“Decolonizing The University: New Directions ” by Achille Joseph Mbembe: Summary and Critique

Introduction: “Decolonizing The University: New Directions ” by Achille Joseph Mbembe  

“Decolonizing the University: New Directions” by Achille Joseph Mbembe first appeared in Arts & Humanities in Higher Education in 2016 (Vol. 15, Issue 1, pp. 29–45). It critically examines the constraints on decolonization initiatives within universities, emphasizing the pervasive influence of neoliberalism on higher education. In fact, Mbembe interrogates whether decolonization is synonymous with Africanization, positing that decolonization involves more than symbolic gestures, such as renaming buildings or removing statues. While, it demands the transformation of epistemological foundations and institutional frameworks rooted in Eurocentric and colonial ideologies, Mbembe also argues, “to decolonize implies breaking the cycle that tends to turn students into customers and consumers,” highlighting the commodification of education under neoliberal policies.

The article is significant in literary theory and broader humanities discourse because it bridges postcolonial thought with critical university studies. By invoking thinkers like Frantz Fanon and Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Mbembe calls for a re-centering of African epistemologies and the creation of a “pluriversal” space of knowledge production that transcends the Eurocentric academic canon. Through its incisive critique and practical orientation, the article provides a roadmap for reimagining the university as a space of intellectual and social liberation, resonating profoundly with contemporary debates on decolonization in education and society.

Summary of “Decolonizing The University: New Directions ” by Achille Joseph Mbembe  

• Critique of Colonial and Neoliberal Structures in Universities
  • Mbembe identifies universities as spaces dominated by Eurocentric and colonial legacies that perpetuate exclusion and inequality. He critiques the “Westernized” epistemic canon that “attributes truth only to the Western way of knowledge production” (p. 32).
  • He highlights how neoliberalism commodifies education, turning students into “consumers of vendible educational commodities” and replacing the pursuit of knowledge with the pursuit of market-oriented credentials (p. 30).
• Democratizing Access and Belonging
  • Decolonization involves addressing systemic barriers to access and creating inclusive spaces where marginalized groups feel they belong: “Access is not simply about demographic representation; it is about the ability to inhabit a space as a home” (p. 30).
  • He critiques South Africa’s low investment in higher education, calling its 0.6% of GDP expenditure “an embarrassment” (p. 30).
• Symbolism and Material Infrastructure
  • The removal of colonial symbols, such as statues, is critical for addressing “states of humiliation” faced by Black students: “The figures they represent are figures of people who truly believed that to be Black was a liability” (p. 30).
  • He also emphasizes the importance of physical and intellectual infrastructure, calling apartheid-era campus architecture “not conducive to breathing” (p. 30).
• Decolonizing Knowledge Production
  • Mbembe advocates for a pluriversal approach to knowledge that values diverse epistemic traditions, moving beyond the “hegemonic notion of knowledge production” rooted in Eurocentric frameworks (p. 32).
  • Decolonization requires challenging the detachment of knowledge from lived experience: “Western epistemic traditions… claim detachment of the known from the knower” (p. 32).
• Curriculum and Language
  • Curriculum reform is essential to center African perspectives and knowledge systems: “The African university of tomorrow will be multilingual… teaching in African languages such as Swahili, isiZulu, and Yoruba” (p. 35).
  • He draws on Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s idea of “re-centering” African identity, arguing for education that begins with Africa as its focal point (p. 34).
• Critique of Bureaucratization
  • Universities are increasingly governed by “business principles and statistical accountancy,” which Mbembe views as barriers to intellectual freedom. Faculty are burdened by administrative tasks and assessment metrics, reducing their focus on the “preservation of the intellect” (p. 30).
• Globalization and Knowledge Mobility
  • He critiques the influence of global capitalism on higher education, highlighting the “denationalization” of universities into entities serving transnational elites (p. 36).
  • Mbembe proposes creating “diasporic intellectual networks” and fostering African academic connections to counter the dominance of Eurocentric models (p. 41).
• Decolonization as an Intellectual Project
  • Decolonization, for Mbembe, is a deeply intellectual endeavor requiring the development of “radically new concepts” to address contemporary challenges (p. 31). He calls for rethinking the university itself, questioning whether it remains a viable institution for decolonized knowledge (p. 36).

