Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni

(Universität Bayreuth)

The Politics of Knowledge in Africa and African Scholarship on Decolonization

At the centre of the complex politics of knowledge is the cognitive empire. It stands as a monument of Eurocentrism. The cognitive empire operates through invasion of the mental universe of its victims. This presentation introduces the concept of the cognitive empire as an important category in gaining a deeper understanding of the politics of knowledge. It begins with a focus on the locus of enunciation as it addresses the key questions of the social, geopolitical, and epistemic locations of knowledge production. Africa is foregrounded as the epistemic base of the presenter because the cognitive empire left African intellectuals with a very problematic intellectual and academic consciousness. So the presentation also touches on the consciousness of African intellectuals and the difficult options they have as they navigate the complex domain of knowledge. At the end, the presentation provides insights into African scholarship of decolonization, a scholarship that confronts the cognitive empire.

Vortrag in englischer Sprache. 

Die Videoaufzeichnung der Veranstaltung finden Sie hier. 

In Kooperation mit dem International Research Center "Interweaving Performance Cultures"