Cognitive Justice as Social Justice in Postcolonial Africa

Abstract

The authors argue for the position that there is no social justice without cognitive justice in the postcolonial African university. Firstly, they show that cognitive justice is essential for the African university because it helps to achieve a democratic and pluralist understanding of knowledge. Secondly, they examine social justice in the context of equality and freedom and how these principles relate to the postcolonial African university. Thirdly, they reject the imperialist and authoritarian Eurocentric view of knowledge in favour of the African epistemological paradigm. Next, they defend the view that for the African university to be fully authentic, it should be rooted in the intellectual foundations of African culture and experience through a decolonial process. Finally, they recommend that academic leaders should have a moral and political responsibility to ensure that cognitive justice is fully achieved in the postcolonial African university.