Theoretical Terms/Concepts in “Decolonizing The University: New Directions ” by Achille Joseph Mbembe  

Theoretical Term/Concept	Explanation	Reference from the Article
Decolonization	The process of dismantling colonial structures, ideologies, and epistemologies in institutions.	“The task before us is to give content to this call… institutions must undergo a process of decolonization” (p. 32).
Africanization	A historical and political project that often focused on reclaiming African identity and autonomy.	“To decolonize was the same thing as ‘to Africanize’… part of a nation-building project” (p. 33).
Westernized Universities	Universities rooted in Eurocentric models of knowledge production that marginalize other epistemologies.	“They are local instantiations of a dominant academic model based on a Eurocentric epistemic canon” (p. 32).
Eurocentric Epistemic Canon	The body of knowledge that exclusively validates Western ways of knowing, dismissing other traditions.	“A canon that attributes truth only to the Western way of knowledge production” (p. 32).
Pluriversity	A concept of a university that embraces epistemic diversity and fosters dialogue between traditions.	“A pluriversity is not merely the extension of a Eurocentric model… it is open to epistemic diversity” (p. 36).
Epistemic Coloniality	The dominance of colonial knowledge systems and the suppression of alternative epistemologies.	“The fight against what Latin Americans in particular call ‘epistemic coloniality’” (p. 36).
Knowledge as Commodity	The neoliberal idea of education as a product, with students as consumers and degrees as market goods.	“Students have become… consumers of vendible educational commodities” (p. 30).
Denationalization of Universities	The transformation of universities into transnational entities catering to global capitalist agendas.	“A global restructuring of higher education… denationalized education space” (p. 37).
Diasporic Intellectual Networks	Cross-border academic collaborations to challenge Eurocentric dominance and support knowledge mobility.	“Build new diasporic intellectual networks… harness the floating resources” (p. 41).
Neoliberalism in Universities	The application of business principles and market logic to higher education systems.	“Universities today are large systems of authoritative control… standardization, gradation” (p. 30).
Anthropocene	A geological epoch where human activity has profoundly impacted Earth’s systems, requiring new thinking.	“We have, as a consequence, entered an entirely new deep, geological time, that of the Anthropocene” (p. 42).
Re-centering Africa	Placing Africa at the core of knowledge production and academic frameworks.	“Africa has to be placed in the center… not an appendix or satellite of other countries” (p. 34).
Memory vs. History	Distinction between the personal, collective memory of trauma and the formal academic study of history.	“History is not the same thing as memory… memory puts history to rest” (p. 30).

Contribution of “Decolonizing The University: New Directions ” by Achille Joseph Mbembe  to Literary Theory/Theories

