Issue

Vol. 23 No. 1 (2025): Journal of Higher Education in Africa: Special Issue on Decolonising Knowledge Production in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts

Beyond Epistemology

Challenges and Pitfalls in Decolonising Knowledge Production
https://doi.org/10.57054/jhea.v23i1.6490
Henning Melber

Corresponding Author(s) : Henning Melber

Henning.Melber@nai.uu.se

Journal of Higher Education in Africa, Vol. 23 No. 1 (2025): Journal of Higher Education in Africa: Special Issue on Decolonising Knowledge Production in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts

Abstract

An ambitious initiative to reform tertiary education in South Africa recommended a ‘transformative plan towards a post-imperial and post-colonial relationship to the world of knowledge’. However, while Eurocentrism is mentioned as an obstacle, neither epistemology nor the institutional structures of higher learning are questioned in principle. This reflects the limits of system-immanent approaches. In contrast, the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall campaigns on campuses indicated that further serious efforts were required. Epistemological changes are a step in the aspired direction, but it is argued that they fall short of decolonisation if the structural constraints in a society reproduce the former class- (and gender-) related patterns of dominance. The mission remains unaccomplished if a ‘decolonial’ or ‘post-colonial’ epistemology is cultivated in the inherited structures of dominance, privilege and discrimination. Positionalities matter. This article summarises the underlying patterns of Eurocentric dominance and its pitfalls, with the aim of highlighting the challenges beyond epistemological decolonisation.

