A Five-Year Plan of Research

Extract

Having received through the generosity of the Rockefeller Foundation additional funds for the extension of research in Africa, the Council of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures are of opinion that the best use that can be made of the resources at their disposal is to encourage and assist studies directed to a single main objective. The fundamental problem arising from the interpenetration of African life by the ideas and economic forces of European civilization is that of the cohesion of African society. African society is being subjected to a severe strain, and there is a danger lest the powerful forces that are entering the continent may bring about its complete disintegration, the results of which must be calamitous for the individuals who compose it and at the same time render impossible an orderly evolution of the community. It is proposed, therefore, that the inquiries fostered by the Institute should be directed towards bringing about a better understanding of the factors of social cohesion in original African society, the ways in which these are being affected by the new influences, tendencies towards new groupings and the formation of new social bonds, and forms of co-operation between African societies and western civilization.