6 - Globalisation, Decoloniality and the Question of Knowledge Production in Africa: A Critical Discourse
Corresponding Author(s) : Olugbemiga Samuel Afolabi
Journal of Higher Education in Africa,
Vol. 18 No. 1 (2020): Journal of Higher Education in Africa: Special Issue on The Politics of Knowledge Production in Africa
Abstract
Globalisation entails the process of production and exchange at the planetary level, making the world a global village. At global epistemic levels, it has been dominated by Eurocentrism and Western knowledge production paradigms and platforms. Characterised by asymmetrical and superior- inferior relationships between the global North generally and global South, in Africa in particular, virtually all facets of knowledge production, utilisation and transfer have been dominated by the West. In Africa, the process of knowledge production has been muddled, supplanted and ultimately made subservient to orthodox Western education forms and structures of colonial authorities. The global political economy of knowledge production has consigned indigenous knowledge to being regarded as traditional, unscientific and value-laden. Using philosophical logical reasoning and secondary data, the article critically engages with these issues, especially those that pertain to decolonisation of knowledge production in Africa in the age of globalisation. It provides an examination of pedagogical issues, especially teaching and learning methodologies. It also interrogates the knowledge of culture, mind, and self in knowledge production in Africa within the global context. In addition, it appraises research methodological platforms that inhibit Africanist solutions with global applicability. This is with a view to suggesting interventions that demonstrate the applicability of alternative frameworks of knowledge production in Africa.
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- Afolabi, O.S, 2017, ‘Understanding knowledge production in Africa: issues, prob- lems and prospects’, Journal of Demography and Social Statistics (JDSS), Vol. 4, No. 1 & 2, pp. 10–20.
- Afolabi, O.S., 2020a, ‘Cultural narratives, Africanist philosophy and the question of knowledge production in Africa’, in F.E. Omidire, J. Oladosu, G. Fasiku and V. Alumona, eds., Philosophy and Culture: Interrogating the Nexus, Salvador: SEGUNDO SELO.
- Afolabi, O.S., 2020b, ‘Conducting focus group discussion in Africa: researching the nexus between state and election administration’, SAGE Research Methods Cases, Part 1. London: SAGE.
- Appadurai, A., 1990, ‘Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy’, Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 259–310.
- Bovy, P.M., 2015, ‘The Hostile Renegotiation of the Professor-Student Relationship’, The New Republic Magazine. (https://newrepublic.com/article/121973/hostile-renegotiation-professor-student-relationship) 20 June 2018.
- Bukenya, A., 2020, Austin Bukenya: Biography. (https://badilishapoetry.com/austin-bukenya/). 2 June 2021.
- Codesria, 2002, Declaration on Africa’s Development Challenges. Dakar: Council for the Development of Social Sciences in Africa (CODESRIA).
- Diop, Cheikh Anta, 1987, Pre-Colonial Black Africa: a comparative study of the politi- cal and social systems of Europe and Black Africa, from antiquity to the formation of modern states, Michigan; L. Hill.
- Gikandi, S., 2000, ‘African literature and the colonial factor’ in F. Irele and S. Gikandi, eds., The Cambridge History of African and Carribean Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 379–397.
- Grosfoguel, R., 2007, ‘The epistemic decolonial turn: beyond political-economy paradigms’, Cultural Studies, Vol. 21, Nos. 2–3, pp. 211–223.
- Hall, B.L. and Tandon, R., 2017, ‘Decolonization of knowledge, epistemicide, par- ticipatory research and higher education’, Research for All, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 6–19.
- Harvey, D., 2004, ‘The new imperialism: accumulation by dispossession’, Socialist Register, Vol. 40, pp. 63–87.
- Hountondji, P.J., 1995, ‘Producing Knowledge in Africa Today: The Second Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola Distinguished Lecture’, African Studies Review, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 1–10.
- Idowu, H.A., 2021, ‘African culture and the quest for sustainable and improved indigenous knowledge production: Nigeria and South Africa in perspective’, forthcoming in Journal of Higher Education in Africa, Dakar: CODESRIA.
- Jefferess, D.M., and Gikandi, S., 2005, ‘Postcolonialism’s Ethical (Re)Turn: An Interview with Simon Gikandi’, Postcolonial Text, Vol. 2.
- Jeyifo, B., 1990, ‘The Nature of Things: Arrested Decolonization and Critical Theory’, Research in African Literature, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 33–48.
- Mart, C.T., 2011, ‘British colonial education policy in Africa’, Internal journal of English and literature, Vol. 2, No. 9, pp. 190–194.
- Mbembe, A.J., 2016, ‘Decolonizing the university: new directions’, Arts & Humani- ties in Higher Education, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 29–45.
