Second Keynote: Can We Build Scholarship for Our People?

Our second keynote lecture discusses one of the less remarked upon negative impacts of neoliberalism in the Global South – decisively on the African continent – has been the erosion of intellectual production to deal with the imminent problems of the people and a growth of intellectual production to suit Global North interests and imperatives. Is it possible, given the structural constraints, to revitalize intellectual production that draws upon the popular struggles for sovereignty and dignity that grip the Global South? As Thandika Mkandawire asked me over two decades ago, ´Can we build scholarship for our people?’.

This session was chaired by Elizabeth W. Giorgis, Chair of Department of Humanities; Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism, The Africa Institute, GSU, Sharjah, UAE.

This program was part of The Africa Institute, Global Studies University's three-day scholarly conference held from November 14-16, 2024, in commemoration of the life and work of the late Professor Thandika Mkandawire. This conference, titled New Directions in African Political Economy, sought to reflect on, and celebrate, the enduring significance of Mkandawire’s scholarship for understanding African political economy today and in the future.

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