Purpose The purpose of this article is to highlight the perspective of an early-career scholar from the Global South on decoloniality and liberation. The intertwining of contemporary global processes and narratives with colonial history creates a differentiated reality for people, depending on their geography. The article explores the temporal connections between coloniality and the functionality of today’s polarized academic world, which creates structures of power and leads to epistemic injustice. Design/methodology/approach The author is a brown, female, early-career researcher from the Global South, currently conducting research at a Western university. She has employed autoethnography as a method to create meaningful connections between her personal lived experiences and the social world. Her observations are informed by her positionality as an early-career researcher in a former colony in the Global South. She situates her knowledge within established literature to contribute to the ongoing discussion on decoloniality and the liberation of disaster studies. Findings This article highlights the complex relational dynamics between the Global North and South within the context of colonialism. It argues against the concept of “postcolonialism” and examines the ongoing struggle of people and institutions in the Global South as they actively confront deep-rooted colonial mindsets, imperialism, Eurocentrism and universalism. The article challenges the prevailing understanding of academic freedom in the so-called postcolonial world by critiquing established patterns of worldview and calls for stronger academic alliances among global scholars. Originality/value The article contributes to the discussion of decolonization, racialization, and liberation of knowledge by adding a unique personal account. The author hopes that the insights presented in the article will help carry the discussion forward as the social systems are alive and ever changing, and the theorical commentary will find a niche in understanding the ECR perspective as the process of decolonization progresses within and beyond the bounds of disciplinary progression.
Zainab Khalid (Fri,) studied this question.