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Evaluating Collaboration Networks
in Higher Education Research
 Denise Leite • Isabel Pinho

Evaluating
Collaboration
Networks in Higher
Education Research
Drivers of Excellence
Denise Leite Isabel Pinho
Federal University of Rio University of Aveiro
Grande do Sul Aveiro, Baixo Vouga, Portugal
Porto Alegre,
Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

ISBN 978-3-319-45224-1 ISBN 978-3-319-45225-8 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-45225-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016950013

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

This book was advertised with a copyright holder in the name of the publisher in error,
whereas the author holds the copyright.
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to
the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.

With the collaboration of Bernardo S. Miorando and Cláudia Pinho

Cover illustration: Détail de la Tour Eiffel © nemesis2207/Fotolia.co.uk

Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 In Memoriam Rui Santiago
With him we built networks across the Atlantic
 PREFACE

Once, years ago, an american writer said that autonomy was not exactly a
condition for democracy: the reverse would be absolutely true. Without
participation in what is important to welfare, without the right to engage
in the decision-making process, we are no more than incomplete humans
in a system that decides for us. “Freedom, justice, equality, and autonomy
are all products of common thinking and common living; democracy
creates them” (Barber, 1984, p. xv). Our deepest values, participation,
and autonomy, lying in the foundations of our academic work, were
expressed in the realization of this book. In this direction, both of us,
the authors, were researching, separated by an ocean of distance. In
common, we have the same research theme—networks.
When we think about the origin of this book, we remember the
moments of intense intellectual activity in a conference, sponsored by an
association that for over half a century stimulated democracy and free
participation of academics and students. Why democracy? The answer
can be, simply, the following: in this event we, the intellectuals, propose
the themes for a panel and submit them to our peers. Once reviewed and
accepted, we present our articles and research in discussion groups. This
event mobilizes academic and personal relations among researchers from
many countries and institutions creating new networks. This book comes
to light in such way, with one Latin American author and one European
author. Both have had equal opportunities for participation based on
organizational democracy conditions. At the Lasa Conference, we were
in separate rooms, different groups, presenting the same theme—research

vii
viii PREFACE

networks. An international publisher had shown interest in the publication

of the theme. Invitations were made and the challenge was accepted.
The book’s intention and scope derived from a demand for understand-
ing what roles research networks evaluation has in higher education. Our
starting point is that research networks can be workspaces where auton-
omy and democracy arise characterized by collaboration among different
people. The individuals who form a network keep differences in academic
background, hierarchical position, and field of expertise. We propose in
this book that networks must be evaluated, or, in other words, network
leaders must make wise decisions aligning goals and accomplishments with
a focus on excellence, producing knowledge, in order to achieve the best
results and excellence of products. To focus in the direction of excellence,
networks’ self-evaluation, with the participation of network members, is a
driver. To achieve this, we have identified, in the literature and in our
research practices, qualitative and quantitative indicators that we explore
in this work.
We argue that evaluation goes beyond a qualified organizer. Evaluation
indeed organizes data and provides information that can be used for
improving performance in groups. But the data can be questioned accord-
ing to different perspectives. Thus, by proposing a new evaluation format,
we emphasize a rich research activity, considering the network as a facil-
itator learning space, a context for education, and for training new
researchers. We understand network as a self-governing productive agency
for its members, a creative environment for research where it is possible to
develop new methodologies and technological issues. It can be a place of
innovation with continuous improvement in research processes to produce
and exchange knowledge. It is important to note that the literature
reviewed showed that there is a lack of studies on the theme of evaluating
collaboration networks in higher education.
The chapters of this book come as a result from values that we consider
fundamental and profess in our academic praxis. Technically, they are
written results of research projects integration, supported by CNPq, the
National Council for Scientific and Technological Development of Brazil,
namely Evaluation and Collaborative Networks I: Innovation and Changes
in the Webs of Knowledge (Leite, D., Research Project, CNPq Ufrgs RS,
2010); Evaluation and Collaborative Networks II: Scientific Production in
the Field of Education and the International Science Control (Leite, D.,
Research Project, CNPq, Ufrgs, 2015); Higher Education Evaluation and
Innovation Policies: Impacts on Knowledge Production (Lima, Elizeth;
 PREFACE ix

Research Project, CNPq Unemat Mt, 2012); and a postdoctoral study on

Collaborative Networks, a Literature Review (Pinho, I., Research Project,
CNPq Br, and University of Aveiro Pt, 2013).
The themes of the chapters presented here were selected from those
named research projects. They were gestated in practices and experiences
integrated by relationships among members of a 25-year research group.
The networks were woven with colleagues and students and technicians
from the same region, later on branched out into many networks through
coauthorships. Uruguayan, Argentinean, Chilean, Mexican, and
Colombian researchers, as well as European researchers, mainly
Portuguese, were among coauthorship relations that inspired this book.
In conclusion, this intellectual work humbly acknowledges that we were
not alone. There were many people who—knowingly or unknowingly—
were responsible for building ideas that are explored in this book. Thus,
we wish to thank the colleagues of InovAval Research Group, our partners
Maria Elly Herz Genro, Célia Elizabeth Caregnato, Elizeth Lima, and
Sonia Caregnato from whom we are always learning. Very special thanks
goes to Bernardo Sfredo Miorando, doctorate student from UFRGS and
Cláudia Pinho, University of Aveiro. They have been our gentle counse-
lors for the English linguistic revision and bibliographical references; we
are grateful for their attentive reading of the manuscript, suggestions, and
incentives. We apologize to our students, masters, and doctorates from
Ufrgs and Unemat, who understood we could not give them more atten-
tion during the time we were writing. We are pleased to offer this book in
memory of Prof. Dr. Rui Santiago. His generosity as a person and knowl-
edge as a professor motivated durable relationships, permanent networks,
and creative exchanges. Finally, we would like to acknowledge Palgrave’s
invitation to publish this book and detach the positive and critical appraisal
of anonymous reviewers of the first manuscript.
We, the authors, sincerely hope that this work contributes to relevant
research supported by a comprehensive format of self-evaluation. We
consider the participatory format of evaluation as a driver for excellence.
We have the intention to propose a new perspective on network studies.
We want to go beyond the sum of individual productivity where each
researcher is ranked by a productivistic dimension. We hope that the
evaluation of research and collaboration networks will be referred to as
the engines that move the collective responsibility for the greatest and
humanistic achievements in science at the age of globalization.
x PREFACE

In times of accelerated connectivity and information, knowledge pro-

duction supported by strong research is a channel for the development of
nations, being credited to the global economy. Not pretentiously, this
book aims at collaborating with the perspective of a connected world, the
connected context of global science. It intends to be showing how crucial
the understanding of research networks’ international links is. As we
assume, a network can be weaved around the art of generating and
producing knowledge, rigorous research methodologies, and conse-
quently, improving better performance and impact. We understand that
it is around a simple microstructure, similar to the one of a research
network, in which knowledge is alive and can be delivered and used. It
can thus be helpful in taking a closer look at the inside (and in site) of a
research network, trying to capture its functioning standards, as well as in
taking a look at the direction of social relations among researchers and
partners and to perceive how many interaction processes can build a single
research product or an unpretentious result.
We sincerely hope that this book will be useful to all readers. We wish
everyone a generous, fruitful, and inspiring reading as pleasant as it was for
us to write the pivot-style book.

Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Denise Leite

University of Aveiro, Portugal, Isabel Pinho
Autumn (South) and Spring (North)
March 2016
 CONTENTS

1 Science Geography and International Research

Collaboration 1

2 Limits and Frontiers to International Collaboration 11

3 Theoretical Approaches to Research Collaboration

Networks 25

4 Research Collaboration Networks: What Do Researchers

Say and What Networks Show? 41

5 What Do We Measure by Evaluating Research

Collaboration Networks? 57

6 What Is RNPE Evaluation? Does Metrics Mean the Same? 79

7 Concluding Remarks: Evaluation and Collaboration 103

References 109

Index 121

xi
 LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1.1 Changing role of the four world regions in major fields
of science publications and citations 5
Fig. 1.2 Research performance framework 8
Fig. 4.1 Coauthorship articles 2001–2010 from Brazil (PE, SSHEd)
and Portugal (SSH) 48
Fig. 4.2 Coauthorship network RBBIO: 2004–2013 53
Fig. 5.1 University of Aveiro U-Multirank performance profile 67
Fig. 5.2 Measure of impact 72

xiii
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Types of collaboration 38

Table 4.1 Research group RBBIO case study 51
Table 5.1 Values and quality assessment 60
Table 5.2 Top ten indicators employed by the national and global
ranking systems 61
Table 5.3 Indicators classification 62
Table 5.4 Impact indicators: Leiden ranking 64
Table 5.5 Collaboration indicators: Leiden ranking 65
Table 5.6 CWTS standard bibliometric indicators 69
Table 5.7 Article-Level metrics tools 70
Table 5.8 Leiden manifesto ten principles 76
Table 6.1 Protocol for analysis of collaboration in articles 91
Table 6.2 Micro-level quantitative indicators for RNPE 93
Table 6.3 Micro-level qualitative indicators for RNPE 96

xv
 CHAPTER 1

Science Geography and International

Research Collaboration

Abstract In this introductory chapter, we start by discussing the main

changes in knowledge production at some established and emerging
economies. Next, we focus on research networks and international colla-
boration factors and excellence in knowledge production. There are chan-
ging roles of world regions in the science context. A science geography
map of international collaboration is presented in four research major
fields: life sciences, fundamental sciences, applied sciences, and social
sciences. International collaboration is accepted as a source, a copious
source, to scientific productivity. It is an important driver of science
dynamics around the world. Following the focus of the book, we provide
a conceptual research performance framework in order to address, evalu-
ate, and monitor collaboration and international networks, a tool for
excellence in scientific production.

