Criminology in Africa: A counter European rebirth?

• In Event: EHC-WG Panel 3. Historical Perspectives to International and Modern Problems

Abstract

Educational epistemologies in African universities are overwhelmingly either European or Eurocentric in nature. Institutes of higher education in Africa have been operating in both post-colonial and global contexts. In Africa, Criminology is characterised by colonial remnants that continue to influence how the discipline interprets and responds to crime and criminality. Attempts to include African understandings of crime within the discipline has been constrained. However, a growing movement is challenging the Eurocentric nature of the discipline by developing a more locally relevant approach within Criminology. The movement can be seen as a "counter European rebirth," which is a renewed focus on African sources of knowledge to understand crime and criminality. With a renewed focus on African knowledge systems and the development of new paradigms to crime and justice that are more responsive to local needs and realities, the paper will reflect on the status of Criminology in Africa in relation to its European counterpart. The paper provides pivotal findings in terms of the dissemination of knowledge, the Criminology offering and female criminologists’ experiences in South Africa. The paper examines how the curriculum continues to be redesigned to incorporate traditional ways of understanding and addressing crime and criminality, and specifically so from African and other first nation settings (viz. North America and Australia). Furthermore, the study advocates for a move away from the various criticisms of Western criminology towards active and collaborative engagement in theory building.

Authors

• Lufuno Sadiki, University of Pretoria

• Francois Steyn, University of Pretoria