• Postcolonial Theory
  • Mbembe expands postcolonial thought by addressing the legacy of colonialism in knowledge production and institutional structures, emphasizing the need for decolonization of the academic canon:
    “A Eurocentric canon… disregards other epistemic traditions and portrays colonialism as a normal form of social relations” (p. 32).
  • He connects postcolonialism to institutional practices, arguing for a shift from colonial legacies to inclusive frameworks:
    “Decolonization requires dismantling the symbols, curricula, and knowledge systems inherited from colonialism” (p. 30).
• Critical Theory
  • The article critiques neoliberalism’s commodification of education, resonating with critical theory’s focus on the intersection of culture and capitalism:
    “Students have become consumers of vendible educational commodities… substituting free pursuit of knowledge for the pursuit of credits” (p. 30).
  • Mbembe questions the bureaucratic and market-driven restructuring of universities, which aligns with critical theory’s critique of systemic rationalization and control.
• Decolonial Theory
  • Mbembe’s work is a cornerstone in decolonial theory, addressing the need to disrupt epistemic coloniality and reimagine knowledge:
    “To decolonize the university is to reform it with the aim of creating a less provincial and more open critical cosmopolitan pluriversalism” (p. 36).
  • He introduces the concept of the pluriversity, advocating for a plurality of knowledge systems rather than the dominance of Eurocentric epistemology:
    “A pluriversity is… a process of knowledge production open to epistemic diversity” (p. 36).
• Posthumanism
  • By engaging with the Anthropocene, Mbembe extends literary theory into posthumanist frameworks, rethinking the human in relation to non-human entities and the environment:
    “We have entered an entirely new deep, geological time, that of the Anthropocene… the dualistic partitions of mind from bodies or nature from culture can no longer hold” (p. 42).
• Intersectionality
  • The article explores the intersection of race, class, and access to knowledge, connecting to theories of intersectionality:
    “The doors of higher learning should be widely opened… access is not simply demographic but about creating a sense of belonging” (p. 30).
  • Mbembe’s critique of racialized exclusion in academia highlights the need for structural reforms to address historical and systemic inequities.
• Reader-Response Theory
  • Mbembe’s focus on memory versus history aligns with reader-response theory’s emphasis on interpretation and subjectivity in engaging with texts:
    “Memory is the way in which we put history to rest, especially histories of suffering, trauma, and victimization” (p. 30).
• Globalization and World Literature
  • The article’s critique of the global restructuring of universities as market-driven institutions engages with theories of globalization and their impact on world literature:
    “A global restructuring of higher education… links universities to transnational flows and knowledge markets” (p. 37).
• Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Decolonizing Framework
  • Building on Ngugi’s work (Decolonizing the Mind), Mbembe advocates for curriculum reform that centers African languages and epistemologies:
    “Crucial in this regard was the need to teach African languages… The African university of tomorrow will be multilingual” (p. 35).

Examples of Critiques Through “Decolonizing The University: New Directions ” by Achille Joseph Mbembe  

Literary Work	Critique Through Mbembe’s Framework	Relevant Concept from Mbembe’s Work
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad	Critiques Conrad’s portrayal of Africa as a “dark” and “savage” land, reflecting Eurocentric epistemic dominance and racial hierarchies.	“A Eurocentric canon… portrays colonialism as a normal form of social relations” (p. 32).
	Advocates for reading African spaces as rich epistemic sites rather than sites of primitiveness or absence.	“Decolonization requires dismantling epistemologies that dismiss alternative traditions of knowledge” (p. 32).
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe	Highlights Achebe’s reclamation of African voices and critique of colonial narratives but notes the need for broader epistemic inclusion.	“Africa must be placed in the center… not an appendix or satellite of other countries and literatures” (p. 34).
	Suggests that Achebe’s use of Igbo proverbs and cultural contexts embodies the process of “re-centering Africa.”	“A decolonized university in Africa should put African languages at the center of its teaching” (p. 35).
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys	Critiques the Eurocentric framing of the Caribbean in the colonial gaze and highlights the suppression of indigenous knowledge systems.	“Western epistemic traditions… disregard other epistemic traditions” (p. 32).
	Calls for a pluriversal reading that includes Caribbean perspectives and epistemologies in literary interpretations.	“A pluriversity… embraces a horizontal strategy of openness to dialogue among different epistemic traditions” (p. 36).
The Tempest by William Shakespeare	Examines the depiction of Caliban as a symbol of colonial subjugation and epistemic erasure, critiquing Prospero’s hegemonic control.	“Colonialism… generates discursive practices that make it difficult to think outside of its frames” (p. 32).
	Advocates for reinterpreting Caliban’s resistance as an act of reclaiming agency and indigenous knowledge.	“To decolonize is to foreground intellectual traditions repressed by hegemonic knowledge systems” (p. 32).

