Contributed
Spotlight
On alienation and agency: Language as a double-edged sword
Nombulelo Shange was five years old when she learned the word ‘barbaric’. Her first-grade teacher used it to describe her on her first day at the predominantly white boarding school. That blistering hot afternoon, Shange had taken her shirt off to cool down in the shade of a large tree, when she noticed the children…
Acume news
Our call to democratise, diversify and decolonise knowledge
In this post, I will define exactly what is meant by these terms and why supporting these values will transform academia for the better. Will you join us? The democratisation of knowledge We aim to democratise and de-eliticise academic knowledge by making research findings accessible to every professional across our sectors. Academia is an ivory…
For researchers
Universities and the legacy of colonial epistemicide
Colonial knowledge systems have controlled the information we obtain and the way we process it. These systems decide which knowledge and methodologies are considered ‘modern’, and which are not worthy of the academy, and should thus be silenced. The invasive process of silencing expressions of indigenous knowledge can be described as a form of epistemic…
Spotlight
From activist art about Palestinian children to academic articles on homocolonialism
We interview Andrew Delatolla, the art student turned political activist, on homocolonialism, power dynamics, inclusion and exclusion across academia, and the hurdles young academics commonly face.
Spotlight
Young and liberal in conservative Kuwait
Meet Fatemah Albader, the Kuwati academic smashing the patriarchy one article at a time. Fatemah’s research highlights why civil society organisations need to use the law in advocacy.
Interviews conducted
Logics of Protection and the Discursive Construction of Refugee Fathers
Gendered images of refugees contribute to how we understand who is deserving of protection and who is not.
Continuity and Change: Performing Gender in Rural Tanzania
Despite cultural and economic limitations, gender is continually being re-enacted and reproduced in Tanzania, and spaces are emerging for women and men to renegotiate gender.
Cultural Oppression Disguised as Religious Obligation: A Fatal Misrepresentation to the Advancement of Muslim Women’s Rights in the Context of the So-Called Honour Killings
It is culture and not religion that results in the hinderance of women’s rights in Muslim-majority countries and Muslim populations.
Sexuality as a Standard of Civilization: Historicizing (Homo)Colonial Intersections of Race, Gender, and Class
It is important to acknowledge the colonial dimension of the governance of (homo)sexuality. By doing so, practitioners gain a nuanced understanding of LGBTQ+ communities in the global south and they avoid perpetuating the harmful binary understanding of the world as consisting of ‘civilised’ and ‘uncivilised’ people.
Fighting for Relevance: The Revitalization of African Knowledge in the Learning Sphere in South Africa
This chapter shows how formal education and knowledge production in South Africa has been used as a tool to repress Black people, while discrediting their knowledge systems.