Veli Mitova - Epistemic Decolonisation: what, why, how? (15 Jan 2021)

This seminar was given as part of the What is Epistemic Decolonization? 2021 seminar series. For more about the series, and to register for future seminars, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-i...

To learn more about Prof. Mitova's research please visit: https://www.uj.ac.za/contact/Pages/Pr...

The chair, and co-organiser, was Zinhle Mncube:
https://www.uj.ac.za/contact/Pages/Zi...

Abstract: Epistemic Decolonisation: what, why, how?

The decolonisation of knowledge is finally – and happily – becoming a hot topic in anglophone philosophy. But what exactly is epistemic decolonisation? why should we engage in it? and how should we go about it? In this talk, I draw on African thinkers to construct a roadmap of the terrain along these three axes for theorising epistemic decolonisation, and to argue that some answers to the what, why, and how questions are better than others.

Bibliography prepared by Prof. Mitova:

Appiah, K. A. (2004). Akan and Euro-American Concepts of the Person. In Lee M. Brown (Ed.) African Philosophy: New and Traditional Perspectives (pp. 21-34). Oxford University Press.

Chimakonam, J. O. 2017. Conversationalism as an emerging method of thinking in and beyond African philosophy. Acta Academica, 49(2): 11-33.

Dass, M. 2016. Making Room for the Unexpected: The University and the Ethical Imperative of Unconditional Hospitality. In Tabensky, P. and Matthews (Eds.), Being at Home (pp. 242-271). University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.

Etieyibo, E. (2016). Why ought the philosophy curriculum in universities in Africa be Africanised? South African Journal of Philosophy, 35(4), 404-417.

Lebakeng, L.T., Phalane, M.M., and Dalindjebo, N. (2006). Epistemicide, Institutional Cultures and the Imperative for Africanisation of Universities in South Africa, Alternation, 13(1): 70-87.

Matolino, B. 2020. Whither Epistemic Decolonization! Philosophical Papers, 49(2), 213-232.

Metz, T. (2015). Africanising Institutional Culture: What is Possible and Plausible. In Tabensky, P. and Matthews (Eds.), Being at Home (pp. 242-271). University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.

Mitova, V. (Forthcoming) How to Decolonise Knowledge without Too Much Relativism. In Khumalo, S. (Ed.) The African Epistemic Decolonial Turn (UKZN Press Series: #ThinkingAfrica).

--- (2020). Decolonising Knowledge Here and Now. Philosophical Papers, 49(2), 191-212.

Ndlovu-Gatscheni, S. J. (2018). Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and Decolonisation. London and New York: Routledge.

Venter, E.(1997). A Philosophy of Education in a new South Africa. South African Journal of Higher Education 11(1): 57-64.

Wiredu, K. (2002). Conceptual decolonization as an imperative in contemporary African philosophy: some personal reflections. Rue Descartes, 53-64.

--- (1998). Toward Decolonizing African Philosophy and Religion. African Studies Quarterly 1(4): 28-44.