The Importance of Autonomous Social Science Traditions in the Global South for Decolonization of Knowledge Production – a Manifesto

While in recent years, calls for decolonization of knowledge production have intensified, we argue that such calls have largely overlooked the vital importance of Autonomous Social Science Traditions (ASSTs) for decolonization and global epistemic justice. This essay is in the form of a manifesto on the steps scholars from the Global North can take in order to support the project of developing Autonomous Social Science Traditions in universities in the Global South. It begins with a short account of the ASST as an important approach in decolonizing academic practices. The world university rankings and academic performance metrics are then discussed as the contemporary context which affects the nature and operations of universities on a global scale. Finally, we outline possible steps to decolonize global academic practices and foster ASSTs in the Global South: (1) Dismantling University rankings and metrification, (2) Reading and citing Global South literature broadly, (3) Decolonizing teaching, (4) Decolonizing graduate student training, (4) Fostering hierarchy-free North-South collaborations, (5) Making co-produced knowledges accessible to communities in the Global South (6) Striving for Reparations and Redistributive Justice.