Toyin Falola Lectures on Decolonisation, Aims to Rescue African Knowledge

As a scholar deeply engaged with the African archive, I find the ongoing discourse on decolonisation, particularly as championed by Professor Toyin Falola, to be of paramount importance. The challenges besetting the African archive are not merely academic; they represent a form of intellectual repression that has stifled the continent's rich knowledge systems for generations.

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I write on decolonisation because of the challenges that beset the African archive. In addition to these issues, some of the challenges are also a form of repression.

Professor Falola's mission, as articulated in his upcoming masterclass, is to rescue African knowledge from those who seek to silence it. This is not about the absence of African knowledge, but its deliberate displacement and marginalisation within the global academic landscape. The colonial project did more than just extract resources; it systematically devalued and suppressed indigenous modes of cognition, creating hierarchies that privileged external ways of thinking. This has led to a situation where many Africans view their own past and present through a distorted, externally imposed lens, fostering a profound sense of alienation.

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Recognising this after having researched Africa, it births my mission of decolonising African studies. The mission is clear, and it is to rescue African knowledge from the mouths that stifle its existence.

From our vantage point, the call to decolonise African studies is a call to reclaim agency and voice. It means challenging the ingrained inequalities in global academia where African perspectives are too often mediated, filtered, or outright ignored. Africa must be recognised not merely as a subject of study, but as a creator of theory. The theories, questions, and answers that shape our understanding of the continent should originate from within, reflecting African creativity and ingenuity, rather than satisfying preconceived notions from outside.

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The process of colonisation did not simply entail the dispossession of Africa’s resources but also its modes of cognition.

This endeavour is not merely an academic exercise; it is a necessary confrontation with a distorted history. Empowering Africans to tell their own stories, from their own perspectives, is crucial for dismantling the lingering structures of inequality. The masterclass, and Professor Falola's broader work, represents a vital step in this ongoing process of intellectual liberation and the re-establishment of African epistemologies.

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To talk of decolonisation is then to challenge that alienation: to demand that Africa be seen through African lenses, categories, and intellectual traditions.