Decolonizing knowledge systems: towards a practical Southern-led approach

 

Despite increased emphasis on decolonizing knowledge production and localizing aid, the structural conditions that maintain the status quo have not been challenged. Evidence-based policy solutions tend to be devoid of contextual realities and usually replicate exclusions and marginalization, which particularly affects the most vulnerable, including women, youth, LGBTQ people, the disabled, migrants, refugees and others.

This initiative seeks to deconstruct the concepts of decolonization/localization of knowledge production and to understand the dynamics of how these concepts have been applied by multiple actors in the last decade, including institutions of higher learning, research for development organizations, researchers and funders. The project will also focus on how knowledge production processes are colonized based on power dynamics within the Global South.

The aim of the project is to provide a strategic vision and practical approach to the decolonization of knowledge from a Global South perspective. It will be led by Global South researchers and experts who will examine the sociology and political economy of knowledge production in East Africa and the Middle East. There will be a focus on building the capacity of emerging scholars in the process. The project seeks to strengthen global debates, make practical recommendations, propose feminist and intersectional approaches to implement measures for decolonizing knowledge production processes, and identify and propose a transformative research agenda