Keywords Science geography
Research networks
International

collaboration
Excellence research

INTRODUCTION
Among the key parameters in contemporary research, performance net-
works processes and outcomes must be included. A research has different
products—intellectual and material—which are produced in collaborative
research networks; its impact can be at a local or global level. Traditionally,

© The Author(s) 2017 1

D. Leite, I. Pinho, Evaluating Collaboration Networks in Higher
Education Research, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-45225-8_1
2 EVALUATING COLLABORATION NETWORKS IN HIGHER . . .

the relevance of research is considered high if its impact is international,

read, understood, and replicated, reaching the scientific community and
other audience all around the globe. The impact of theoretical and prac-
tical results, contribute not only to the progress of science itself, but also
to the creation of wealth in the form of patents, tradable goods, and
innovations in industry and services, that is, on improving the sustainable
economy. The science results should also support the decision-making of
public policy. Among outputs, from researchers and their networks, is
expected the training mission of the new scientists (Adams, 2012;
Alperin, 2013; Fiorin, 2007; Kreimer, 2007, 2011). Although it seems
an isolated activity, parameterized by paradigms, research is increasingly
becoming cross-disciplinary and overcoming geographical and territorial
boundaries and to bring researchers from different disciplines, different
fields of knowledge, and different knowledge production interests.
The evaluation of the research and the researcher, however, is to con-
sider all areas of knowledge as identical; likewise, the evaluation considers
the production of knowledge and its products as being equal in all fields of
knowledge. Researchers and academic teachers are being evaluated in the
same way by the metrics of their bibliographic production. Bibliometric
indicators accomplish and comply with this purpose. These metrics are
instruments for detecting knowledge production and for research results
communication. But, as Van Raan (2006, p. 409) argues, “ . . . the con-
ventional bibliometric indicators may fail to account for this nonlinearity
between size – measured by the number of publications – and impact –
measured by a number of citations – and could result in an over or
underestimation of research performance.”
Under this assumption, the productivity measures—mainly based on
the number of publications in national and international journals—
makeup the indexes that will accredit and classify universities, higher
education institutions, and their programs all over the world. The
dynamics involve both the logic of publications in impact journals, inter-
national journals, as well as in national journals whose classification was
defined by national research agencies. Evaluation can be a hint not just to
mark out the individual output of a researcher as to serve the purpose of
admission, retention, career progression, or even resignation in profes-
sional teaching and research. The type of individual production includes
bibliographic, cultural, and technical products, patents requested, patents
that are commercially exploited, software, prototypes, and others.
Therefore, they contribute to the reputational concepts given to higher
 1 SCIENCE GEOGRAPHY AND INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH COLLABORATION 3

education institutions. Such indexes and concepts are, indeed, mathematic

formulations, but they validate the research activity in the meso-level
or institutional context, locus of individual researcher career, and
research networks and research group activities. They can acquire an
extreme and unique importance because, at the same time, they rever-
berate international university rankings, they can change the focus of
research practices toward a sterile productivity. In a meaningful pur-
pose, by another side, they can also be drivers of excellence research,
contributing to the fourth research age. Unfortunately, it seems to be
that the evaluation procedures restrained to measurements do not
consider the effective collaboration inside research networks and
research groups. In the most acknowledged evaluation systems, pro-
ducts are measured but the processes through which they are acquired
remain mostly unknown.
Science is not done in a vacuum; it is located at geographical spaces and
at social spaces. Looking at global research production from economic
regions with static and dynamic lenses can give some understanding of this
reality. We know that different fields of knowledge have different patterns
of scientific publication and different areas build different types of research
networks, but we need to understand the global context and micrody-
namics to better manage knowledge processes.

SCIENCE GEOGRAPHY CHANGES

Global research production can be a study from diverse perspectives:
disciplinary performance, economic maturity (established economies and
emerging economies), or combining diverse production rates. It is also
relevant to integrate static and dynamic analysis to better understand the
phenomenon of knowledge production globally, looking at evolution in
regions and countries. Besides the growth of scientific production world-
wide, with more articles being published, the remarkable fact is that this
production is no longer confined to the developed countries (Hollanders
and Soete, 2010; Leydesdorff and Wagner, 2009).
Jonathan Adams (2013) studied the evolution of the balance of inter-
national and domestic research collaboration for established economies,
the USA, the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and
emerging ones like China, India, South Korea, Brazil, and Poland. This
study is based on research papers over the period from 1981 to 2012,
4 EVALUATING COLLABORATION NETWORKS IN HIGHER . . .

indexed on the Web of Science. The author shows how this evolution
during the period of the last three decades is significant.
Radosevic and Yoruk (2014) analyzed the changing role of world
regions in science from 1981 to 2011. Their approach is both from
quantity and impact perspectives and is thus distinguished between pub-
lished (P) papers and citations (C). They found that the global shift in
science is largely in terms of quantity (papers) and much less (so far) in
terms of relative impact. They found that “science systems operate with
high inertia and in the areas of their historically inherited advantages and
disadvantages” (Radosevic and Yoruk, 2014, p. 16). Next, they compared
world regions in terms of publication: EU15 and North America have
converged in relative shares, and there has been a remarkable catch-up of
Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East.
These authors explore the long-term changes in world science by
looking science not only by the side of its outputs (specifically publica-
tions), but also considering science as an activity, which denotes absorptive
capacity and as world frontier knowledge activity. Absorptive capacity is
defined as the ability to learn and implement knowledge or, in the context
of science, the ability to recognize the value of new, external information,
assimilate it, and apply it in another context (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990).
To study patterns on absorptive capacity, they analyze a number of pub-
lications; to study participation in world frontier knowledge, they analyze
the impact of papers.
It is necessary to go beyond the stage of absorptive capacity and move
toward participation in knowledge production in world frontier knowl-
edge. Radosevic and Yoruk (2014, p. 22) combine analysis of static and
dynamic specializations and show “strong historically rooted regional
patterns with only some new developments.” These authors aggregated
the data into four major scientific areas (life, fundamental, applied, and
social sciences)1 and compare them in the eight world regions (North
America, EU15, South EU, Central and Eastern Europe, former USSR,
Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East). For the purpose of our
study, we selected four of these regions: North America, EU15, Latin
America, and Asia Pacific (see Fig. 1.1).
North America and EU15 continue to be highly specialized in life
sciences [publications (P)_and citations (C)]. Among the catching up
regions, Latin America’s dynamic position in life sciences is relevant.
This is the result of favorable science policies in the past few decades,
especially in Argentina and Brazil; this region has also managed to reach
 1 SCIENCE GEOGRAPHY AND INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH COLLABORATION 5

North America EU 15

P C P C P C P C P C

Applied Life Funda- Social Applied Life Funda- Social

mental mental
P C P C P C

Latin America Asia Pacific

C P C C P C P C

Applied Life Funda- Social Applied Life Funda- Social

mental mental
P P P C P C P C

Fig. 1.1 Changing role of the four world regions in major fields of science
publications and citations. (Source: Based on Radosevic and Yoruk (2014))

above world average growth rates in published papers in both fundamental

and engineering sciences (Garg, 2003; Radosevic and Yoruk, 2014; Yang
et al., 2012). When we look at fundamental sciences behavior, EU15 has
higher than world average growth rates. Radosevic and Yoruk (2014) note
that Latin America and Asia Pacific are located at potential opportunities
quadrant. Related to applied sciences is an area with strong diverging
regional dynamics: EU15 increased the number of papers and citations;
Asia Pacific has been specializing in applied sciences with close links to its
manufacturing capabilities; and Latin America has a favorable position.
In general, in terms of world share of citations, “North America con-
tinues to lead while EU15 grows albeit at a moderate pace; South EU has
been growing strongly as have the Middle East and Latin America while
6 EVALUATING COLLABORATION NETWORKS IN HIGHER . . .

the remarkable catch up of Asia Pacific in terms of quantity (papers) has

not yet manifested itself in citations (impact)” (Radosevic and Yoruk,
2014, p. 1907).
Another change is related to the research written language; because of
growth of the number of indexed journals of Latin America and the
Caribbean in Web of Science and Scopus, Portuguese has been promoted
as the second scientific language. This large volume of scientific papers,
written in Latin languages, gained visibility and recognition worldwide,
which gives it a high potential to be cited. Using this rich resource will
contribute to the advancement of science and have an impact.
Additionally, this will bring growing weight to the importance of the
knowledge produced in Latin languages. Online publishing of bilingual
articles is easy for journals in the era of the worldwide web; this is a
facilitator to disseminate knowledge to find the lost science, hidden
under a strange language (Collazo-Reyes, 2014; Gibbs, 1995; Miorando
and Pinho, 2013; Packer, 2012).

