Power, Knowledge and Learning: Dehegemonising Colonial Knowledge

This article contributes to the debate on the decolonisation of knowledge by discussing the varieties of harm generated by Western enlightenment knowledge, which affects the colonised and oppressed, as well as the colonisers and privileged. The harm is discussed in relation to five points: it is interwoven with violence and imposition; it generates inequality; it leads to alienation; it lacks a foil to counter its own excesses; and it fails to answer the pressing challenges of our time. Several dehegemonising approaches are considered, including centring knowledge in relation to place; an ecology of knowledges; decolonisation from the outside; hybridisation; and comparison. These approaches all have value, although some contain challenges inherent to their conceptualisation. Most of these approaches are influenced by societal conditions of quality and inequality. The influence of broader conditions limits the potential impact of these dehegemonising approaches. The implications for the responsibilities of academics are delineated at the macro, meso and micro levels.