The politics of knowledge and research agenda in the West

Abstract

This study analyses the impact of the politics of knowledge production in the West on African studies, and its effects on African scholars. The United States of America, the country with the strongest and most incentivized academic system in the world, serves as a representative of the western world in this study. The socio-political and economic agenda of the West and how that dictates their politics in the intellectual realm is brought to the fore here. The work also seeks to understand the response to the politics and agenda of the western world by African scholars, especially migrant Africans. Has the response led to epistemic visibility for African scholars within the global knowledge economy? Are there different responses by Africans to the politics of knowledge in the West? Do the knowledge Africans produce get the visibility and attention of highly reputable journals and book outlets? This study is therefore significant in that it tries to gauge the visibility of African scholars within the global intellectual economy and the efforts of Africans in navigating the global politics of knowledge in African studies, which has been dominated by westerners. It is in this light that the hope for  African scholars for African studies and suggestions on how Africans can boost their epistemic visibility in the international intellectual arena will be discussed. The theory of decoloniality will be adopted to inform and emphasize alternatives to the epistemic and visibility challenges facing Africans at home and in the diaspora. Primary and secondary sources are applied in this study in the sense that data from books, journals, oral interviews, workshops, seminars, and materials relevant to this study are consulted and analysed. Also, an interdisciplinary approach is adopted, using concepts that cut across History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences.