conference

Africa Knows! It is time to decolonise minds

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Accepted Paper: B12-05. To panel B12.

Title of paper:

Authors:

Birgit Boogaard (Wageningen University);

David Ludwig.

Long abstract paper:
Development projects in the Global South often continue to be led by partners from the Global North. As such, knowledge systems and practices of local communities can easily remain marginalized. At the same time, the field of international development studies has become increasingly concerned with the marginalization of local knowledge in policies of modernization and economic growth, and critical development scholars have emphasized the need to focus on the epistemic resources of marginalized stakeholders (e.g. Chambers 1983, Long 2001).

Contestation of international development commonly emphasizes epistemic issues that range from the critique of hegemony over local knowledge systems to positive models of transdisciplinary knowledge integration. This article situates these debates in philosophical debates about 'epistemic injustice' (Fricker 2007), 'epistemic oppression' (Dotson 2014, and 'epistemic blindness' (Ramose, forthcoming) that interact with the ambition to articulate alternative orders such as 'Epistemologies of the South' (Santos 2014).

Focusing on this increasing concern with knowledge diversity, we emphasize the need for explicit epistemological reflection that avoids overly harmonious ideals of transdisciplinary knowledge integration (Nadasdy 2003, Ludwig and El-Hani 2019). Making transdisciplinarity work requires more than just the recognition of knowledge diversity; it faces the challenge of articulating procedures of negotiation between vastly different epistemic communities. In practice, transdisciplinary processes involve more than a combination of propositional knowledge as different knowledge systems are entangled with different material practices and are shaped by diverging aspirations, economic needs, ontologies, and values. Building on the notion of 'trading zones' in philosophy of science (Galison 1997, 2010), and transformative dialogues as form of intercultural philosophy (Kimmerle 2011) we explore an epistemology of inclusive development and innovation.

As such, the article highlights the importance of South-South cooperation as process of negotiation between diverse knowledges on the African continent. The article will be illustrated with case studies from Lusophone countries in Africa - e.g. Mozambique - and outside Africa - e.g. Brazil - based on research projects of the authors. Both authors have a cultural and educational background in Western Europe, thus it requires critical reflectivity on their positionality and (potential) contribution to South-South cooperation.