Скачать или смотреть The Africa Charter for Transformative Research Collaborations by Dr Divine Fuh

The Africa Charter for Transformative Research Collaborations (ACTRC) represents a landmark initiative designed to dismantle the historical and epistemic inequities that have long characterised the relationship between African scholars and the global North. Launched in July 2023, the Charter serves as a framework for "decolonising" knowledge production, moving away from a model where Africa is viewed merely as a site for data collection toward one where African institutions and epistemologies lead the research agenda.
Historical Context and the Colonial Legacy of Development
The necessity of the Africa Charter is rooted in the "coloniality of power," a concept developed by scholars like Aníbal Quijano and expanded upon in the context of African studies by Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni. Historically, Development Studies emerged as a discipline deeply entwined with colonial administration. As noted in A Radical History of Development Studies, early academic structures often adopted a "Western gaze," framing development as a process of replicating Northern industrialisation and governance models while ignoring the role of colonial dispossession in creating Global South poverty.
This legacy persists in what is termed "epistemic injustice," where Western knowledge systems are treated as universal, and African "ways of knowing" are relegated to the periphery. The Charter seeks to address this by challenging the "monochrome knowledge production" of Western institutions, which often fails to account for the specific socio-political and environmental realities of the African continent.
Core Principles of the African Charter
The Charter was co-created by a "brains trust" comprising the University of South Africa (UNISA), the University of Cape Town (UCT), and the University of Bristol. It outlines several transformative principles intended to shift the balance of power:
1. De-centring Epistemological Hegemony: The Charter advocates for the inclusion of alternative epistemologies from Africa, ensuring that collaborative research acknowledges the theoretical positions of all partners rather than defaulting to Western frameworks.
2. Centring African Languages: Recognising that language is not neutral, the Charter encourages the use of African languages in the production and dissemination of knowledge to prevent the exclusion of local voices.
3. Strategic Interest Alignment: It aims to redress the "deficit model" of Africa, where the continent is viewed as a problem to be solved by external actors. Instead, it prioritises research that serves Africa’s own strategic interests.
4. Funding Reform: A critical component involves restructuring how research is funded. Currently, many funding bodies are risk-averse and favour established Northern institutions. The Charter calls for funding that strengthens Africa-led research and provides long-term support.
5. Leadership and Division of Labour: To combat "extractive" research practices, the Charter mandates that African partners take leadership roles in projects, ensuring they are not relegated to secondary tasks like data collection.
The Global Knowledge Gap
The urgency of the Charter is underscored by stark statistics regarding global scientific output. According to UNESCO data, Africa contributes less than 2% of the world’s scientific publications. Furthermore, in critical fields like climate change, the representation of Global South scholars remains disproportionately low. A Reuters "hot list" of 1,000 influential climate scholars featured only 111 from the Global South, with the vast majority of those being from China.
This disparity leads to "poorer science," as it excludes the perspectives of those on the frontlines of global crises. The Charter argues that "pluriversality"—an ecosystem of multiple political ontologies and alternative epistemologies—is essential for solving complex global challenges.
Implementation and Global Endorsement
Since its launch at the Association of African Universities’ conference in Windhoek, Namibia, the Charter has gained significant momentum. While organisers initially hoped for 40 signatories, the launch saw 84 institutions and networks sign on, including the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and the Coimbra Group of European universities.
The implementation phase involves the creation of a secretariat and a steering committee to develop standard best practices and accountability measures. As Professor Sue Harrison of UCT noted, the goal is to move beyond symbolic gestures and embed these principles into "genuinely transformative practice." This includes rethinking the "business as usual" approach of the commodified academy, which often rewards the reproduction of existing injustices.
Theoretical Framework: The Pluriverse vs. Universalism
A central theme of the Charter is the tension between universalist and localised modes of knowledge.