Political space in Burundi underwent a remarkable opening during the Burundian peace process and its immediate aftermath, which led to a rise in social science scholarship in Burundi. This space has increasingly narrowed, particularly since the crisis in 2015, presenting important challenges for social science scholars of Burundi. This changing political environment has consequences for the production of knowledge on Burundi. It is therefore timely to ask what purposes does research on Burundi serve. This article reflects upon different motivations and goals for social science research in Burundi and how these affect the types of research questions that are asked and the formats for knowledge dissemination. It argues that both the opening and closing of the Burundian political landscape bring into sharp relief the need for greater scholarly reflexivity. The article argues that in contexts of structural inequality and increased political control such as Burundi, we need to be particularly attentive to the need for scholarly responsibility and humility, as well as an awareness of the dynamics that have led to calls for the decolonisation of knowledge within the social sciences.

中文翻译：

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我们的研究是为了什么？责任、谦逊和关于布隆迪的知识生产

在布隆迪和平进程及其直接后果期间，布隆迪的政治空间经历了非凡的开放，这导致布隆迪社会科学奖学金的兴起。这一空间日益缩小，特别是自 2015 年危机以来，这对布隆迪的社会科学学者提出了重要挑战。这种不断变化的政治环境对产生关于布隆迪的知识产生了影响。因此，及时询问对布隆迪的研究有什么目的。本文反映了布隆迪社会科学研究的不同动机和目标，以及它们如何影响研究问题的类型和知识传播的形式。它认为，布隆迪政治格局的开启和关闭都使人们对更大的学术反思性的需求有了明显的缓解。文章认为，在布隆迪等结构性不平等和政治控制增强的背景下，我们需要特别关注学术责任和谦逊的必要性，以及对导致知识非殖民化呼吁的动态的认识。在社会科学领域。