Eurocentrism in Africa’s higher education and the fracturing of students’ cultural identity as academic freedom constraints

Bibliographic Data

ID12425631
AuthorsPaul K Michael (0000-0002-3269-7485, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume48
Issue2
Pages1-11
Publication date2026-03-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Review of Education Pedagogy & Cultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1071-4413 • E-ISSN: 1556-3022
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10714413.2026.2643696
OpenAlexW7138842676
LanguageEN
References cited50

Due to the link between culture and development, educating higher education students through and integrating them into their culture are ideals for fostering endogenous development. But Eurocentrism, which emerges from colonialism and its long-term effects, plagues Africa’s higher education, fracturing its students’ cultural identity and limiting their capacity to engender development. In this article, I investigate Africa’s higher education students’ academic freedom constraints in relation to culture and education from a decolonial perspective. Drawing on what academic freedom might mean in relation to an education that fails to transmit knowledge through and integrate students into their culture, I argue that by being overwhelmingly Eurocentric, higher education in contemporary Africa constitutes academic freedom constraints that amount to coloniality of youth.

Academic freedom · Cultural diversity · Cultural identity · Eurocentrism · Higher education · Identity (music · African cultural and philosophical studies · Cultural Studies · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Higher Education Governance and Development

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