12 - Indigenous African Knowledge and the Challenge of Epistemic Translation
CODESRIA Bulletin,
No. 1 (2025): CODESRIA Bulletin, No 1, 2025: Special Issue Reflection on the Contribution of CODESRIA Second Executive Secretary
Abstract
Keynote Address:
African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledges (AFRIAK), Conference organised by CODESRIA,
King Fahd Palace Hotel – Dakar, Senegal, 25–27 November 2024
Prologue
Allow me to start by recalling an encounter at another CODESRIA meeting in Dakar, in January 2013. In collaboration with Point Sud (Centre for Research on Local Knowledge), based in Bamako, Mali, CODESRIA had co-organised a conference, ‘Africa N‘ko: Debating the Colonial Library’. The conference had brought together some of Afri- ca’s finest intellectuals to consider the implications of what Congolese philosopher V.Y. Mudimbe designated a ‘colonial library’ on knowledge production and gnostic practices on and about Africa, as well as imagine the continent beyond the epistemic regions, structuring violence and contaminating vectors of this library.
Coinciding with the conference was Operation Serval, a French military intervention in Mali os- tensibly to oust Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists who had seized control of the north of Mali and were pushing into the centre of the country. Like every other ‘savage war for peace’, Operation Serval was justified in the name of a higher ethical purpose: namely, to prevent the Mali- an state from collapse and rescue it from the savagery of Islamists harkening to irrational and premodern beliefs. Among those attending the conference, however, the concerns were especially over the protection of historical and cultural artefacts – specifically, the manuscripts and knowledge troves of medieval West Africa housed in a library in Timbuktu, central Mali.
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- Amin, S., 1985, Delinking: Towards a Polycentric World, trans. Michael Wolfers. London: Zed Books.
- Asad, T., 1993, Genealogies of Reli- gion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Badiou, A., 2003, ‘Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism’, trans. by Ray Brassier, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
- Cabral, A., 1974, Revolution in Guin- ea, trans. by Richard Handyside. London, Stage 1.
- Cusicanqui, S. R., 2012, ‘Ch’ixinakax utxiwa: A Reflection on the Practices and Discourses of De- colonization’, The South Atlan- tic Quarterly, Vol. 111, No. 1, pp. 95–109.
- Escobar, A., 2007, ‘Worlds and Knowledges Otherwise: The Latin American Modernity/Colo- niality Research Program’, Cul- tural Studies, Vol. 21, Nos 2-3, pp. 179–210.
- Fanon, F., [1967] 2008, Black Skin, White Masks. New edition, trans. by Richard Philcox. New York: Grove.
- Grosfoguel, R., 2007, ‘The Epistemic Decolonial Turn: Beyond polit- ical-economy paradigms’, Cul- tural Studies, Vol. 21, Nos 2–3, pp. 211–223.
- Hobsbawm, E. and Ranger, T., 1992, The Invention of Tradition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Hountondji, P.J., 2009, ‘Knowledge of Africa, Knowledge by Africans: Two Perspectives on African Studies’, RCCS Annual Review or (September), pp. 121–131. al Lugones, M., 2008, ‘The Coloniality of Gender’, Worlds & st Knowledges Otherwise (Spring), nd pp. 1–17.
- Maldonado-Torres, N., 2008,). Against War. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
- Maldonado-Torres, N., 2011, ‘Think- ing through the Decolonial Turn: Post-continental Interventions in Theory, Philosophy, and Cri- tique—An Introduction’, Trans- modernity, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1–15.
- Mamdani, M., 1996, Citizen and Sub- ject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univer- sity Press.
- Mavhunga, C. C., 2017, What Do Sci- ence, Technology, and Innovation Mean from Africa? Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Mbembe, A., 2021, Out of the Dark Night: Essays on Decolonization. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Mignolo, W. D., 2000, Local Histo- ries/Global Design. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Mignolo, W. D., 2007, ‘Delink- ing’, Cultural Studies, Vol. 21, Nos 2–3, pp. 449–514.
- Mignolo, W. D., 2011a, ‘Epistemic Disobedience and the Decolonial Option: A Manifesto’, Transmo- dernity (Fall), pp. 44–66.
- Mignolo, W. D., 2011b, The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Glob- al Futures, Decolonial Options. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
- Michaelsen, S. and Shershow, S. C., 2007, ‘Rethinking Border Think- ing’, South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol. 106, No. 1, pp. 39–60.
- Mudimbe, V. Y., 1988, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge, Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.
- Mudimbe, V. Y., 1991, Parables and Fables: Exegesis Textuality and Politics in Central Africa. Madi- son, WI: The University of Wis- consin Press.
- Mudimbe, V. Y., 1994, The Idea of Africa. Bloomington and India- napolis, IN: Indiana University Press.
