Collaborative research partnerships across universities particularly those in the global North and South can be opportunities to test the lofty ideals of equality, equity and justice. Globally, these ideals are increasingly coming under attack from rising authoritarianism, militarism, patriarchy, rapid technological advancement, income inequalities and attacks on academic freedom among others. Our research collaborations have interfaced with aspects of these challenges and have been tested by them directly in some cases. As a diverse team of researchers from Denmark and Uganda with different disciplinary backgrounds in law and political science, and considerably wide gaps in academic qualifications (from PhD-students to full seasoned professors), we had our fair share of reckoning with epistemological, gender, economic and racial inequity. In this co-keynote we shall highlight some of these moments of reckoning in decisions regarding publication and editorial choices, exchange of guest lectures, Covid19’s devastation, frustrations with visa applications and tensions in discussions concerning overheads. We shall also highlight how despite these challenges, we were able to build lasting bonds: from sharing a snack of grasshoppers in the streets of Luwero, and buying bitengi in Buganda Road market to ferrying Danish Rye Bread and white chocolate in hand luggage. Specifically on our research subject of militarization, we struggled to keep the analytical angle South-driven while profiting from the different skill sets across the team. We hope to demonstrate that through praxis, Universities can conduct collaborations between or among unequal partners in ways that engender equity. This is very much needed now as the world appears to be increasingly shaped by forces that are against the very concept.
Sylvie Namwase is a lecturer of human rights and international law at the School of Law, Makerere University under the Department of Law and Jurisprudence. She is also a researcher at the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC) School of Law, Makerere University, where she currently superintends as the local principal investigator on a DANIDA funded project titled: “Charcoal Conflict in Climate Change’s Decarbonisation Dilemmas: Knots of Livelihood, Nutrition, Communities, Gender, Migration and Energy in East Africa”.
Sylvie Namwase
School of Law, Makerere University
P.O.BOX, 7062 Kampala
Email: sylvie.namwase@mak.ac.ug; sylnamwase84@gmail.com
Ole Wæver is the Director of the Centre for Resolution of International Conflicts in the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen. He is a professor of international relations and has published extensively in that field. He is one of the main architects of the so-called Copenhagen School in International Relations, having coined 35 years ago the concept of ‘securitization’. He is the Principal Investigator on a DANIDA funded project titled: “Charcoal Conflict in Climate Change’s Decarbonisation Dilemmas: Knots of Livelihood, Nutrition, Communities, Gender, Migration and Energy in East Africa”.
Ole Wæver
Centre for Resolution of International Conflicts
Department of Political Science
University of Copenhagen
Øster Farimagsgade 5
DK-1353 Copenhagen K
Email: ow@ifs.ku.dk
