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Africa Knows! It is time to decolonise minds

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Accepted Paper: C13-02. To panel C13.

Title of paper:

Author:

Patrick Develtere (KU Leuven).

Short abstract paper:
The new Africa - Europe Alliance was launched in 2017. The new rapport is to be bidirectional, horizontal and pursuing mutual interests. What will be the consequences in the field of knowledge development? Will the twin-continents move from knowledge transfer to knowledge sharing and co-creation?

Long abstract paper:
During his State of the European Union of 2017 the then European Commission President J.-C. Juncker launched the new Africa - Europe Alliance. The new Commission under Ursula von der Leyen decided to follow in the same direction and even to go further in reprogramming the relationship between Africa and Europe. This potentially is a game changer. The relationship so far has been asymmetric, vertical and build from a North-South perspective. The new rapport is said to be bidirectional, horizontal and pursuing mutual interests. This is supposed to be reflected in all policy areas: trade, investments, aid, geopolitics, etcetera. What will be the consequences in the field of knowledge development? Will Africa and Europe move from North to South knowledge transfer to knowledge sharing and co-creation? Will we see as many European Studies Centers in Africa as there are Africa Studies Centers in Europe? How must the rapport de force in the knowledge community change to realize this paradigm shift? Reviewing evolving policies and practices at macro, meso and micro-level we conclude that there are shifts in the direction of more co-creation on an egalitarian footing but that they are slowed down and even inhibited by vested views and practices that give pre-eminence to a North-South thinking that prescribes knowledge transfer as an inescapable precondition.

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