RESEARCH NETWORKS
Research networks are social spaces in academia where knowledge pro-
cesses happen, driven by collaboration and competition forces. The diver-
sity of different networks spaces offers a broad spectrum of understanding,
interpretations, and operationalization of research networks. We can find
some relevant articles within research networks scope. Therefore, we
decided to classify those studies into micro-, meso-, and macro-scale
dimension (Dopfer et al., 2004; He et al., 2011). Therefore, some exam-
ples of articles are given on that spectrum, from studies focused on
individual researcher’s networks to global and knowledge networks. In
our studies, we chose to use three dimensions of analysis (micro/meso/
macro), which range from individual (as ego networks) to global (as
knowledge network) levels. Micro meta-level includes researcher networks
and project research and group research. We considered organizational and
institutional levels belonging to meso meta-level. At Macro meta-level
contains National research system, international and global research sys-
tems, and disciplines or scientific fields levels. This sequence is hierarchical
but only on scale issue, that is, no level is more important than the other.
For each context in the study, we should select and define the most
appropriate level to address the research questions. Sometimes, it is pos-
sible to use more than one level, that is, one might examine the impact
 1 SCIENCE GEOGRAPHY AND INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH COLLABORATION 7

of science politics and related programs, macro-level, which promote

formal networks, micro-level on institutional or meso-level.
Note that this system of levels analysis classifies research networks on
three dimensions: micro networks, meso networks, and macro networks
and its subcategories. Other classifications can help the analysis net-
works: formal versus informal networks; short-term versus long-term
duration networks; highly bounded versus more fluid networks; simple
versus complex networks; internal and external networks; and interna-
tional versus domestic (Allen et al., 2007; Glänzel et al., 2006; Glanzel
and Schubert, 2005; Helble and Chong, 2004; Lemarchand, 2012; Leta
et al., 2006; Lowrie and McKnight, 2004; Newman, 2003).

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
It is accepted that there is a correlation between scientific productivity and
collaboration intensity as a whole. Some studies used bibliometric mea-
sures to focus on international collaboration, counting coauthored papers
from two or more countries. Several studies have shown that international
papers are generally cited more than domestic papers; the benefits of
international collaboration are strengthened when they result in coau-
thored articles (Abramo et al., 2011; Glanzel and Schubert, 2005;
Persson, 2010; Schmoch and Schubert, 2008; Van Raan, 1998).
Other studies give some global pictures and trends on international
collaboration as a relevant and important driver of science dynamics
(Eisend and Schmidt, 2013; Gazni et al., 2012; Han et al., 2014; He
et al., 2009; Heitor and Bravo, 2010; Jeong and Choi, 2012; Jeong et al.,
2011; Knobel et al., 2013; Lemarchand, 2012; Leung, 2013; Leydesdorff
and Wagner, 2008; López López et al., 2010; Onyancha and Maluleka,
2011; Rojas-Sola et al., 2009; Smith, 2010; Vasconcelos et al., 2009).

EXCELLENCE RESEARCH PERFORMANCE FRAMEWORK

Performance is a dependent variable in most of the research systems
management (Geisler, 2005). According to this assumption, we argue
that it is necessary to take action in order to improve research perfor-
mance. So, our question is this: how research monitoring and research
evaluation can be improved to support excellence performance?
To provide a comprehensive and complete picture of our conceptual
argumentation, we build a research performance framework (Fig. 1.2).
8 EVALUATING COLLABORATION NETWORKS IN HIGHER . . .

International
Collaboration

Global
Research
Science
Performance
Context
Research
Networks

Fig. 1.2 Research performance framework. (Source: The authors, 2016)

Radosevic and Yoruk (2014, p. 18) drew attention to “the capacity to

absorb knowledge generated at dynamic areas of the S&T frontier matters
more than the capacity to generate new knowledge in stagnant areas of
scientific frontier.” They argue that the “remarkable rise of Asia Pacific and
relatively Latin America in both papers and citations is not accompanied
by improvements in the relative impact which has remained almost
unchanged for the last 30 years” (Radosevic and Yoruk, 2014, p. 11).
For emergent economies to reach leadership positions, they should be
concerned not only by increasing production but also by relevant scientific
knowledge of the social and economic growth.
We defend also that development of international connections and
international collaboration is crucial to achieving excellence in science
dynamics. Sharing knowledge and building new knowledge with interna-
tional partnerships facilitate knowledge dissemination and knowledge
production. We need elaborate markers, qualitative and quantitative indi-
cators, for the evaluation of research networks (Leite et al., 2014a). By
seeking consistent alignment with multidimensional factors, it is possible
to develop excellence at all levels (micro, meso, and macro levels; indivi-
duals, teams, networks, institutions, and countries). Measuring research
performance across all those levels is a key driver for improving knowledge
production.
In the next chapter, we will reflect on the achievements and possibilities
of science dissemination, which does not have the same understanding in
the scientific academic communities around the world. In emerging coun-
tries, there is limited access to publications and there are difficulties in
publishing in English. At the global level, non-English articles are
 1 SCIENCE GEOGRAPHY AND INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH COLLABORATION 9

subvalorized and this is a universal knowledge lost. As we all agree, knowl-

edge is our greatest resource, our common good. By examining our own
research practices, we will show how difficult it is to be included in the
international scientific community.

NOTE
1. Social sciences (social-sciences-general and economics and business), funda-
mental sciences (chemistry, geosciences, mathematics, and physics), applied
sciences (computer science, engineering, materials science, and space
science), and life sciences (the remaining fields). About 21 categories of
broad fields in science and social sciences are listed by Thomson Reuters.
 CHAPTER 2

Limits and Frontiers to International

Collaboration

Abstract This chapter discusses the difficulties, limits, and frontiers to

international collaboration in emerging countries. The management of
networks and research groups, and dealing with international collabora-
tors are the functions that require new leadership skills. There seem to
exist an international division of research labor, hard frontiers, tensions
and limits marked for language expressions, publications of results, scarce
resources to maintain international circulation, and hard access to the core
journal in each area of knowledge. In addressing these issues, we do not
intend to present an all-around theorization on the functioning of the
knowledge disciplinary fields of research but to combine the critical con-
siderations from contemporary educational theory with research-based
evidence to elicit the discussion of alternatives for the improvement of
strong research networks.

Keywords International coauthorship
International collaboration limits

International research publishing
Linguistic delimitations
Emerging
countries

INTRODUCTION
In the fourth research age, collaboration networks mark the production of
knowledge. The research networks connect people and their works sup-
ported by the resources of information and communication technologies,

© The Author(s) 2017 11

D. Leite, I. Pinho, Evaluating Collaboration Networks in Higher
Education Research, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-45225-8_2
12 EVALUATING COLLABORATION NETWORKS IN HIGHER . . .

