Dismantling the colonial politics of knowledge production in the Global South

Despite growing scholarship on epistemologies, not enough attention has been paid to decolonizing the building of knowledge in Global South communities. In this essay, I present critical reflections on working in qualitative research to co-create knowledge with my community. I bring attention to power hierarchies and how they can be reproduced in the process of knowledge production. I argue that scholars need to intimately understand the social, political, cultural and historical context of marginalized communities if they are to co-create knowledge that truly represents these communities while safeguarding the dignity of interlocutors. I highlight the importance of engaging interlocutors with an ethic of care, navigating language politics and grounding knowledge production in the values of community-engaged scholarship. Using Ghana as the focus, I outline practical epistemological strategies on how to navigate local (cultural) norms, bring nuance to the sampling process, while understanding the complexities of language politics in the field. I present practical tools on how qualitative research can be designed, paying attention to preserving the dignity and supporting the self-determination of marginalized communities.