University as a Knowscape for Epistemic Emancipation
Possibilities and Constraints
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21446306 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hamza R’boul (0000-0003-4398-7573, University of Tabuk Tabuk Saudi Arabia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0141-8211 • E-ISSN: 1465-3435 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ejed.70470 |
| OpenAlex | W7127969881 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 70 |
Epistemic emancipation refers to the erosion of any interference that obstructs subjects' ability to produce, gain and negotiate knowledge. This article argues that epistemic emancipation does not fundamentally and solely proceed from the spatial and temporal presence of alternative epistemologies as an end in itself, nor does it presuppose a complete delinking from the dominant epistemes to reaffirm the originality and non‐derivativeness of Southern ways of knowing. This article draws on email interviews with 16 Moroccan university professors, as key agents in unsettling or reproducing epistemic hierarchies, to explore the mobilisations of decoloniality within Moroccan higher education. The findings revealed that (a) Moroccan professors framed epistemic emancipation to be fundamentally about reclaiming intellectual sovereignty from colonial knowledge hierarchies, including paradigms of knowledge production and validation; (b) they mobilised curricular interventions which recenter local epistemes to enact epistemic emancipation, but they were required to navigate institutional constraints; and (c) linguistic hierarchies, colonial institutional policies and epistemological gatekeeping were the main constraints complicating professors' epistemic emancipation struggles
Argument (complex analysis) · Colonialism · Decoloniality · Emancipation · Knowledge production · Negotiation · Postcolonialism (international relations) · Sovereignty · African cultural and philosophical studies · Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies · Global Education and Multiculturalism
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Dismantling new and old forms of colonialism
Epistemic decoloniality of westernised higher education
The question of languages and the medium of instruction in Morocco
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Decolonial research methodology
The Entanglement of Decolonial and Posthuman Perspectives
Perspectives on colonial violence “from below”
Decolonizing Knowledge in South Africa
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Neo‐Nationalism and Politicizing Tesol
Confronting the complexities of decolonising curricula and pedagogy in higher education
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Ihbat
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Email Interviews
Anonymising interview data
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |