African Studies in Distress: German Scholarship on Africa and the Neglected Challenge of Decoloniality

Abstract

This paper is a response to Matthias Basedau's article published in issue 55/2020 of the present journal. At a time when African Studies scholarship is rising beyond the flogging of dead horses, certain strands in the field in Germany seem to ignore much of the valuable scholarship and intellectual contributions by excellent African and non-African researchers alike. It is striking to see how Basedau falls prey to the same shortcomings that he draws our attention to, that is, the domination of African Studies by sources and figures outside the continent and the construction of Africa as a space of lack. This underscores the urgency of decolonizing African Studies at many levels, including liberating it from the straightjacket of area studies, interrogating purportedly objective scholarship, and opening it up to new theoretical perspectives. The restriction to comparative approaches will only ensure that these strands in African Studies remain stuck in their epistemological cul-de-sac.

Researching the Ethics of Data Collection in Post-conflict Acholiland (Northern Uganda): The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

“…Locating the Debate: the Ethics of Researching in Conflict and Post-conflict Contexts "Ryeko pe pa ngat acel 7 " Decolonial scholarship has recently become commonplace in certain academic contexts (Ndlovu-Gatsheni et al, 2022;Bhambra, 2014;Santos, 2016). At the same time, the proliferation of decolonial projects has given rise to warnings about the tendency to simply jump on the "decolonial bandwagon" (Moosavi, 2020).…”

“…A section of decolonial scholars have further argued that there exists a 'European game' (Fanon, 2001) that manifests in epistemic and ideological trickery -an 'underside' laden with violence and violations (Ibid). Others have maintained that Eurocentric epistemology was and continues to be used effectively in the invasion of the African mental universe (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2018;Wa Thiong'o, 1986).…”

“…The paper therefore elaborates how these themes play out in the context of Gulu City, which, in the post-conflict period, became an aid capital and hub for humanitarian and research activities (Laruni, 2014;Omach,2016;Allen, & Vlassenroot, 2010;Branch, 2013;Curtis 2019cited in Mwambari, 2019. This article is underpinned by a decolonial approach and is guided by the works of Smith (2021), Khupe (2014), Seehawer (2018), wa Thiong'o (1986), and Keikelame and Swartz (2019), Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2018) and Mwambari (2021).…”

Europa dezentralisieren als Strategie – Was bedeutet „nicht-westlich“ in der und für die Friedens- und Konfliktforschung?

“…Ausgangspunkt unserer Argumentation war die Kritik an dem von "westlich"geprägten Autor:innen produzierten Wissen in der Friedens-und Konfliktforschung, aber auch im allgemeinen, sowie an methodischen Bemühungen, die hybride Positionalitäten nicht ausreichend berücksichtigen. Eine methodische Dekolonisierung, die hybride und intermediäre Positionalitäten ausklammert und somit eine coloniality of knowledge (Iroulo und Tappe Ortiz 2022) verstetigt, läuft Gefahr, diese lediglich in andere Felder zu verlegen (Ndlovu-Gatsheni et al 2022). Darauf aufbauend entwickeln wir in diesem Beitrag eine methodologische Herangehensweisedas vergleichende Lesen -, die hybride und intermediäre Positionalitäten greifbar machen soll.…”

Decolonial Dilemmas: The Deception of a “Global Knowledge Commonwealth” and the Tragedian Entrapment of an African Scholar

“…The effect is that most journals in the field of African scholarship end up publishing mostly non-African scholars who engage in the acceptable form of scholarship. Without specifically saying why, recent debates in the Africa Spectrum journal (Basedau, 2020;Iroulo and Ortiz, 2022;Ndlovu-Gatsheni et al, 2022) and papers published elsewhere (Auma et al, 2020) reiterate the old contention in African decolonial studies about the absence of African scholars in African studies, and also point to ongoing efforts to bring more African scholars into the foldand this is often discoursed as an effort towards decolonisation. Specifically the Journal of South African Studies (JSAS) 2in conjunction with Taylor and Francisthey were adjusting their guidelines to accommodate the African scholar's distinctive mode of scholarshipwhich is descriptive and less analytical.…”