Decolonization of knowledge, epistemicide, participatory research and higher education

Abstract

This article raises questions about what the word 'knowledge' refers to. Drawn from some 40 years of collaborative work on knowledge democracy, the authors suggest that higher education institutions today are working with a very small part of the extensive and diverse knowledge systems in the world. Following from de Sousa Santos, they illustrate how Western knowledge has been engaged in epistemicide, or the killing of other knowledge systems. Community-based participatory research is about knowledge as an action strategy for change and about the rendering visible of the excluded knowledges of our remarkable planet. Knowledge stories, theoretical dimensions of knowledge democracy and the evolution of community-based participatory research partnerships are highlighted.

Creating sustainable physical sciences learning environments: A case for decolonised and transformative learning

“…However, some cultures dominate teaching and learning discourses, to the extent that other cultures are subjugated and excluded (Cortese, 1999;Hall & Tandon, 2016;Le Grange, 2008). It is this subjugation and exclusion of some cultures from teaching and learning discourses that underscore the need for decolonisation and transformation.…”

Community-Based Research and the Faith-Based Campus

“…A related concern is the historical tendency toward protectionism in some faith-based institutions, where engagement with those outside their religious fold is thought to erode orthodoxy. And yet, our increasingly pluralistic society requires a sensitivity to "cognitive justice" in which diverse perspectives are included in community problemsolving (Hall and Tandon 2017). Christian post-secondary schools therefore need to learn how best to engage this diversity of worldview, including with constituencies who draw on epistemologies from non-Western traditions.…”

Decolonising the Games Curriculum: Interventions in an Introductory Game Design Course

“…While these activities are crucial to the project, the work of decolonisation extends much further, into the fabric of creative practice and knowledge production itself (Le Grange, 2016;Ramrathan, 2016;Hall & Tandon, 2017). Decolonisation is, at its core, the process of critically engaging with and actively redressing epistemicide, the systemic devaluation and eventual destruction of knowledge systems (Hall & Tandon, 2017).…”

“…Decolonisation is, at its core, the process of critically engaging with and actively redressing epistemicide, the systemic devaluation and eventual destruction of knowledge systems (Hall & Tandon, 2017). Nigel Gibson refers to decolonisation as 'philosophic action grounded in material necessity, socially imagining and indeed trying to put into practice new Geyser: Decolonising the Games Curriculum 5 liberatory spaces as spaces of thought and action (alive with the contradictions)' (Gibson, 2016: 10).…”