Beyond Academic Imperialism in Comparative Studies of the Global South: Methodological Reflections

Abstract

Contemporary debates on decolonisation have reluctantly forced social scientists to engage with neglected debates on race and epistemology. This article recasts these debates through methodological reflections that compare South African and Brazilian social policies by centring the interpellations of racial capitalism, poverty, inequality, and social exclusion. I conducted forty- five in-depth interviews with beneficiaries of social assistance programmes such as social grants and Bolsa Familia and with policymakers in South Africa and Brazil. Both countries offer compelling cases for comparison because they share important characteristics. How does the generation of knowledge in comparative public policy aid in advancing methodological perspectives that lead towards an imagination of a more democratic global social science? I offer a methodological reflexivity that challenges academic imperialism and underscores the importance of how local questions have global relevance in advancing an agenda for knowledge decolonisation. I achieve this by critiquing the positivist tradition in comparative sociology.