Racialized Epistemic Injustice: African Science Meets Colonial Oppression

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 1:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Anticolonial Resistance and Knowledge-Based Systems (Table 2)

Abstract

This paper reviews existing literature so as to examine the ways in which science is culturally understood in Africa and what needs to happen for Africans to undo the hegemony of white western narratives in science. A case for African science is made and the challenges facing its portrayal within and outside of it are presented. Also, the tensions that exist between western science and African science are laid out before theorizing a way forward that honors African science and resists the epistemic injustice imposed by colonial systems. A major contribution of this review is the claim that culturally relevant science education for those of African heritage should be positioned within a decolonial framework.

Author

• Grace L. Tukurah, Michigan State University