Sall, Like Momodou Sidibeh, I have also printed off a copy of your paper on "The Social Sciences in Sub-Saharan Africa..." and I am looking forward to studying it in depth in the next few days. I shall be very happy to send you some comments before you leave for Washington DC. By the way, I can also recommend a 2002 publication from the Overseas Development Institute in the UK entitled "Participation in Practice: Case Studies from The Gambia" (ISBN 0-85003-598-8) by several contributors, including Drs. David and Ken Swindell. This new book looks at Participatory Rural Appraisal as a facilitator of socio-economic development, and comes up with some interesting conclusions pertaining to The Gambia. The case studies which are cited (including Action Aid The Gambia, The Gambian-German Forestry Project, The National Women Farmers’ Association of The Gambia) detail local and national action and reaction following participatory rural appraisal projects. One of the book’s authors, Dr Ken Swindell, is a long-term scholar of Gambian issues and retired as a Senior Lecturer at Birmingham University: he remains an Honorary Research Fellow of the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham. People like Professor Arnold Hughes, Dr Ken Swindell, Dr. David Perfect and Dr. Angela Browne have made, and continue to make, significant contributions to academic studies with regard to The Gambia, and yet they tend to remain "unsung heroes". The late John Wiseman was also a leading contributor to scholarly debate on The Gambia/Africa, and is greatly missed. It is only when people start to research The Gambia that the significance and quality of these people’s studies becomes evident. Our "own" Professor Sulayman Nyang in the past has also made excellent contributions to Gambian research and debate, although his current research has taken him to more distant countries in the Middle East. However, The Gambia is fortunate in that there are younger academics (such as Dr Abdoulaye Saine and yourself) who are contributing significantly to the latest research programmes involving our homeland and sub-region. These people will carry on the work of those other older scholars who have done us Gambians and our country so proud in the past. Ebrima Ceesay Birmingham, UK _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~