markedly those that make use of the Internet. In principle, in the

international scientist community, coauthorships in publications are sti-
mulated so that discoveries are fueled by the interdisciplinarity put in its
reach. The connectivity of networks constitutes the virtual operative that
links individuals and their knowledge, providing a cohesive strength that
adequately supports the accumulation and expansion of knowledge
(Adams, 2012; Leung, 2013).
In underdeveloped places and countries, such as can be seen in the
geography of science, the research development is uneven among the
nations. However, among the researchers of some countries and areas of
knowledge, a “fluorescent” research development through networks is
visible (Van Noorden, 2014). Nevertheless, we must reflect that, if the
research development is uneven, it is highly probable that research and
collaboration networks work at diverse spaces, especially if we take the
disciplinary areas of knowledge into account.
Focus on the great knowledge area of Humanities and Social Sciences
into consideration, we find twice as many reasons to think that there are
major inequalities, still latent, not only in the development of researchers
but in the creation and expansion of networks as well. There are inequal-
ities and precariousness in the incentives for the professionalization of
researchers, which makes them different from researchers of diverse lati-
tude regions. Beyond the problem of incentives and rewards, understood
as part of the politics of each country’s science and technology (S&T)
system, we find a difficult and restricted access to intangible assets that
favor the production of knowledge.
The researchers can have precarious access to international biblio-
graphic sources. Support and assistance flaws on the part of national
S&T and research and development (R&D) systems, difficulties faced by
the researchers themselves to write and publish in English, science’s
“lingua franca.” Even if they carry out upper echelon researchers, the
possibilities of publishing their works in internationally renowned journals
are slimmer or reduced (Bortolus, 2012). Then they are left with publish-
ing their extensive, rhetoric, and, for some, verbose articles in national
magazines. Such procedure, in relation to other scientific areas, creates a
gap in recognition and authority. There are reasons to suppose that, even
if in general terms a blossoming of networks is mentioned, this is not a part
of the reality of the production of knowledge, for example, in Education.
That is, the excess of academic appointments the social sciences researcher
must meet in a contemporaneous university provides both contradictions
 2 LIMITS AND FRONTIERS TO INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION 13

and challenges. This also happens with the precariousness of practices

including the difficulties in obtaining access to conventional knowledge
production sources, such as the matrices of knowledge previously pro-
duced and released, besides, of course, the infrastructural work conditions.
In this context, how can we, people from emerging or newer (under?)
developing countries, even think of production in networks keeping up
with the most recent age of international research? Then we will address
some issues that may give clues to answer this question.

TENSIONS IN KNOWLEDGE DISCIPLINARY FIELDS

In addressing the concerns that drive this chapter, we start by looking at our
own practice area of studies and introduce ourselves. In the field of research, we
affiliate with the theme of Higher Education. According to the Brazilian
National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq)
and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel
(Capes Foundation) classification, we are included in the great area1 of Human
Sciences, subarea Specific Topics on Education, and specialty Higher
Education. We are also affiliated to the subarea Evaluation of Educational
Systems, Institutions, and Plans. But if we take into consideration Latin
American Council of Social Sciences (Clacso) and the database Redalyc2 or
the Science Citation Index (SCI),3 we are included in the Social Sciences field
of knowledge and not in the category of Humanities. While it may seem easy
for us to self-classify ourselves within the Human Sciences in CNPq and Social
Sciences in Clacso/Redalyc, in practice, this is a process that demands reflec-
tion. Areas of knowledge, their disciplinary fields of research, harbor disputes,
contradictions, and indefinite concepts. To talk about educational knowledge
means to enter a pit of nonreferences, of hidden meanings, and difficult
consensus. In other words, it is an anguished pursuit.
The puzzlement, the anguished pursuit of new concepts and categories
that allow for the apprehension of the dynamic of reality—in a field of
knowledge that still does not possess a tradition of institutionalization—
the benefit of denouncing, and the intense politicization of studies are
practices that can only be understood when related to the broader social
context of which it is a part and with which it articulates (Azevedo and
Aguiar, 2001). In the Education field, for example, we can consider the
certainties and the tensions existing between epistemological identities.
The configuration of the Sciences of Education was explained by Azevedo
and Aguiar (2001):
14 EVALUATING COLLABORATION NETWORKS IN HIGHER . . .

. . . are constituted on the contributions originated in other fields, particu-

larly the ones from the area of Social and Human Sciences, that, on the one
side, have the meaning of a markedly multidisciplinary configuration and, on
the other, the existence of an almost permanent tension between the juxta-
position and the integration of these knowledge in the field’s epistemologi-
cal identity (Azevedo and Aguiar, 2001, p. 52).

The tension and the indefinable, however, overpower the certainties.

Theory in education and theory in higher education, suggest thinking
about paradoxes and canons and, certainly, contradictions. Perhaps it is
embarrassing to assume a reality that is cumbersome, but it is necessary to
face those limits, which are the evidence and possible paradoxes beyond
the certainties. In 2004, Malcolm Tight, a renowned researcher in the
subject area of Higher Education, claimed, researching journals published
outside North America, that the theme Education/Higher Education
would not have a defined theoretical framework. The research would be
produced by an atheoretical community of practitioners (Tight, 2004).
Although the contexts and times of which he speaks are different from the
ones in which we transit and in which we practice our professional activ-
ities, we consider relevant the statement, wherever it may come from.
After all, “what” defines the area of knowledge of Education, at least in
one’s country, and directs politics and the researchers’ scientific produc-
tion and, as a consequence, its evaluation?
In 2010, a colleague quoted, in an international journal, a part of a text by
one of the authors of this chapter, reproducing a paragraph of another inter-
national journal. The journal’s editor in which this colleague’s article was
published did not accept the existence of a theory that supported the argu-
mentation and published an end note, in the colleague’s article, claiming that
he disagreed and did not endorse the existence of the theory—in this case, the
South Epistemologies—as nature of knowledge. That is, he disallowed the
researcher of the Global South that employed the theory of a renowned
sociologist. He also disallowed a colleague of the Global North that published
a reference, perhaps, outside the canon (Alperin, 2013; Leite, 2010; Tight,
2004). Such comment amplified uncertainties about what or who defines the
area of knowledge of Education, Higher Education, but reinforced the certain-
ties of who defines the publication and the canon. The way we see it, the paradox
is set. On the one side, an author claims that there is no theory; on the other, a
theory is criticized and not endorsed by the international scientific editor! And
what makes sense for international science?
 2 LIMITS AND FRONTIERS TO INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION 15

INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND PUBLISHING

It seems that we have a problem when we use the term International Science
or, simply, Science. First, for starters, the so-called Human Sciences are
viewed with reservations by other scientists as not very outstanding among
other scientific areas, such as the hard sciences. In not being a positive and
metaphysical science according to Comtean models, the Human Sciences
lack recognition and appreciation. But, as Bourdieu (1999, p. 38) said,
“Science does not take sides.” And in relation to the dominant classifications,
“ . . . science does not oppose a moral judgment with another moral judg-
ment, but determines the fact. . . . ” The object of dispute is the antagonistic
values and the occupation of spaces of legitimacy in the scientific field!
In the field of disputes, the production of knowledge, the research of
Human Sciences developed in countries, such as many in the Global World
countries, perhaps replicates the oppressor–oppressed relationship by main-
taining certain subservience to the foreign scientist, to the author of the
Global North. Oftentimes, the authors of a soft science base their argumen-
tations—when they exist, when the texts are not simply a copy of what was
already said by others—in quotations and contributions of foreign authors
in an attempt to give their texts a certain scientificity, to legitimize their
work. But, when it is about publishing in international journals, quoting a
foreign author, reviewing the texts in depth, and explaining the educational
phenomena of one’s own country, on the basis of a theory that is far away,
very far from the reality in which the foreign text was produced, are not
enough. This procedure, usual to a certain extent, seems to be overpowered
by the dynamics of the times—this procedure does not render international
the research developed by a single researcher (Azevedo and Aguiar, 2001;
Rego, 2014; Severino, 2009).
The struggle for legitimacy, on the other hand, is facing the national
and international evaluation policies and its demands on researchers’
productivity. These policies require the so-called academic productivism
and are, at the same time, medicine and poison.

. . . a productivism policy, that, however planned as a solution (since, theo-

retically, it seeks to support the development of science and the socialization
of that which has been discovered or studied), has shown itself as a powerful
poison, capable of producing and having increasingly nefarious side effects
on the lives of researchers, the quality of what is researched, as well as the
fate of scientific journals (Rego, 2014, p. 327).
16 EVALUATING COLLABORATION NETWORKS IN HIGHER . . .

When Adams (2013) proposed the existence of a new research age,

characterized by the science that is developed in networks, an increasing
separation between domestic and international science emerged. The
health of national or domestic scientific research of the great economies
could be compromised by the intellectual and financial separation within
the institutions of the same country, among those institutions that are
international and those that are not. This division and stratification affect
the production of knowledge, both regional and domestic. Isolated effort
loses strength and the production of scientists of emerging economies
would be limited without international partnership, commitment, and
collaboration. This is because the best Science would be the one published
in the best journals, which, in turn, are those that harness the most quoted
works, journals with a greater factor of impact, indexed to the major
international bibliometric bases. Thus it is established, in the supposition
that the quoted science is the good science, that science is only good if
published and quoted. The belief may involve liberal principles, mixed in a
mesh of naiveté, reification, and manipulation, to designate this relation-
ship as automatic and linear. In addition, the best science would be the one
that originates from international collaboration since coauthorship with
international partners increases the possibility of quotations. What’s more,
this science, produced in coauthorships and international networks, has
more prestige because it is headed by national institutions that everyone
knows to be the elite universities of each country (Adams, 2013; Alperin,
2013).
The coordinates referenced by Nature, for example, cite the internatio-
nalization of certain disciplinary fields. The disciplinary areas of sciences of
the earth, exact sciences, health sciences, the sciences that, in the univer-
sity, operate with labs and experiments and expensive inputs, are high-
lighted in international publications, which makes them visible to the eyes
of other scientists—and, more intensely, to the eyes of markets and
companies, which does not seem to be the case of Social Sciences and
Humanities, particularly the Education field. They did not occupy similar
visible spaces and were not called to them either. They do not transit in
labs with apparatus or expensive resources, neither mobilizes teams of
technicians for the control of their actions and observations. Looking for
the major areas of scientific production in the SCI for one emerging
country, we can find Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Clinic, and
Experimental Medicine. Articles are written in coauthorship and published
in English. When Thomson Reuters lists the disciplinary areas and the
 2 LIMITS AND FRONTIERS TO INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION 17

disciplines of the most cited articles, at least 21 categories are in the

Science classification; Education is not included in this select group
(Thomson Reuters, 2014; Vanz, 2009).

INTERNATIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND LINGUISTIC DELIMITATION

A simple explanation would say that international science speaks English and
Education speaks the NLINE (Native Language Is Not English).
International science has been speaking English for a long time. In
restricted contexts, French or Spanish or German are also found. It decid-
edly does not yet have Portuguese as a science central language in use and,
even in Portugal, the birthplace of Camões’s language, the scientists publish
also in English. However, as shown in Chap. 1, there is a growing weight of
the knowledge published in Latin languages such as Portuguese.
If this does not result as problematic for the researchers in the area of hard
sciences (or Fundamental and Applied Sciences), this procedure becomes a
heavy hindrance in the great area of Social Sciences and Humanities, espe-
cially in emerging countries where English is not yet a part of the curricula of
undergraduates and graduates. There is even a dualistic classification: coun-
tries whose native language is English and the NLINE countries (countries
whose Native Language Is Not English). In addition, the global system
world, who does not live in NLINE and does not use English, is illiterate
since one will not be able to garner scientific capital if the symbolic and
prestigious currency is the publication in Anglophone journals and the
correspondent quotation (Ortiz, 2007; Scielo, 2014). If Bourdieu, the
French intellectual, who unearthed so many questions in the scientific
field, lived now, would he also publish in English? And if we are speaking
about differences, would this be an appropriate language for Chinese and
Indian people, the world’s biggest populations? Contradictions aside, it is
worth remembering an important side of this symbolic currency—the com-
munication between scientists, between researchers and academics—is done
through collaborative networks in a communicative and personal process
that overcomes the barriers of language.
The linguistic delimitation is not causal—instead, it has quite evident
causal links to the historic and geopolitical constitution of the interna-
tional scientific society. The most prominent players in scientific commu-
nication are not exactly the ones whose official language is English—as
such, an affirmation could mislead one to point some poor countries as
scientific powers in the Global World, in the economic world, in the world
18 EVALUATING COLLABORATION NETWORKS IN HIGHER . . .

of international sciences. The English scientific communication is rather

concentrated among the developed nations, a group easily identifiable as
the member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD). In this scenario, Southern, developing countries
lack visibility and prestige as

. . . a symptom of a poorly internationalized knowledge system that relies

upon a peculiar definition of what an international journal is. In practice,
international journals are the ones selected by specific databases such as
SCI’s heir, the Web of Science (WoS), or SCOPUS. For researchers from
the South, participating in the grand conversation of science really corre-
sponds to finding ways to be admitted into the scientific conversation
presently active in the OECD countries (Vessuri et al., 2013, p. 4).

NETWORKING IN INTERNATIONAL COAUTHORSHIP

Despite the good reasons to expect scientific coauthorship in networks to
enhance researchers’ productivity, it is worth imagining that it is not an
easy task. There are limitations perceived, say Lee and Bozeman (2005,
p. 675). There are costs of time and energy, transaction costs, disappoint-
ing results, and projects that never finish. Collaboration with a senior or an
experienced scientist may represent a tithe given voluntarily. As research
collaboration is needed for science to exist, international, South–North,
East–West research collaboration must occur to be recognized as legiti-
mate and, by extension, for its existence to be acknowledged.
Although in this fourth age of research science is expanded by net-
working, the expansion occurs in a contradictory fashion, within the
possible frontiers and its limits. On the one hand, “to be seen really
means being seen by the right crowd, i.e. the core set of journal”; on the
other, “Southern perspectives on research visibility/invisibility strongly
hold onto a central principle: the right to share and participate” (Vessuri
et al., 2013, p. 5) in the scientific community.
If we take again the example provided by Nature (Van Noorden,
2014), Latin America, focusing on Brazil, possesses a “fluorescent”
research developed in networks. The networks are established and coau-
thorships are made between researchers of South American countries, with
emphasis on the relationships of Brazil, a country that publishes the most,
with Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, and Uruguay. The data of Nature
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 CHAPTER XIV
FURTHER RESEARCHES

