LOCAL SOCIOLOGIES TOWARDS EPISTEMIC DECOLONISATION: A SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

Authors

  • Mogomme A. Masoga

Keywords:

Apartheid, colonialism, epistemic decolonisation, social research method, sociology, South Africa

Abstract

Epistemic decolonisation refers to the decolonisation of the knowledge configurations of the colonial subject. Many Africanist scholars have deliberated on the decolonisation of education in (South) Africa (Bewaji, 2012, 2016; Mbembe 2015; Taiwo 2022; Masoga and Shokane 2023). Despite these efforts, benign forms of apartheid and quasi-colonialism in South Africa continue to thrive through different, but relatively hegemonic forms known as neo-colonialism. Many scholars from the global South have ruffled the feathers of the hegemonic colonial system by thrusting disruptive monumental sociological models into the academy, focusing on matters that were hitherto under the radar of epistemological analysis. This paper employs an epistemologically grounded social research method, with a phenomenological design as an approach, to tease out critical issues in the argument for the urgency of epistemic decolonisation in Africa.

Published

2024-07-30