UNESCO Chairs and Partners Forum - Transforming Research for Just and Sustainable African Futures: Towards New Ecologies of Knowledge
UNESCO Chairs and Partners Forum
Transforming Knowledge for Africa’s Future
30 September – 2 October 2024, Addis Ababa
Transforming Research for Just and Sustainable African Futures: Towards New Ecologies of Knowledge
Day Two: Implications for Africa’s Research Ecosystems
Tuesday 1st October 2024
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Speakers:
- Moira V. Faul, Senior Lecturer Geneva Graduate Institute and Executive Director NORRAG, Switzerland.
- Dr Divine Fuh, Director of the Institute for Humanities Africa, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
- Dr. Catherine Odora Hoppers, Professor, Gulu University, Uganda and former Technical Adviser on Indigenous Knowledge Systems to the Parliamentary Committee on Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, South Africa – Keynote
- Prof. George Openjuru, Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair on Lifelong Learning, Vice-Chancellor of Gulu University – Closing remarks
- Crain Soudien, (retired) Chief Executive Officer of the Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
- Dr Rajesh Tandon, UNESCO Co-Chair on Community-based Research & Social Responsibility in Higher Education, Founder-Dean, PRIA International Academy, India
- Professor Leon Tikly, UNESCO Chair on Transforming Knowledge and Research for Just and Sustainable Futures, University of Bristol, UK – Chair
As Mbembe (2023) has argued, addressing the challenges of the 21st Century, including climate change, inequality, the threats posed by global pandemics such as COVID-19 and the opportunities and risks associated with the rise of new technologies, requires the development of a new planetary consciousness that recognises the interconnectedness of all living things. Such a consciousness would require breaking with Western-centric models of knowledge and research and instead expanding the knowledge commons to include ‘all of the archives of the world’, including Indigenous Knowledge systems that have been neglected and marginalised through colonialism.
The African Union’s Agenda 2063 and Continental Education Strategy for Africa make a strong case for African-led research to address the challenges of unsustainable development on the continent. The report of the Sahle-Work Commission entitled Reimagining our Futures Together: Towards a New Social Contract for Education makes a powerful case for inter- and transdisciplinary research that can integrate diverse knowledge systems to produce new ecologies of knowledge urgently required to realise more just and sustainable futures. Important here is the need to shift from dominant ‘extractivist’ modes of research (Shiva, 2005) and embrace knowledge co-creation between researchers, communities, policymakers and practitioners to generate research relevant to the needs of African communities (Tikly, 2024).
Yet, creating new ecologies of knowledge raises methodological challenges involved in integrating diverse knowledge systems. These include overcoming power imbalances between academic and non-academic participants in the research process and integrating diverse knowledge cultures (Lapore et al., 2023). It also involves engaging with and seeking to transform the wider research ecosystem that is characterised by power imbalances between Northern and African partners reinforced by legal and regulatory frameworks, the predominance of Northern theories and methodologies as well as inequalities in access to research funding and publishing opportunities (Aboderin et al., 2023; Odora Hoppers, 2022).
This panel aims to better understand how the existing research ecosystem can be transformed to generate new ecologies of knowledge relevant to achieving just and sustainable African futures. In realising this aim, the panel will bring together leading scholars from Africa and the diaspora to address the following questions: ‘What is the colonial legacy in research on the African continent? How can new ecologies of knowledge be co-created between academic and non-academic partners? How can the wider research ecosystem be transformed to support African-led research?
References
Aboderin, I., Fuh, D., Balcha Gebremariam, E., & Segalo, P. (2023). Beyond ‘equitable partnerships’: the imperative of transformative research collaborations with Africa. Global Social Challenges Journal, 2(2), 212-228. Retrieved Jul 15, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1332/27523349Y2023D000000002
Lepore W, L. Hall B and Tandon R (2023) Bridging Knowledge Cultures: Rebalancing Power in the Co-Construction of Knowledge. Brill.
Mbembe, A. 2023. Pathways of Tomorrow: Contribution to Thinking Commensurate With the Planet. Paris, UNESCO
Odora Hoppers C (2022) Towards Ethical Repair and Co-existence Among Knowledge Systems. Available at: https://en.unesco.org/futuresofeducation/ideas-lab/odora-hoppers-knowledge-systems (Retrieved July 15, 2024).
Shiva, V. 2005. Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace. Cambridge MA, South End Press
Tikly, L. (2024). Transforming Knowledge and Research for Just and Sustainable Futures: Towards a new social imaginary for higher education, Education Research and Foresight Working Paper 33. Paris, UNESCO.
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