Africans rail against academic ‘disrespect’

The academic old boy network must fall‚ Africans say in the August edition of the SA Journal of Science.

Staff from Unisa and the University of Venda said international scientific journals were still guided by the legacy of imperialism and colonialism‚ meaning contributions from the Global South – particularly Africa – were treated with disrespect.

“The stains of the colonial legacy still seem to manifest in the international publishing arena‚” said Mwazvita Dalu and Ashley Gunter‚ from Unisa’s geography department‚ and UV ecologist Tatenda Dalu.

“It appears that all knowledge is often evaluated against ‘expert’ knowledge based on Western scientific paradigms before it is considered valued and useful.”

Even the National Research Foundation rating system for SA scientists perpetuated the old boy network. “[It ranks] a local scientist with more publications in journals of Global North origin higher than those whose publications are mostly in local journals of Global South origin.”

And they said it wasn’t just a matter of principle. “Although not intentional‚ these actions continue to actively facilitate the Global North in dominating policy development and implementation in the local sphere. The Global North continues to reinforce its power over the Global South through dictating which knowledge is considered ‘good’.”

This attitude presented what they called a “significant challenge” to the decolonisation of the Global South.