Eurocentrism vs. Afrocentric Scholarship: A Constructive Disruptive Account of an Academic (Conflictology) Self-Reflexivity

Abstract

This review study aims to debunk the notion that the Global South, particularly Africa, is essentially a consumer of knowledge produced by the Global North. While some scholars have argued that the lopsided nature of the global knowledge architecture might be attributed to North-South politics and the historical legacy of colonialism, the issue of “self-consciousness” in reinventing scientific methodological approaches within academic disciplines remains insufficiently addressed among scholars in the Global South. Using the case of “ conflictology” as an emerging academic discipline and insights from the three cardinal principles of transformative leadership, this study explores new frontiers of knowledge production from my own field experiences researching the viability of African interethnic border markets as Infrastructures for Peace (I4P). This is part of the long-term, complex research agenda I have pursued in my quest for a scientific “ explanation” of the concept of “ closeness centrality” in the study of conflict evolutionary theories in human society.