Decoloniality, Epistemological Decolonization and African Knowledge Practices

Abstract

In this paper I critically engage the concept of decoloniality in the project of the epistemological decolonization of African knowledge practices. Decoloniality is an orientation towards extricating oneself from the colonial matrix of power. It advances a liberatory language for the future of Africa and seeks to develop the horizon of previously colonized peoples by disinterestedly looking inward. Therefore, it is a way of thinking, knowing and doing. As an epistemological movement, it consists of two moves: First, to delink from the single story of Western narratives and its accompanying epistemic injustice, and secondly, to relink with, affirm and preserve our indigenous modes of knowing and existence. Thus, epistemological decolonization as the project of addressing the epistemic wrongs of colonialism, is decoloniality in the sense that it clears the way for a new rationality based on intercultural communication and the exchange of experiences. Epistemological decolonization involves the dual projects of critically exposing the latent Eurocentrism that characterizes dominant knowledge systems, and the reconstructive task of reformulating our knowledge systems. In this paper, I shall employ the qualitative method of research to critically analyze the concept of decoloniality in the discourse of the project of epistemological decolonization of African knowledge practices. To this end, the paper delineates the notion of decoloniality, takes a critical look at the project of epistemological decolonization, and it proposes Afrocentricity as a veritable process towards decolonizing African knowledge practices. It concludes that epistemological decolonization is imperative for the establishment of African knowledge practices in global epistemic inquiry.