Last week, we had a few days of such cool, bright, windless

weather, that it seemed as if a St. Luke’s summer had set in. Now,
however, the icy gales from the east are once more blowing round the
boma of Newala, and we had rain on Michaelmas Day, which was
somewhat early. This must have been a signal universally understood
by young and old; for I am no longer besieged by the hitherto
inevitable boys, and my old men, too, have ceased their visits.
Fortunately, I have been able to pump the old gentlemen so
effectually in the course of the last few weeks that I could leave at
once, quite happy in the possession of an enormous stock of notes,
were I not detained by the linguistic inquiries which I am now set on
making. It is quite impossible to give here even the merest indication
of the knowledge so far gained as to all these more or less strange
customs and usages. The details will have a place in official and other
documents to the preparation of which the leisure of many coming
terms will have to be sacrificed; here I can only indicate such
prominent points as are calculated to interest every civilized person.
Personal names among the natives offer an unlimited field for
research. Where Islam has already gained a footing, Arab names are
prevalent. The Makonde askari Saidi bin Musa keeps step with his
comrade Ali bin Pinga from Nyasa, and Hasani from Mkhutu
marches behind the Yao porter Hamisi. Among the interior tribes the
division into clans predominates as a principle of social
classification, and therefore, even in the case of converts to
Christianity, the baptismal name is followed by the clan name. Daudi
(David) Machina is the name of the native pastor at Chingulungulu,
and the presumptive successor to Matola I and Matola II calls
himself Claudio Matola. We shall have something more to say about
these clan names later on.
The meaning of the names is often equally interesting. My carriers
alone have already provided me with a good deal of amusement in
this respect, the appellations they go by being in most cases
exceedingly absurd. Pesa mbili (“Mr. Twopence”) is as familiar to us
as his friend Kofia tule, the tall man with the little flat cap, Kazi
Ulaya, the man who works for the European and Mambo sasa
—“Affairs of to-day.” Besides these, the following gentlemen are
running about among the two dozen who compose my faithful
retinue:—Mr. Blanket (Kinyamwezi bulangeti, corrupted from the
English word), Mr. Cigarette (no commentary needed), Kamba Ulaya
(European rope, i.e. hemp rope as distinguished from native cordage
of cocoa-nut fibre or palm-leaf twist), Mr. Mountain (Kilima) and
Messrs. Kompania and Kapella (Company and Band—from the
German Kapelle). The names Mashua (boat) and Meli (steamer,
from the English “mail”) have a nautical suggestion and Sita (Six) an
arithmetical one—and, to wind up with, we have Mpenda kula—(“He
who loves eating”).
The names used by the interior tribes are free from the noticeable
European touch found in these designations of the carriers, but here,
too, we come across amusing specimens. I notice at the same time
that these names are certainly not the first to grace their bearers. As
is so often the case with primitive peoples, and with the Japanese at
the present day, we find that every individual on being formally
admitted to the duties and responsibilities of adult life assumes a
new name. The natives hereabouts do not know or have forgotten the
original significance of this change, but we are not likely to be wrong
in supposing that the new name also means a new person, who
stands in quite a different relation to his kinsmen and his tribe from
his former one. Officially, every adult Yao, Makua, Makonde or
Matambwe has the right to offer himself as godfather, but I have the
impression that the majority of names one hears are really
nicknames, casually given by acquaintances.[53] It is well known that
the native has a very acute sense of the weak points and absurdities
of others.
Che Likoswe (“Mr. Rat”) will be remembered by his war-songs at
Chingulungulu, and with him may be classed Che Chipembere (“Mr.
Rhinoceros”). The latter is liable to fits of sudden rage, like the
pachyderm, hence his name. The name of the old beer-drinker,
Akundonde, is a reminiscence of his original kinship with the
Wandonde tribe. Che Kamenya is he who is victorious in fight; there
was joy at the birth of Machina; Makwenya gathers everything to
himself, but Che Mduulaga, on the other hand, thinks nothing of
himself,—he is modesty in person. In the same way, Mkotima is a
quiet man, Siliwindi is named after a song-bird so-called; and,
finally, Mkokora is he who carries away dirt in his hands.
These are some Yao men’s names. I will only mention the
following women’s names for this tribe:—Che Malaga means “She is
left alone”—all her relations have died. Che Chelayero, “She who has
a hard time.” Che Tulaye, “She who fares poorly,” and Che Waope,
“She is yours.”
The personal names of the other tribes have on the whole the same
character—Kunanyupu is an old Makua, who, according to his own
statement, has killed many gnus (nyupu) in his youth. Nantiaka is
the Don Juan who flits from one attraction to another. A similar train
of thought has suggested the name of Ntindinganya, the joker, who
contrives to saddle others with the blame of his own tricks.
Linyongonyo is the weakling; Nyopa the ambitious man who strives
to make himself feared by others; Madriga is the sad, melancholy
man; Dambwala the lazy one.
Among the women Alwenenge is “the one who knows her own
worth,”—her lord and master has, it is true, taken another wife, but
he will not remain with her, but return penitently to Alwenenge, as
she very well knows. Much less fortunate is Nantupuli; she wanders
about the world and finds nothing at all, neither a husband nor
anything else. Other unfortunates are Atupimiri and Achinaga—the
former has a husband who is always on his travels and only comes
home from time to time to “measure” (pima) his wife, i.e., to see how
she is behaving. Achinaga’s husband, on the other hand, is ill and
cannot work, so that she has to do everything by herself. There is also
a Pesa mbili among the Makonde women. The name implies that she
formerly stood high in the estimation of men, but now she has grown
old and is only worth two pice. Beauty has its market value even with
the negro.
A field of inquiry, extremely difficult to work, but which will
everywhere well repay cultivation, is that of the customs
accompanying the life of the individual from his cradle to his grave.
The native infant—which is not black, but at first as pink as our
own new-born babies—has come into the world in its mother’s hut.
The father is far from the spot, the women having sent him out of the
way in good time. The baby is carefully washed, and wrapped in a
piece of new bark-cloth. At the same time its ears are anointed with
oil, that it may hear well, and the ligature under the tongue loosened
with a razor, to ensure its learning to speak. Boys are everywhere
welcomed; but with regard to girls, the feeling varies in different
tribes, and, just as is the case among ourselves, in different families.
It is often stated in ethnographical works that primitive peoples
rejoice on purely interested grounds at the birth of girls, on account
of the price they will bring when married. Up to a certain point such
considerations may have weight here, too, but in general people are
glad of daughters if only because they can soon begin to help their
mother in her numerous outdoor and indoor tasks. Their marriage,
moreover, brings an additional faithful and unpaid worker into the
household. For this is the land of exogamy, where the young wife
does not go to her husband’s home, or enter his family, but, on the
contrary, the man leaves his father and mother and either moves
directly into the house of his wife’s parents, or builds his own close
beside it. In any case for some years, until his own family
circumstances necessitate a different arrangement, he devotes all his
powers to keeping up his mother-in-law’s establishment. He sees to
the planting of the crops and their ingathering, he breaks up new
ground, in short he renders every possible service, and anticipates
her every wish. I have often been ashamed when the conversation
turned on this and other features of native life, to remember the
tenor of those venerable jests of which our comic papers never
weary. Of course, a mere passing traveller like myself is no judge of
the more intimate side of family life, but Knudsen, who has lived in
the country long enough to become thoroughly familiar with the
people’s ways of thinking and acting, confirms the impression I had
arrived at, that, not only is the relation between mother and son-in-
law nothing short of ideal, but that the behaviour of young people to
their elders in general deserves to be called exemplary. We who
belong to the highest stage of culture, or, according to the view held
by most of us, the stage of culture, spend half our lives in educational
establishments of various kinds and grades, and the final result is
shown by statistics in the diminishing percentage of illiterates in our
population. But let all who have eyes to see and ears to hear observe
how little ethical sense and how much downright brutality make up
the daily life of these very representatives of culture. I am far from
wishing to say anything against our system of education and our
schools—I am a kind of schoolmaster myself—but it gives food for
serious reflection to see how worm-eaten, in spite of all the care
bestowed on it, is much of the fruit they produce, and how ethically
sound is the life we meet with among these barbarians. And this is
the outcome of a training extending over three or four months and
received from teachers who have passed through no school or
college.
The treatment of twins is different among
the various tribes in this part of the country.
The Wayao welcome them with unmixed joy,
while the Makonde look on their birth as a
terrible event, to be averted if possible by all
sorts of charms. But even here the parents are
not so cruel as to kill them if they do come
into the world; they are allowed to live and
treated in the same way as by the Wayao, i.e.,
their clothing (such as it is) is always alike. If
this were not done, it is believed that one of
them would certainly die.
For the first year the African infant remains
in close contact with its mother. When it is WOMAN CARRYING A
only a few days old, she takes it out for the BABY ON HER BACK.
FROM A DRAWING BY
first time, to be shown to the admiring PESA MBILI
neighbours. Like a little lump of misery it
squats in the large coloured cloth enfolding
the upper part of its mother’s person. It usually hangs on the
mother’s back, but she very often swings it round to one hip. When
the time comes for feeding the baby, it and the bag containing it are
brought round to the front. Nothing so impresses me with the idea of
poverty and squalor as this treatment of infants: no change of
clothing for mother or child—for there is no supply of extra garments
—no drying, no powdering, no napkins, no regular bath after the first
few days, no care of the mouth. On the contrary, every child has sore
places where the skin has been chafed, especially at the joints, and in
folds and depressions of the body; half-healed scabs, where nature is
getting the upper hand in spite of neglect; eyes nearly always bleared
and running in consequence of the perpetual attacks of flies, and,
finally, individual cases, here and there, of thrush-ulcers on such a
scale that fungoid growths actually protrude from mouth and
nostrils. It would be well if the Government and the Missions could
unite to put an end to this frightful state of things, not so much by
medical work, which is naturally limited to certain localities, as by
training the mothers, as extensively as possible, in the simplest rules
of hygiene and cleanliness.
I have been half-an-hour in a native village.
The men and boys were all assembled within
two minutes of my arrival; the women are
gathering more slowly; the little girls,
curiously enough, are altogether absent. Just
as with us, the women have at once gathered
into a closely-packed group. A shy silence
reigns at first, but no sooner have they had
time to get used to the sight of the white man,
THREE MAKUA than there is an outburst of talk in every key,
VEGETARIANS in spite of the hugest of peleles. At least half
these women are carrying babies, but this
term is tolerably comprehensive. Great boys
and girls of two, or even three years old, are sprawling on the slight
backs of delicate-looking mothers, or making violent attacks on the
maternal fount of nourishment. My camera apparently affords the
pretext for this last manœuvre; for, as if at a given signal, the whole
little black band is propelled forward into position at the very
moment when I press the bulb.
The later stages of childhood among the natives are passed in a
way not materially differing from our own youthful recollections. The
little boys band themselves together in troops and carry on their
games in the village and the bush; while the little girls begin at an
early age to help their mothers indoors and out. Wherever I have
been able to carry on my activity as a collector, I have been
particularly assiduous in getting together all toys and games in use in
the country. There is one point deserving of special notice in
connection with children’s games, and this is that almost from the
first day of its existence the child is present wherever anything is
going on. When the mother joins in the dance, the baby on her back
goes through every movement with her, and thus learns dancing, so
to speak, instinctively. By the time it can stand on its own little feet,
it joins in with the same certainty as that with which the partridge
chick just out of the egg goes to pick up its food. Whether native
children have outside these dances anything that can be called
concerted games, I cannot say, but so far I have seen nothing of the
sort,[54] unless we might count the great skill shown in clapping the
hands in unison, in which, with its pleasing rhythm and (one might
almost say) variety of tune, they are as much at home as their elders.
Otherwise every child seems to be dependent on itself, at least as far
as toys are concerned. For boys, bow and arrows are the sine qua non
in the first place. If I had been willing to buy all the toy bows offered
me, I should have had enough to load a small ship. Here in Africa the
weapon is as much of a survival as in most other countries. The fact
of its being confined to children shows that, as in Europe, it is no
longer seriously used in war, but only in play, or at most, in the
chase. We find, as might be expected, that the grown men are no
better archers than the boys, and vice versa. Where firearms have
once been introduced, more primitive weapons are no longer valued.

