Studies and Ethnography than the world average.

See African Studies and Ethnography on the map

Where is the best place to study African Studies and Ethnography?

Among universities, judged by research, Université de Montpellier, Cheikh Anta Diop University and Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 9.48%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Université de Montpe…Université Joseph Ki…Cheikh Anta Diop Uni…Université Alassane …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Université de MontpellierFrance 90.622.7%50.2×29 +88.0%
2Cheikh Anta Diop UniversitySenegal 66.410.9%174.3×33 +80.5%
3Université Joseph Ki-ZerboBurkina Faso 59.411.6%161.2×16 +94.6%
4Université Alassane OuattaraCôte d'Ivoire 58.92.0%623.9×45 +15.7%
5Université d'Abomey-CalaviBenin 57.39.8%109.9×18 +27.7%
6Université de Yaoundé ICameroon 56.610.7%65.9×17 +50.0%
7Université Félix Houphouët-BoignyCôte d'Ivoire 55.05.8%248.6×40 +57.2%
8University of LoméTogo 53.310.5%141.5×14 +295.4%
9Université de LyonFrance 52.36.7%20.8×23 +21.6%
10University of KinshasaDemocratic Republic of the Congo 51.24.1%208.5×27 +361.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in African Studies and Ethnography, country by country

Is African Studies and Ethnography research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 23% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are African Studies and Ethnography.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is African Studies and Ethnography as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0069% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%African Studies and Ethnography0.010% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of African Studies and Ethnography over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%African Studies and Ethnography9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about African Studies and Ethnography. Posts are plain text and can be reported.