Epistemic freedom in Africa

Deprovincialization and Decolonization

Bibliographic Data

ID3694487
AuthorsRamon Blanco (0000-0003-0330-6235, Federal University of Latin-American Integration, Brazil, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume96
Issue5
Pages1423-1424
Publication date2020-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-5850 • E-ISSN: 1468-2346
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ia/iiaa139
OpenAlexW3084353763
LanguageEN
Citations received5

Once in a while, a book comes along that enables the rethinking of how we problematize both international reality and the discipline of International Relations itself. Epistemic freedom in Africa: deprovincialization and decolonization, by Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni, is such a book. Grounded in a refined understanding of the geopolitics of knowledge production, Ndlovu-Gatsheni uses his book to successfully delineate a sophisticated decolonial theoretical framework. The book is, in Ndlovu-Gatsheni's words, ‘a study of the politics of knowledge in general and specifically of African struggles for epistemic freedom’ (p. 1). Indeed, Ndlovu-Gatsheni self-consciously departs from the side of the ‘epistemic line’ where ‘the denial of humanity automatically disqualified one from epistemic virtue’ (p. 3). Ndlovu-Gatsheni privileges African thinkers and scholars from the global South while avoiding an epistemic xenophobia or any other centrism which could be counterproductive. The book is structured into ten chapters. The introductory chapter sets out what Ndlovu-Gatsheni...

Decolonization · Denial · Epistemology · Geopolitics · Humanity · International relations · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Virtue · African cultural and philosophical studies · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Psychology

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