USE OF THE THROWING STICK

 It is not easy to form an ethnographical collection in this country.
It is only in consequence of my very resolute attitude—which is far
more effectual than my bags of copper coin—that the people make up
their minds to bring anything at all, and then it is chiefly rubbish. In
order to obtain the more valuable class of articles, such as the more
important household implements, or the carved masks and other
works of art, I am frequently compelled to resort to a mild display of
force, by making the headman of the village morally responsible for
the production of the specimens. And yet every article is liberally
paid for. How peculiarly difficult it is to obtain toys, of all things,
people at home have no notion. I would suggest the following
explanation for this fact. If a Japanese ethnographer, for instance,
were to visit Germany in the autumn he would find it easy enough to
make a large collection of kites, but tops—to take one of our most
typical children’s toys—he would only be enabled to see and procure
if he definitely inquired for them. It is just the same here; everything
has its season, and toys above all. Having once grasped this truth, I
always made short work of the business, by delivering to the
assembled villagers a lecture on all the playthings of mankind,
winding up with, “If you have so and so—or so and so—be quick and
bring it here.” In many cases neither my own linguistic acquirements
nor the interpreter are sufficient, and gestures have to supply the
lack of words. I was quite startled at my success, one day at
Chingulungulu, when, on having gone through the vigorous
movement of slinging a stone, I saw Salim Matola, the all-
accomplished, return in a short time with two remarkable objects,
which, on his demonstration of the way in which they were used,
proved to be a veritable throwing-stick and a sling—an amentum. I
have rarely had such a feeling of complete success as at this moment.
Who would have thought to find the throwing-stick and the sling in
Eastern Africa, a region hitherto considered so barren as regards
ethnography? The former is an implement intended to serve no other
purpose than the lengthening of the lower arm in order to throw a
spear or a stone; it represents, therefore, in terms of physics, the
lengthened arm of a lever. Its principal region of distribution is
Australia; it also exists in some parts of the Western Pacific, among
the Hyperboreans, and in isolated parts of America. Hitherto it has
been assumed that the African had not arrived at this invention. The
sling in the same way serves to lengthen a lever, but the spear or
stone is in this case not thrown by means of a catch on the stick or
board, but by a string fastened to the root of the forefinger, while the
free end is coiled round the missile. If the warrior throws his arm
forward, the weapon leaves the hand by centrifugal force, uncoils
itself from the string and flies away with great initial velocity.

THROWING WITH THE SLING

Where such antiquities as these occur—I

reflected at the time—surely there are more
discoveries to be made. This expectation was
in fact fulfilled, though I had first to fight my
way through a superfluity of another species
of toy. One day, in the course of the lecture
already referred to, I happened to make the
gesture of whipping something over the
ground, and it was at once correctly
understood, for from that time forward the
SPINNING A TOP young people simply overwhelmed me with
tops. No less than four kinds are in use here.
One exactly corresponds to our European peg-top,[55] and is, like it,
driven with a whip, a second has a round or square piece of gourd
fixed on a short, stout wooden peg as axis of rotation;[56] a third is
similar to the last, but has a second disc under the first (which is
about the size of a five-shilling piece), in order to place the centre of
gravity higher up. Finally, we have a very complicated mechanism
whose action resembles that of our humming-top. The second and
third require no whip, but are spun with the thumb and middle
finger. The fourth, on the other hand, needs a “frame” to spin it. This
is represented by a piece of maize-cob perforated lengthwise,
through which the string wound round the top is quickly pulled back.
Like many other things, the art of spinning tops is not made easy for
native boys, the soft, sandy ground being ill-suited to this game; yet
the little fellows show great skill in it.

IKOMA DANCE AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, ACHIKOMU

 XYLOPHONE (MGOROMONDO)

With one exception, children have no musical instruments peculiar

to themselves. Whether they fiddle on the sese, the one-stringed
violin, or maltreat the ulimba, that instrument on which all Africans
strum—the box with wooden or iron keys fixed to its surface, and
struck with the finger-tips—or strike the mgoromondo, that
antediluvian xylophone in which the keys rest on a layer of straw, or
play on the lugombo, the musical bow with calabash resonator,
which is so widely distributed over East and South Africa—in every
case the instruments are only clumsy imitations of those used by
grown-up people. The only one whose use is confined to the young is
the natura—a friction-drum, made from a bottle-gourd or the fruit of
the baobab, cut across and covered in, like a drum, with the skin of
some small animal. A blade of grass passes through the middle of the
diaphragm, and thence down through the bottom of the shell. By
rubbing a wetted thumb and forefinger down the stalk, as the little
wretches are perpetually doing, a noise is produced so excruciating
that even my carriers—who are not precisely sufferers from nerves—
take to flight when they hear it. But young people are not only
capable of preserving ancient survivals in culture through thousands
of years, but also have the advantage of a greater receptivity for
novelties. I have in my collection two charming specimens of an
African telephone, consisting of two miniature drums, beautifully
carved and covered with the delicate skin of some small animal,
perforated in the middle to allow the passage of a thin string, which
is kept from slipping through by a knot on the inside of the skin. I
never thought, at first, of taking this thing seriously, but one day,
having a spare quarter of an hour, I put one of the drums into
Knudsen’s hand, and told him to walk away till the string—about a
hundred yards in length—was stretched tight. I held the membrane
to my ear, and heard quite clearly, “Good-day, Professor. Can you
hear me?” So the thing really acts, and all that remains for us to do is
to develop it and boldly link ourselves up with the coast and that
centre of civilization, Lindi![57] There can be no question of
independent invention in this case; the telephone is undoubtedly
borrowed—but the fact of the borrowing, and the way it is applied by
children are not without interest.
Such an important epoch in
native life as that represented
by the unyago, with all its joys
and woes, its games and
dances, cannot be without
influence on the habits of the
young people, even before it
arrives. Thus I have some ipivi
flutes obtained from little
fellows far too young to be
admitted to the mysteries.
Anyone who wishes to excel in
an art must begin his training
early, and the flute players of
the ndagala practise their
instrument for years
beforehand. Moreover, boys,
who had evidently not yet
passed through the unyago,
have more than once brought
me specimens of the kakale, PLAYING THE
the long sticks, painted black NATURA
and white in alternate rings
with a little trophy at the top,
NATURA
(FRICTION-
consisting of the shell of some fruit with a plume of
DRUM) feathers stuck in it. These two insignia of maturity,
therefore, are also found in the capacity of toys.
There is nothing surprising in this so far as the boys
are concerned, for the native has no secrets from them. At the
ceremonies I witnessed at Achikomu, as well as at Niuchi and
Mangupa, there was always a whole troop of little fellows, covered
with dirt and ashes, running about. Strangely enough, there were
never any half-grown girls to be seen on these occasions; everything
relating to the mysteries seems to be carefully kept secret from them.
It was only during my long residence at Newala, with its possibilities
of free intercourse between me and the different tribes, as well as
among natives of different ages, that I could see and photograph any
of these young things. They seem to be brought up much more within
the walls of the hut and its compound than we are accustomed to
suppose; and even in the hundreds of visits I have paid to native
homes, I have seldom been able to see the young daughters of the
house face to face. As a rule, I only caught sight of a slender little
figure retreating swiftly through the back door of the hut.
Under these circumstances, of
course, I cannot say how the little
native girl actually grows up, and
whether she enjoys anything even
faintly resembling the happy
childhood of our own loved ones
—but nothing leads us to suppose
that she does; though there is no
question that the native shares in
the universal instinct which
inspires all parents with affection
for their offspring; he feeds his
UNASIKIA?: “DO YOU HEAR?” children and protects them when
they need protection; he rejoices
when they thrive and mourns
over their illness and death. I can still see Matola, as he came to me
one day—his usual expression of gentle melancholy heightened to
one of deep grief and anxiety—carrying a little girl of some five or six
years. She was not even his own child, but a relative, for whom he
entreated my help. To my sincere regret, it was impossible for me to
do anything—the poor little thing was suffering from a malignant
gangrene, which had eaten away the whole front of one thigh, so that
the tendons were laid bare and the bones were beginning to bend. I
spoke very seriously to Matola, asking whether he were as much of a
mshenzi as his people, who were
perishing through their own
stupidity and apathy. He, the
headman, and a clever man at
that, knew very well, so I told
him, that there were German
doctors at Lindi, who could cure
even such cases as this, if the
patients were brought to them.
He ought therefore, to send the
child down at once, unless he
wished her to die, as all her elder NDIO: “YES”
brothers and sisters had done.
Matola gazed at me for some time, evidently
wavering between hope and doubt; but in the
end he followed my advice; and I have since
heard that the child is well on the way to
recovery. But it is astonishing and perplexing
that such an enlightened man as the chief of
Chingulungulu should have allowed the
disease to go on so long before taking any
serious steps to obtain assistance. What then
could be expected of a man from the bush,
who consulted me immediately after my
arrival, asking me for medicine for his sick
child?
“What is the matter with your child?”
“A wound on her foot.”
“But, my good man,” I said, “I can’t give you
medicine to take home,—you would not know
how to put it on. You must bring your child
here. Where do you live?”
“Mbali—a long way off—Bwana,” he
answers, lengthening the vowel to signify
inexpressible distance.
NATIVE TELEPHONE
“How far?”
“Well—about two hours.”
 “Oh! you call that far, do you? you mshenzi! if you were going to a
beer-drink, twenty hours would be karibu sana. Off with you now,
and come back at eight to-morrow morning.” But neither at eight nor
at any later hour was there any sign of the noble father from the
Makonde bush. It was not till the fifteenth day after the preliminary
consultation that he appeared, bringing with him a little girl of five or
six. I did not at first remember him, but at once recalled his previous
visit when the child, overcoming her natural shyness, held out her
foot. Nothing was to be seen but a horrible mass of dirt and sand
cemented together with blood. I started at once on the cleansing
process, with the help of Stamburi, my trusty hospital orderly; and
when at last the foot was laid bare, we found that the whole ball was
eaten away to the bone—whether owing to jiggers, or through the
cumulative effect of various other circumstances, my medical
knowledge is insufficient to decide. When at last I glanced at the
father, I saw him staring like one hypnotized at a leg of antelope
intended for the next day’s dinner, which Knudsen had hung up just
over my table. Having recalled him to reality, I bade Moritz give him
the softest part from the skin of a recently killed wild pig, and told
him to make a shoe, or at least a sandal such as are certainly not
unknown in this country, as he must see for himself that the child
could not walk through the dirty sand with her freshly-bandaged
foot. He had his knife with him—let him get to work without delay!
We two practitioners devoted ourselves once more to the treatment
of the wound, which was in truth a terrible one; and in a little while
the bandage was put on as correctly as we knew how. A second look
at the father showed that he was still staring at the raw joint, as
intently as if he had really eaten his way into it. It is a good thing,
after all, in such cases, to have the kiboko within reach. In another
quarter of an hour the well-wrapped foot was protected by a very
serviceable pigskin slipper. But that is the last I ever saw or heard of
the gentleman, and he never so much as thanked me either for the
treatment or for the thrashing.
 MAKONDE CHILDREN

