“Point Sud – Strengthening Local Knowledge” analyzes the interactions between local knowledge and practices, and global or national projects of modernization and state construction. Point Sud particularly supports research on cultural assumptions of local knowledge and its responses to local, national and global dynamics. The institution has been working on projects of agricultural development, health care, migration and the process of decentralisation.
Point Sud sponsors individual research projects that bring together scholars from around the world and it grants study and research scholarships to young African researchers.
The primary objective of these investigations is to develop a middle range theory that analyzes basic data and creates a successful dialogue between academic disciplines closely related in the field. Therefore, the systematic collection of oral traditions and other oral accounts is the focal point of the institute’s research projects. For this reason, Point Sud emphasizes field research. Each researcher is required to spend at least a third of his time in the field.