In the fields of governance - particularly in health and environment - new forms of normativity have emerged in Africa (as elsewhere), leading to an increasing alignment with normative standards of the globalized world. This has resulted in the widespread use of indicators and statistical models, articulated with complementary or antagonistic deontic repertoires, in a movement towards the densification, or even hyper-densification, of normativity in contemporary societies. The paradox is that this hyper-densification, intended to improve governance of societies and the environment, leads to conflicts of interpretation, dissenting alternatives, and subsequently, uncertainty. It may even result in a relative denial of scientificity, which can take the form of over-determination or under-determination of scientific statements regarding the nature of things by statements concerning responsibilities towards them. Both attitudes do not deny the scientificity of science, but consist of managing - based on other orders of magnitude - the scope and, in some cases, the validity of the statements referring to them. Scientific statements are thus embedded in discourses that regulate their application to the everyday world.