Boys and girls, as a rule, reach the age of eight or nine, perhaps
ten, before any event of importance interrupts the even tenor of their
lives. Then the assembly of the men, which when the harvest is over,
meets daily in the baraza, decides where the unyago is to be
celebrated in the current year. Since all the adjacent districts have
now taken their turn in bearing the expense of the ceremony, it is a
point of honour that our village should invite them this time. The
resolution is soon carried into effect; the moon is already on the
wane, and the celebration must take place before the new moon. The
unyago presents exactly the same features in all the tribes of this
region. The men erect a circle—larger or smaller as circumstances
may require—of simple grass huts in an open space near the village.
In this space the opening and closing ceremonies are performed; the
huts are intended for the candidates to live and sleep in. Such an
arena, with all its appurtenances in excellent preservation, was the
circle of something over fifty yards’ diameter which I was enabled to
photograph when visiting the echiputu at Akuchikomu. The charred
remains of a similar lisakasa, as the system of huts is called in Yao,
were to be seen near the road on this side of Akundonde’s—the relics
of a former festival.

MASEWE DANCE OF THE MAKUAS IN THE BOMA AT

NEWALA

It is inherent in the nature of the whole institution that both boys

and girls should be passive throughout. They sit silent, inactive and
motionless in their huts while, on the first night of the festival, the
grown-ups feast and drink and enjoy themselves in the wild masewe
dance. Next day the boys, each one in charge of his instructor, are
conducted to the bush by the chief director. There they sleep one
night without any shelter whatever. For a short time, on the
following day, they may do as they please, but during the remainder
they have to set to work with their anamungwi (teachers) and build
the ndagala. As soon as this airy construction is finished, one after
another of the boys is laid on a very primitive couch of millet-straw,
and the jua michila performs the operation. For weeks the little
patients lie there in a row, unable to do anything to accelerate the
slow process of healing. Not till this is complete and the subsequent
moral and other instruction has begun do the wari, as the boys are
now called, acquire the right to take part in public life. In the high
spirits engendered by the pride of their new position, they indulge in
many a mad freak. Woe to the unhappy woman or girl who, ignorant
of the situation of the ndagala, strays into this region of the bush.
Like a troop of mischievous imps, the boys rush on her, tease her,
perhaps even tie her up and ill-use her. According to tribal custom,
they are quite within their rights in so doing, for their abode in the
bush is supposed to be utterly unknown to women. When he goes out
into the pori the boy is dead to his mother,—when he returns, he will
be a different person with a new name, and nothing to connect him
with his former relationship.
I have already tried to describe the course taken by the instruction
imparted in the ndagala. Old Akundonde and his councillor, in the
candour induced by their libations, were certainly trustworthy
informants in this respect. It is an irreparable misfortune that the
liquor supply coming to an end when it did (in such a surprisingly
short time) deprived me of the conclusion of the address to the wari,
but the fragment already given is quite sufficient to indicate the
character of the teaching.
The lupanda reaches its culminating point only with the closing
ceremony. The preparations on both sides are extensive: in the bush
the wari are being restored by their mentors by means of head-
shaving, baths, anointing with oil, and a supply of new cloth, to a
condition worthy of human beings. In the village, meanwhile, the
mothers, long before the time fixed, have been brewing large
quantities of beer and preparing still larger piles of food for the
festivity. When the great day at last arrives, the boys come back in
procession, in their clean new garments, with their faces, necks, and
freshly-shorn scalps all shining with oil, and carrying in their right
hands the kakale, the sticks headed with rattles which have already
been described. Men and women line the road in joyful expectation.
Ever louder and more piercingly, the “lu-lu-lu” of the women
vibrates across the arena, and yonder the drums strike up with their
inspiriting rhythm, while the hoarse throats of the men utter the first
notes of a ng’oma song. In short, everything is going on in the most
satisfactory and genuinely African way.
 KAKALE PROCESSION ON THE LAST DAY OF THE UNYAGO

The Africans, being human, like ourselves, it is only to be expected

that all their works and ways are subject to as many changes and
inconsistencies as our own. I have devoted a disproportionate part of
the time (over a month) spent at Newala to the task of fixing the
typical course of all these ceremonies. This has been a most severe
labour, for if, in my wish to obtain unimpeachably accurate results, I
arranged to let my informants of each tribe come separately, I might
be sure that the two or three old men who made their appearance
would say little or nothing. The native intellect seems not to become
active till awakened and stimulated by sharp retort and rejoinder in a
numerous circle of men. I have thus been compelled to go back again
and again to my original method of assembling the whole senate of
“those who know,” some fifteen aged Yaos, Makua and Makonde in a
heterogeneous crowd round my feet. This was so far successful as to
produce a lively discussion every time, but it becomes very difficult
to distinguish between the elements belonging to different tribes. Yet
I venture to think that, with a great deal of luck, and some little skill,
I have succeeded so far as to get a general outline of these matters. I
feel quite easy in my mind at leaving to my successors the task of
filling up the gaps and correcting the inaccuracies which no doubt
exist.
Further, it must be remembered that my notes on the initiation
ceremonies of these three tribes would, if given in full, take up far too
much space to allow of their reproduction here. Two other points
must be borne in mind. What I saw with my own eyes of the unyago,
I have here related in full, with that local colouring of which actual
experience alone enables a writer to render the effect. But those
scenes at Achikomu, Niuchi and Mangupa are only tiny fractions of
the very extensive fasti represented by the girls’ unyago in reality;
while, as to the remainder, I can only repeat what I have heard from
my informants. Quotations, however, always produce an impression
of dryness and tedium, which is what I would seek to avoid at any
price. I therefore think it better to refer those interested in the details
of such things to the larger work in which it will be my duty,
according to agreement, to report to the Colonial Office on my doings
in Africa and their scientific results.
The last point belongs to another department. The negro is not in
the least sophisticated as regards the relation between the sexes.
Everything pertaining to it seems to him something quite natural,
about which his people are accustomed to speak quite freely among
themselves,—only in extreme cases showing a certain reticence
before members of the alien white race. Now the part played by sex
in the life of the African is very great, incomparably greater than with
us. It would be too much to say that all his thoughts and desires
revolve round this point, but a very large proportion thereof is
undoubtedly concerned with it. This is shown in the clearest way, not
only in the unyago itself, but in the representation which I
subsequently witnessed. In the present state of opinion resulting
from the popular system of education, such delicate matters can only
be treated in the most strictly scientific publications, being debarred
from reproduction in a book of any other character. This is necessary
—I must once more emphasize the fact,—not on account of the
subject itself, but out of consideration for the misguided feelings of
the public. It may be regrettable, but it is true.
Of all the tribes in the South of German East Africa, the Yaos seem
to be, not only the most progressive, but the most prosaic and
unimaginative, and in fact their initiation ceremonies are very
simple, compared with those of the Makonde and Makua. Those of
the latter have to a certain extent a dramatic character. The Makua
choose a branch of a particular shape, and forked several times,
which they plant in the midst of the open space where the festival is