There are Barbarians at the Academy gates!

Following up on my piece a couple of weeks ago in which I discussed the fact that the foundation of our nation is based on lies, I find that it is necessary to further explore this idea in another important area of our national life — the academy.

Perhaps the foundational lie of this republic continues to thrive because while it is conceived in the lairs of our megalomanic politicians, it is developed, polished, perpetuated and disseminated from the ivory towers of academia.

We have revised our history and written multiple tomes purportedly based on historical research, in which we have extolled the virtues of the most sociopathic villains and magnified the failings of the true heroes of this republic.

In the academy, we have even produced professors whose primary role has been to sanitise a tyrannical regime and produce party manifestos not for interrogation in the classroom, but for consumption by the hoi polloi.

These manifesto templates are still being used by political parties to this day, with adjustments only being made to increase the glitz and hype the promises. Many of these “political” professors owed their appointments more to their political paymasters than to their academic peers as is the norm elsewhere.

The unfortunate result of these appointments is that over time they become self-perpetuating. The academy is a perfect representation of the reproductive chain. New academics can only be produced by existing academics, in the same way new human beings can only be produced by existing human beings.

The process is fairly straightforward. Importantly, novices must be trained by experts to such a level that they begin generating new knowledge on their own. They must work hard and similarly mentor others to join their field of study.

Eventually, the aspiring professors will be assessed by their senior colleagues who will then determine whether they have made sufficiently significant contribution to the body of knowledge to merit the higher appellation.

SATISFYING EXISTING SCHOLARS

It is only upon satisfying these existing scholars that the aspiring professor is given an appointment and allowed the space to nurture and support their own lineage of scholars.

With this understanding, it is not difficult to see how even a few misguided appointments that do not follow the established procedures undermines and contaminates the academy, causing potentially irreparable damage that spreads due to the multiplier effect.

One inept, “politically appointed” professor has the capacity to populate entire departments with equally inept and misguided scholars, and in a few generations it might become easier to locate a needle in a haystack than to find a true scholar in some institutions.

In my view, the Kenyan academy is on the verge of this very real apocalypse, if we haven’t plunged into the abyss already. Discussions in both mainstream and social media channels have recently turned the spotlight on some Kenyans who have allegedly “awarded” themselves doctorates and professorships with doubtful provenance.

The truth is that this is becoming a common practice in many of our highest institutions of learning. Despite the existence of clearly laid down appointment criteria, it is not unheard of to find holders of those positions who have not made any significant contribution to the field.

For instance, one global standard for scholarly contributions is the number and quality of publications in peer-reviewed journals. In the past, this was a closely guarded secret due to the difficulties in accessing journals and other scholarly publications.

Fortunately, today almost any respected journal has an online presence, and many of them are accessible without any payment.

It is therefore easy to enter the name of any scholar in a particular field, and all their scholarly work would be displayed, often with links to the original publications. A quick search for the works of many prominent purported scholars often returns a blank.

My main contention is that counterfeit academics have taken over, or are in the process of taking over the academy. Like the man said, there are barbarians at the gates!

Atwoli is an associate professor of psychiatry and dean, School of Medicine, Moi University; [email protected]