- Mbembe, A. 2015, ‘Decolonising Knowledge and the Question of the Archive’, Lecture delivered at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research. (https://wiser.wits. ac.za/system/files/Achille%20Mbembe%20-%20Decolonizing%20Knowledge%20and%20the%20Question%20of%20the%20Archive.pdf ). 28 May 2021.
- Mignolo, W.D. and Escobar, A., eds., 2010, Globalization and the decolonial option, Abingdon: Routledge.
- Mignolo, W.D., 2011, ‘Geopolitics of sensing and knowing: on (de)coloniality, border thinking and epistemic disobedience’, Postcolonial Studies, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 273–283.
- Mimiko, N.O. and Afolabi, O.S., 2012, ‘Globalisation and the imperative of cul- tural nationalism in Africa: what has things fall apart got to do with it?’, in C. Anyadike and K.A. Ayoola, eds., Blazing the path: fifty years of things fall apart, Ibadan: HEBN Publishers.
- Mudimbe, V.Y., 1988, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge, Bloomington, Indiana University Press.
- Mugo, M.M.G., 1991, African orature and human rights; human and peoples’ rights, Monograph Series. No 13.
- Musila, G., 2017, ‘Navigating epistemic disarticulations’, African Affairs, Vol. 116, No. 465, pp. 629–704.
- Nazombe, E., 1995, ‘Democratizing globalization: NGOs, education, action, hunger’, TeachNet, Vol. 6, No. 3.
- Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J., 2013, ‘Why decoloniality in the 21st century?’, The Thinker, Vol. 48, pp. 10–15.
- Olufemi, T., 1993, ‘Colonialism and its aftermath: the crisis of knowledge production in Callaloo’, Post-Colonial Discourse, Vol 16, No. 4, pp. 891–908.
- Onimode, B., 1988, A political economy of African crisis, London: Zed Books.
- Orion, N.T, Hofstein, A.P., Tamir, P. and Giddings, G.J., 1997, ‘Development and validation of an instrument for assessing the learning environment of outdoor science activities’, Science Education, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 161–171.
- Odera Oruka, H., 1990, ed., Sage philosophy; indigenous thinkers and modern debate on African philosophy, in Philosophy of History and Culture, Vol. 4., Leiden: Brill. Owusu, M., 2015, ‘Ethnography of Africa: the usefulness of the useless’, American Anthropologist, Vol. 80, No. 2, pp. 310–334.
- Owusu-Ansah, F.E. & Mji, G., 2013, ‘African indigenous knowledge and research’, African Journal of Disability, Vol. 2, No. 1.
- Taylor, S., and Coetzee, M., 2013, Language(s) of learning in South Africa. Stel- lenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP21/2013. (https://www.ekon.sun.ac.za/wpapers/2013/wp212013). 20 June 2018.
- Thiong’o, N., 1981, Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Lit- erature, Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House.
- Tuhiwai Smith, L.T., 1999, Decolonizing methodologies: research and indigenous peoples, London and New York: Zed Books.
- World Oral Literature Project, 2011, ‘Definitions and Understandings of Oral Literature’, Yale: University of Cambridge. (http://www.oralliterature.org/about/oralliterature.html). 29 May 2021.
References
Afolabi, O.S, 2017, ‘Understanding knowledge production in Africa: issues, prob- lems and prospects’, Journal of Demography and Social Statistics (JDSS), Vol. 4, No. 1 & 2, pp. 10–20.
Afolabi, O.S., 2020a, ‘Cultural narratives, Africanist philosophy and the question of knowledge production in Africa’, in F.E. Omidire, J. Oladosu, G. Fasiku and V. Alumona, eds., Philosophy and Culture: Interrogating the Nexus, Salvador: SEGUNDO SELO.
Afolabi, O.S., 2020b, ‘Conducting focus group discussion in Africa: researching the nexus between state and election administration’, SAGE Research Methods Cases, Part 1. London: SAGE.
Appadurai, A., 1990, ‘Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy’, Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 259–310.
Bovy, P.M., 2015, ‘The Hostile Renegotiation of the Professor-Student Relationship’, The New Republic Magazine. (https://newrepublic.com/article/121973/hostile-renegotiation-professor-student-relationship) 20 June 2018.
Bukenya, A., 2020, Austin Bukenya: Biography. (https://badilishapoetry.com/austin-bukenya/). 2 June 2021.
Codesria, 2002, Declaration on Africa’s Development Challenges. Dakar: Council for the Development of Social Sciences in Africa (CODESRIA).
Diop, Cheikh Anta, 1987, Pre-Colonial Black Africa: a comparative study of the politi- cal and social systems of Europe and Black Africa, from antiquity to the formation of modern states, Michigan; L. Hill.
