Forschungskolloquium des Leibnitz Wissenschaftscampus "Europa und Amerika in der modernen Welt" und der Graduiertenschule für Ost- und Südosteuropastudien: Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni - The Cognitive Empire and Coloniality of Knowledge in Africa

In this semester's final Research Colloquium session Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni will speak about the connection between knowledge and coloniality. This event is organized in cooperation with the CITAS KNOW-IN network.

Can knowledge be colonized? How is knowledge colonized? How do we decolonize knowledge? These three questions cannot be clearly responded to without an understanding of the cognitive empire. This is an empire that enables coloniality of knowledge. Therefore, this lecture delves into the politics of knowledge with a focus on introduction of the concept of the cognitive empire, articulation of its operative logics and its consequences. This takes us to the present global economy of knowledge and how Africa has been fighting for decolonization of knowledge. So, the lecture delves into what is decolonization and how it can be done in the present conjuncture, where there is turmoil within the republic of letters and the world of knowledge.

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni is Professor and Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South with Emphasis on Africa at the University of Bayreuth in Germany. He is a leading decolonial theorist with over a hundred publications in the fields of African history, African politics, African development and decolonial theory.