Many centres and programmes carry continental headings. Along African Studies, we find European Studies, American Studies (or Latin American Studies) and Asian Studies. These programmes includes both trans-national and civilizational perspectives. They go beyond the localism of nation state, but they also risk recurring on essentialist ideas of carving the world up in civilizations. Studying continents or civilization raises the question of what exactly makes up a civilization, and how to study it. The question rarely addressed is how this civilizational fragmentation of knowledge is based on strong ideas of knowledge centres. 

Based on experiences from African studies, this workshop will discuss de- and recentering of knowledge. We will engage in the debate on how to de-center and de-colonize knowledge, and how to find new forms of knowledge that do not imitate eurocentrist perspectives and avoid the colonial difference (Walter Mignolo). How can we apply a critical cosmopolitan pluriversalism and approach different epistemic traditions without simply treating “the Western archive” as a monolith (Achille Mbembe). 

Professor Heidi Hudson, Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities and professor Stephanie Cawood, Acting Director of Centre for Gender and Africa Studies, both from the University of the Free State in South Africa will give presentations on African Studies, followed by presentations by Associate Professor Casper Andersen on Africa and global, intellectual history, Associate Professor Nick Shepherd on Reframing African Studies at the University of Cape Town, Associate professor and Programme director Jan Ifversen on decolonizing European Studies, all from the School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University.