Gikandi, S., 2000, ‘African literature and the colonial factor’ in F. Irele and S. Gikandi, eds., The Cambridge History of African and Carribean Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 379–397.
Grosfoguel, R., 2007, ‘The epistemic decolonial turn: beyond political-economy paradigms’, Cultural Studies, Vol. 21, Nos. 2–3, pp. 211–223.
Hall, B.L. and Tandon, R., 2017, ‘Decolonization of knowledge, epistemicide, par- ticipatory research and higher education’, Research for All, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 6–19.
Harvey, D., 2004, ‘The new imperialism: accumulation by dispossession’, Socialist Register, Vol. 40, pp. 63–87.
Hountondji, P.J., 1995, ‘Producing Knowledge in Africa Today: The Second Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola Distinguished Lecture’, African Studies Review, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 1–10.
Idowu, H.A., 2021, ‘African culture and the quest for sustainable and improved indigenous knowledge production: Nigeria and South Africa in perspective’, forthcoming in Journal of Higher Education in Africa, Dakar: CODESRIA.
Jefferess, D.M., and Gikandi, S., 2005, ‘Postcolonialism’s Ethical (Re)Turn: An Interview with Simon Gikandi’, Postcolonial Text, Vol. 2.
Jeyifo, B., 1990, ‘The Nature of Things: Arrested Decolonization and Critical Theory’, Research in African Literature, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 33–48.
Mart, C.T., 2011, ‘British colonial education policy in Africa’, Internal journal of English and literature, Vol. 2, No. 9, pp. 190–194.
Mbembe, A.J., 2016, ‘Decolonizing the university: new directions’, Arts & Humani- ties in Higher Education, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 29–45.
Mbembe, A. 2015, ‘Decolonising Knowledge and the Question of the Archive’, Lecture delivered at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research. (https://wiser.wits. ac.za/system/files/Achille%20Mbembe%20-%20Decolonizing%20Knowledge%20and%20the%20Question%20of%20the%20Archive.pdf ). 28 May 2021.
Mignolo, W.D. and Escobar, A., eds., 2010, Globalization and the decolonial option, Abingdon: Routledge.
Mignolo, W.D., 2011, ‘Geopolitics of sensing and knowing: on (de)coloniality, border thinking and epistemic disobedience’, Postcolonial Studies, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 273–283.
Mimiko, N.O. and Afolabi, O.S., 2012, ‘Globalisation and the imperative of cul- tural nationalism in Africa: what has things fall apart got to do with it?’, in C. Anyadike and K.A. Ayoola, eds., Blazing the path: fifty years of things fall apart, Ibadan: HEBN Publishers.
Mudimbe, V.Y., 1988, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge, Bloomington, Indiana University Press.
Mugo, M.M.G., 1991, African orature and human rights; human and peoples’ rights, Monograph Series. No 13.
Musila, G., 2017, ‘Navigating epistemic disarticulations’, African Affairs, Vol. 116, No. 465, pp. 629–704.
Nazombe, E., 1995, ‘Democratizing globalization: NGOs, education, action, hunger’, TeachNet, Vol. 6, No. 3.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J., 2013, ‘Why decoloniality in the 21st century?’, The Thinker, Vol. 48, pp. 10–15.
Olufemi, T., 1993, ‘Colonialism and its aftermath: the crisis of knowledge production in Callaloo’, Post-Colonial Discourse, Vol 16, No. 4, pp. 891–908.
Onimode, B., 1988, A political economy of African crisis, London: Zed Books.
Orion, N.T, Hofstein, A.P., Tamir, P. and Giddings, G.J., 1997, ‘Development and validation of an instrument for assessing the learning environment of outdoor science activities’, Science Education, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 161–171.
Odera Oruka, H., 1990, ed., Sage philosophy; indigenous thinkers and modern debate on African philosophy, in Philosophy of History and Culture, Vol. 4., Leiden: Brill. Owusu, M., 2015, ‘Ethnography of Africa: the usefulness of the useless’, American Anthropologist, Vol. 80, No. 2, pp. 310–334.
Owusu-Ansah, F.E. & Mji, G., 2013, ‘African indigenous knowledge and research’, African Journal of Disability, Vol. 2, No. 1.
Taylor, S., and Coetzee, M., 2013, Language(s) of learning in South Africa. Stel- lenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP21/2013. (https://www.ekon.sun.ac.za/wpapers/2013/wp212013). 20 June 2018.
Thiong’o, N., 1981, Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Lit- erature, Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House.
Tuhiwai Smith, L.T., 1999, Decolonizing methodologies: research and indigenous peoples, London and New York: Zed Books.
World Oral Literature Project, 2011, ‘Definitions and Understandings of Oral Literature’, Yale: University of Cambridge. (http://www.oralliterature.org/about/oralliterature.html). 29 May 2021.