Abstract
Contemporary debates on decolonising knowledge production, inclusive of
research on Africa, are crucial and challenge researchers to reflect on the legacies
of colonial power relations that continue to permeate the production of knowledge
about the continent, its peoples, and societies. Yet these are not new debates. Sixty
years ago, Ghana’s first president and pan-Africanist leader, Dr Kwame Nkrumah,
highlighted the importance of Africa-centred knowledge. Similarly, in the 1980s,
Claude Ake advocated for endogenous knowledge production on Africa. But progress
has been slow at best, indicated by the enduring predominance of non-African writers
on African issues within leading scholarly journals. Thus, we examine why decolonisation of knowledge production remains so necessary and what can be done within
the context of scholarly research in the humanities and social sciences. These questions
are addressed at two levels, one more practical and one more reflective . At both levels,
issues of power inequalities and injustice are critical. At the practical level, the
asymmetrical power relations between scholars in the Global North and South are
highlighted. At a deeper level, the critiques of contemporary African authors are
outlined, all contesting the ongoing coloniality and epistemic injustices that affect
knowledge production on Africa, and calling for a more fundamental reorientation of
ontological, epistemological, and methodological approaches in order to decolonise
knowledge production.