Pan African Word.

  Decentering Development Epistemology The reigning epistemological ideologies of western Europe and Euro-American – market capitalism, materialism, and the notion of inevitable progress – which have prevailed for several centuries, from the fifteenth century to the present, have resulted in the cultural model of industrial growth and a way of life centered on consumption.   This has resulted in widespread planetary distress.   The wounding of the planet earth is evident everywhere on every continent, the oceans, and the environment.   It is tearing apart the fabric of floral, faunal, and human life on earth. This developmental model has clearly failed for the majority of the earth’s inhabitants.   Yet, many post-colonial bourgeoise leadership classes, shaped by the epistemologies of western Europe and Euro-America, continue to replicate the colonial economic, political, and cultural systems, rather than dismantle them.   These bourgeois colonial leader...

 

                                   

  In today’s environment anything that is known can be known in a different way.   The grand narratives of European and Euro-United States of America American epistemology are not inviolate.   That epistemology has not redounded to the benefit of those countries and territories that were former colonies of European and Euro-USA American capitalism and its attendant colonialism.   The structural dependency of these former colonies on the capitalist centers of production and distribution of goods, services, and epistemology have not changed. Recognizing these facts, Peter Tosh advised that we should not be seeking peace with the system.   Peace is equated with normalcy, with the status quo.   He suggested that we should be advocating for equal rights and justice.   Bob Marley was even more direct.   He advised that we must rebel against the system of oppression. Rebellion begins by saying no to the current epistemological system that was beque...