Decolonization of knowledge

This article is about the undoing of colonial influences on knowledge. For the legacy of colonialism within the domain of knowledge, see Coloniality of knowledge.
Removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes from the campus of the University of Cape Town on 9 April 2015. Rhodes Must Fall movement is said to have been motivated by a desire to decolonize knowledge and education in South Africa.[1]

Decolonization of knowledge (also epistemic decolonization or epistemological decolonization) is a concept advanced in decolonial scholarship[note 1][note 2] that critiques the perceived hegemony of Western knowledge systems.[note 3] It seeks to construct and legitimize other knowledge systems by exploring alternative epistemologies, ontologies and methodologies.[4] It is also an intellectual project that aims to "disinfect" academic activities that are believed to have little connection with the objective pursuit of knowledge and truth. The presumption is that if curricula, theories, and knowledge are colonized, it means they have been partly influenced by political, economic, social and cultural considerations.[5] The decolonial knowledge perspective covers a wide variety of subjects including philosophy (epistemology in particular), science, history of science, and other fundamental categories in social science.[6]

  1. ^ Chowdhury, Rashedur (2019). "From Black Pain to Rhodes Must Fall: A Rejectionist Perspective". Journal of Business Ethics. 170 (2): 287–311. doi:10.1007/s10551-019-04350-1. ISSN 0167-4544.
  2. ^ Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J. (2013). "Perhaps Decoloniality is the Answer? Critical Reflections on Development from a Decolonial Epistemic Perspective". Africanus. 43 (2): 1–12 [7]. doi:10.25159/0304-615X/2298. hdl:10520/EJC142701.
  3. ^ Zavala, Miguel (2017). "Decolonizing Knowledge Production". In Peters, M.A (ed.). Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore. pp. 361–366 [362]. doi:10.1007/978-981-287-588-4_508. ISBN 978-981-287-587-7.
  4. ^ a b Dreyer, Jaco S. (2017). "Practical theology and the call for the decolonisation of higher education in South Africa: Reflections and proposals". HTS Theological Studies. 73 (4): 1–7 [2, 3, 5]. doi:10.4102/hts.v73i4.4805. ISSN 0259-9422.
  5. ^ Broadbent, Alex (2017-06-01). "It will take critical, thorough scrutiny to truly decolonise knowledge". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hira1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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