Decolonising the ivory tower: confronting systemic barriers and epistemic injustice in academia

Abstract

In recent years, the concept of ‘decolonisation’ has gained prominence within higher education, spurred by movements such as Black Lives Matter and growing activism for racial justice. This conceptual article examines the systemic and epistemic barriers that impede the decolonisation of Western universities; focusing on the lingering effects of colonial legacies in knowledge production, authority, and inclusion. It scrutinises issues such as global knowledge production, the concentration of research in Western nations, and the underrepresentation of marginalised scholars in academia, highlighting the complexities of achieving decolonisation within existing academic structures and persistent knowledge hierarchies. The article concludes that decolonisation efforts remain superficial without a radical restructuring of the fundamental tenets of Western knowledge systems.