Keywords

Epistemological decolonisation knowledge production global asymmetries African positionality Eurocentrism Western dominance
Melber, H. (2026). Beyond Epistemology: Challenges and Pitfalls in Decolonising Knowledge Production. Journal of Higher Education in Africa, 23(1), 19–36. https://doi.org/10.57054/jhea.v23i1.6490
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX
References
  1. "Bhambra, G.K., 2022, ‘A decolonial project for Europe’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 60(2): 229–44.
  2. Bgoya, W., and Jay, M., 2023. ‘Publishing in Africa from independence to the present day’, Research in African Literatures, 44(2): 17–34.
  3. Bilgen, A., Nasir, A., and Schöneberg, J., 2021, ‘Why positionalities matter: Reflections on power, hierarchy, and knowledges in “development” research’, Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d’etudes du développement, 42(4): 519–36.
  4. Briggs, R.C., and Weathers, S., 2016, ‘Gender and location in African politics
  5. scholarship: The other White man’s burden?’, African Affairs, 115(460): 466–89."
  6. "Crilly, J., and Everitt, R., (eds), 2021, Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries, London: Facet.
  7. Dabashi, H., 2009, ‘The discrete charm of European intellectuals’, International Journal of Zizek Studies, 3(4) unpaginated. http://zizekstudies.org/index.php/ ijzs/article/view/220/314.
  8. Dabashi, H., 2013, ‘Can non-Europeans think? What happens to thinkers who operate outside the European philosophical “pedigree”?’ Al Jazeera, 15 January. http://www. aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/01/2013114142638797542.html.
  9. Dabashi, H., 2015, Can Non-Europeans Think? London: Zed Books.
  10. Dannecker, P., 2022, ‘Collaboration in a “North–South” Context: The role of power relations and the various context-based conditions’, European Journal of Development Research, (34): 1716–26.
  11. Dodsworth, S., 2019, ‘The challenges of making research collaboration in Africa more equitable’, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, 26 March. https://doi. org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1389
  12. Escobar, A., 1977, ‘Anthropology and development’, International Science Journal, 49(154): 497–515.
  13. Fanon, F., 1967, Black Skin, White Masks, New York: Grove Press (French original 1952). Gibbs, J., and Mapanje, J., (eds), 1999, The African Writers’ Handbook, Oxford:
  14. African Books Collective and Uppsala: Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation.
  15. Gopal, P., 2021, ‘On decolonisation and the university’, Textual Practice, 35(6): 873–99.
  16. Heleta, S., and Mzileni, P., 2024, ‘Bibliometric coloniality in South Africa: Critical review of the indexes of accredited journals’, Education as Change, 28(16020). https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/EAC/article/view/16020/7863.
  17. Horáková, H., 2016, ‘Knowledge production in and on Africa: Knowledge gatekeepers, decolonization, alternative representations’, in: H. Horáková and K. Werkman (eds), Knowledge Production in and on Africa, Wien: LIT, pp. 21–52. Kamal, A., 2020, ‘Some thoughts on reconfiguring epistemology: Location, authenticity and value’, International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 51(3–4): 71–4.
  18. Keim, W., 2008, ‘Social sciences internationally – the problem of marginalisation and its consequences for the discipline of sociology’, African Sociological Review, 12(2): 22–48.
  19. Khunou, G., Canham, H., Khoza-Shangase, K., and Phaswana, E.D. (eds), 2019,
  20. Black Academic Voices. The South African Experience, Cape Town: HSRC Press. Korang, K. L., 2006, ‘Useless provocation or meaningful challenge? The “Posts” versus
  21. African Studies’, in P.T. Zeleza (ed.), The Study of Africa. Volume I: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Encounters, Dakar: CODESRIA, pp. 443–66.
  22. Long, W., 2018, ‘Decolonising higher education: postcolonial theory and the invisible hand of student politics’, New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy, 69: 20–5.
  23. Magubane, Z., 2019, ‘Foreword’, in G. Khunou, H. Canham, K. Khoza-Shangase
  24. and E.D. Phaswana (eds), Black Academic Voices. The South African Experience, Cape Town: HSRC Press, pp. iii–iv."
  25. Melber, H., 2016, ‘Development and environment: The challenges for research collaboration in and with Africa’. CODESRIA Bulletin, 1 & 2: 10–16.
  26. Melber, H., 2019, ‘Knowledge production, ownership and the power of definition: Perspectives on and from Sub-Saharan Africa’, in I. Baud, E. Basile, T. Kontinen, and S. von Itter(eds), Building Development Studies for the New Millennium, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 265–87.
  27. Melber, H., 2024, The Long Shadow of German Colonialism. Amnesia, Denialism and Revisionism, London: Hurst and New York: Oxford University Press.
  28. Mignolo, W., 2011, The Darker Side of Modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
  29. Mignolo, W., 2016, ‘Delinking’, Cultural Studies, 21(2): 449–514.
  30. Mignolo, W., 2017, ‘Interview – Walter Mignolo/Part 2: Key Concepts’, E-International Relations, 21 January. https://www.e-ir.info/2017/01/21/ interview-walter-mignolopart-2-key-concepts/.
  31. Mishra, P., 2014, ‘The western model is broken’, The Guardian, 14 October. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/14/-sp-western-model-broken-pankaj-mishra.
  32. Mishra, P., 2015, ‘After the Paris attacks: It’s time for a new Enlightenment’, The Guardian, 20 January 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/ jan/20/-sp-after-paris-its-time-for-new-enlightenment.
  33. Mlambo, A., (ed.), 2007, African Scholarly Publishing: Essays, Oxford: African Books Collective, Uppsala: Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and Oxford: International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications.
  34. Mushakavanhu, T., 2024, ‘Weaver Press is closing – how one small, brave Zimbabwean publisher made a difference’, The Conversation, 22 January. https:// theconversation.com/weaver-press-is-closing-how-one-small-brave-zimbabwean-publisher-made-a-difference-220955.
  35. Ndlovu, S., and Woldegiorgis, E.T., 2024, ‘Neoliberal labyrinth: Epistemic freedom and knowledge production in higher education in the Global South’, Transformation in Higher Education, 9, 7 November. https://thejournal.org.za/ index.php/thejournal/article/view/412/813.
  36. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J., 2018, ‘The dynamics of epistemological decolonisation in the 21st century: Towards epistemic freedom’, Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 40(1): 16–45.
  37. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J., 2021, ‘On gladiatory scholarship’, Review of African Political Economy Blog, 20 May. https://roape.net/2021/05/20/on-gladiatory-scholarship/. Noble, S.U., 2018, Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism,
  38. New York: New York University Press.
  39. Olukoshi, A., and Zeleza, P.T., 2004, ‘Conclusion. The African university in the twenty-first century: Future challenges and a research agenda’, in P.T. Zeleza and A. Olukoshi (wds), African Universities in the Twenty-first Century. Volume II: Knowledge and Society, Dakar: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, pp. 595–617."
  40. "Pongweni, T.E., Calitz, and Ellis, E., 2025, ‘Starved for education – the harsh hunger crisis gripping SA university campuses’, Daily Maverick, 8 March. https://www. dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-08-starved-for-education-the-harsh-hunger-crisis-gripping-sa-university-campuses/.
  41. Republic of South Africa, 2011, Report Commissioned by the Minister for Higher Education & Training for the Charter for Humanities and Social Sciences. Final Report 30 June 2011, Pretoria: Department Higher Education and Training. https://static.pmg.org.za/docs/110923dhet-charter.pdf.
  42. Rothberg, M., 2019, The Implicated Subject. Beyond Victims and Perpetrators, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  43. Sabaratnam, M., 2018, ‘Decolonising the curriculum: What’s all the fuss about?’, SOAS Blog, 18 January. https://blogs.soas.ac.uk/decolonisingsoas/2017/01/18/ decolonising-the-curriculum-whats-all-the-fuss-about/.
  44. Santos, B.d.S., 2018, The End of the Cognitive Empire. The Coming of Age of Epistemologies of the South, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
  45. Serunkuma, Y.K., 2024, ‘Decolonial Dilemmas: The deception of a “Global Knowledge Commonwealth” and the tragedian entrapment of an African scholar’, Africa Spectrum, 59(1): 10–24.
  46. Suriano, M., 2021, ‘Dreams and constraints of an African publisher: Walter Bgoya, Tanzania Publishing House and Mkuki na Nyota, 1972–2020’, Africa: Journal of the International Institute, 91(4): 575–601.
  47. UNESCO and International Social Science Council, 2010, World Social Science Report, 2010: Knowledge Divides, Paris: UNESCO Publishing and International Social Science Council.
  48. Wilson, K., 2022, ‘We cannot take library collections at face value. We need to confront the biases that exist within those collections and, often, ourselves’, LSE Blog, 4 March. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2022/03/04/we-cannot-take-library-collections-at-face-value-we-need-to-confront-the-biases-that-exist-within-those-collections-and-often-ourselves/.
  49. Zondi, S., (ed.), 2021, African Voices: In Search of a Decolonial Turn, Pretoria: Africa
  50. Institute of South Africa."
Read More

Author Biography

Henning Melber

Extraordinary Professor, Centre for Gender and Africa Studies, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Download
PDF
Statistic
Read Counter : 0 Download : 0

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.