Reclaiming the canon: African contributions to international relations theory and practice

In the discipline of international relations (IR), dominant representations of the African continent as a place of underdevel- opment, marginalization, insecurity, and instability persist. It has historically been treated as a supplier of empirical data, a place where theories can be tested but not created and as a recipient of ideas and institutions originating in the “West.”Yet this portrayal obscures Africa’s contributions to international ideas and institutions and an active contributor to global norms. The position of Africa in IR reflects the multiple ways in which the discipline has historically privileged Western perspectives, experiences, and knowledge production, often overlooking or marginalizing contributions from other parts of the world. This special forum aims to extend the growing scholarship challenging Eurocentrism by examining the continent’s contributions to the theory and practice of international relations, with authors asked to reflect on Africa’s co-constitution of concepts, as well as contributions to shaping the practice of international relations.