The African Studies Virtual Forum 2020–2021 led by Dr. Sinfree Makoni seeks to decenter hegemonic epistemologies and to decolonize the Western canon to facilitate other ways/waves of knowing. Through a series of online conversations, participants in the Forum will challenge the notion of the “universal truth” and discuss how the only truth that is universal is the truth of complexity. To decolonize knowledge, epistemic perspectives need to be pluralistic in ontologies, cosmologies, and insights, and the emergence of Southern Epistemologies is one such response to the decolonial turn.

Joining us from around the world, our speakers will discuss the multiple approaches taken in the humanities and social science scholarship to decolonize knowledges by paying attention to complexities, heterogeneities, and multiple ontologies.

We are organizing monthly virtual meetings to discuss a particular book or the work of selected scholars. Speakers and participants in the African Studies Virtual Forum are from Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Norway, and South Africa; are affiliated with different departments; and are at various stages of their academic careers. We also welcome new participants. If you are interested in joining the Forum, please contact Magdalena Mady-Saa (mmm609@psu.edu).