AO: Oniang'o points out a shifting expectation (especially for those working in/on/from the "global South"?) that academics will not only write and publish for others in the ivory tower but that their work will have "development impact" (related to positively influencing policies, reducing poverty, and improving on-the-ground development programs). This is interesting to compare against the notion of "academic impact" which has now largely become equated with quantitative measures of academic outputs such as citation counts.
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Ruth Oniang'o 51:11
"... in fact more and more, and Angela will agree with me in Kenya, more and more, academics are being asked to go beyond the writing. They are being asked, what impact are they having on policies. What impact are you having on programs on the ground? How are you addressing issues of poverty? You know, hunger, inequality, gender, and so on. And so, academics are being pushed to go that direction, so they don't get sit in the lab and publish and write things for the sake of it. So you are right you know, I think it can cover broadly that kind of publishing."