- Mudimbe, V. Y., 2009, ‘Epilogue: In the Name of Similitude’, in Njogu, K. and Middleton, J. eds. Media and Identity in Africa, Ed-inburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 308–324.
- Mudimbe, V. Y., 2013, On African Fault Lines: Meditations on Al- terity Politics. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
- Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J., 2022, Coloni- ality of Power in Postcolonial Af- rica: The Myth of Decolonization 2nd ed. Dakar: CODESRIA.
- Ngug'i wa Thiong’o, 1986, Decolo- nising the Mind. London: James Currey.
- Quijano, A., 2007, ‘Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality’, Cultural Studies, Vol. 21, Nos. 2–3, pp.
- –178.
- Trouillot, M.-R., 1995, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. New York: rBeacon Press.
- Young, R. J. C., 2003, Postcolonial- ism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University.
References
Amin, S., 1985, Delinking: Towards a Polycentric World, trans. Michael Wolfers. London: Zed Books.
Asad, T., 1993, Genealogies of Reli- gion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Badiou, A., 2003, ‘Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism’, trans. by Ray Brassier, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Cabral, A., 1974, Revolution in Guin- ea, trans. by Richard Handyside. London, Stage 1.
Cusicanqui, S. R., 2012, ‘Ch’ixinakax utxiwa: A Reflection on the Practices and Discourses of De- colonization’, The South Atlan- tic Quarterly, Vol. 111, No. 1, pp. 95–109.
Escobar, A., 2007, ‘Worlds and Knowledges Otherwise: The Latin American Modernity/Colo- niality Research Program’, Cul- tural Studies, Vol. 21, Nos 2-3, pp. 179–210.
Fanon, F., [1967] 2008, Black Skin, White Masks. New edition, trans. by Richard Philcox. New York: Grove.
Grosfoguel, R., 2007, ‘The Epistemic Decolonial Turn: Beyond polit- ical-economy paradigms’, Cul- tural Studies, Vol. 21, Nos 2–3, pp. 211–223.
Hobsbawm, E. and Ranger, T., 1992, The Invention of Tradition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hountondji, P.J., 2009, ‘Knowledge of Africa, Knowledge by Africans: Two Perspectives on African Studies’, RCCS Annual Review or (September), pp. 121–131. al Lugones, M., 2008, ‘The Coloniality of Gender’, Worlds & st Knowledges Otherwise (Spring), nd pp. 1–17.
Maldonado-Torres, N., 2008,). Against War. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Maldonado-Torres, N., 2011, ‘Think- ing through the Decolonial Turn: Post-continental Interventions in Theory, Philosophy, and Cri- tique—An Introduction’, Trans- modernity, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1–15.
Mamdani, M., 1996, Citizen and Sub- ject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univer- sity Press.
Mavhunga, C. C., 2017, What Do Sci- ence, Technology, and Innovation Mean from Africa? Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Mbembe, A., 2021, Out of the Dark Night: Essays on Decolonization. New York: Columbia University Press.
Mignolo, W. D., 2000, Local Histo- ries/Global Design. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Mignolo, W. D., 2007, ‘Delink- ing’, Cultural Studies, Vol. 21, Nos 2–3, pp. 449–514.
Mignolo, W. D., 2011a, ‘Epistemic Disobedience and the Decolonial Option: A Manifesto’, Transmo- dernity (Fall), pp. 44–66.
Mignolo, W. D., 2011b, The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Glob- al Futures, Decolonial Options. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Michaelsen, S. and Shershow, S. C., 2007, ‘Rethinking Border Think- ing’, South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol. 106, No. 1, pp. 39–60.
Mudimbe, V. Y., 1988, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge, Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.
Mudimbe, V. Y., 1991, Parables and Fables: Exegesis Textuality and Politics in Central Africa. Madi- son, WI: The University of Wis- consin Press.
Mudimbe, V. Y., 1994, The Idea of Africa. Bloomington and India- napolis, IN: Indiana University Press.
Mudimbe, V. Y., 2009, ‘Epilogue: In the Name of Similitude’, in Njogu, K. and Middleton, J. eds. Media and Identity in Africa, Ed-inburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 308–324.
Mudimbe, V. Y., 2013, On African Fault Lines: Meditations on Al- terity Politics. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J., 2022, Coloni- ality of Power in Postcolonial Af- rica: The Myth of Decolonization 2nd ed. Dakar: CODESRIA.
Ngug'i wa Thiong’o, 1986, Decolo- nising the Mind. London: James Currey.
Quijano, A., 2007, ‘Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality’, Cultural Studies, Vol. 21, Nos. 2–3, pp.
–178.
Trouillot, M.-R., 1995, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. New York: rBeacon Press.
Young, R. J. C., 2003, Postcolonial- ism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University.