Criticism Against “Decolonizing The University: New Directions ” by Achille Joseph Mbembe  

• Overemphasis on Western Hegemony
  • Critics may argue that Mbembe overgeneralizes the dominance of Eurocentric epistemologies, overlooking instances where non-Western knowledge systems have been integrated or valued in modern academia.
• Ambiguity in Defining Decolonization
  • While Mbembe calls for decolonization, some critics may point out a lack of clarity or concrete steps on how to achieve this transformation, particularly in diverse institutional contexts.
  • For instance, his call for a “pluriversity” may be critiqued as idealistic without providing a practical framework for implementation (p. 36).
• Insufficient Engagement with Practical Constraints
  • The article may be critiqued for insufficiently addressing practical challenges, such as funding, administrative resistance, and global competition, which hinder decolonization efforts.
  • Mbembe’s critique of neoliberalism could be seen as ignoring the reality that market-driven approaches often sustain higher education systems.
• Potential Romanticization of African Epistemologies
  • Some critics might argue that Mbembe’s focus on re-centering African knowledge risks romanticizing certain traditions without critically engaging with their limitations or contradictions.
  • For instance, the assertion that “Africa has to be placed in the center” (p. 34) might be seen as overly simplistic in the context of global interconnectedness.
• Neglect of Internal Inequalities within African Contexts
  • The article may be critiqued for insufficiently addressing the internal inequalities in Africa, such as ethnic or class disparities, that can affect the feasibility of decolonization within universities.
• Overgeneralization of Neoliberal Critique
  • While Mbembe critiques the commodification of education, some might argue that this critique does not account for the potential benefits of globalized education, such as increased access and mobility.
• Reliance on Abstract Terminology
  • Mbembe’s use of theoretical and abstract language, such as “pluriversalism” and “epistemic coloniality,” might be critiqued for being inaccessible to broader audiences or policymakers who need to enact change.
• Underestimation of Globalization’s Complexities
  • The critique of globalization as primarily detrimental to universities might be seen as reductive, ignoring the ways in which globalization has fostered cross-cultural academic exchanges and collaborations.
• Limited Focus on Non-African Decolonization Movements
  • The article focuses heavily on African contexts and may be critiqued for not sufficiently engaging with decolonization movements in other parts of the world, such as Asia or Latin America.

Representative Quotations from “Decolonizing The University: New Directions ” by Achille Joseph Mbembe  with Explanation

Quotation	Explanation
“History is not the same thing as memory. Memory is the way in which we put history to rest.”	Mbembe distinguishes between history and memory, highlighting the importance of resolving historical trauma through memory work. This suggests the necessity of acknowledging and reconciling colonial histories in order to move forward.
“The decolonization of buildings is not a frivolous issue.”	This emphasizes the significance of physical and symbolic spaces in universities, such as renaming buildings and removing colonial statues, to create a more inclusive and non-hostile environment for marginalized groups.
“A Eurocentric canon… disregards other epistemic traditions.”	Mbembe critiques the dominance of Eurocentric knowledge systems in academia, arguing that these marginalize and devalue non-Western ways of knowing, perpetuating epistemic colonialism.
“We need to decolonize the systems of access and management insofar as they have turned higher education into a marketable product.”	This critiques the neoliberal commodification of education, where universities prioritize profits and rankings over intellectual freedom and the democratization of access.
“The aim of higher education is to encourage students to develop their own intellectual and moral lives as independent individuals.”	Mbembe underscores the transformative potential of education as fostering intellectual independence, as opposed to being reduced to a transactional pursuit of degrees for economic gains.
“At the end of the decolonizing process, we will no longer have a university. We will have a pluriversity.”	This introduces the concept of a “pluriversity,” a space embracing epistemic diversity and rejecting the universalizing Eurocentric model, emphasizing dialogue among multiple knowledge systems.
“Decolonization is not an event… but an ongoing process of ‘seeing ourselves clearly.’”	This statement highlights the iterative nature of decolonization, which involves continuous reflection and re-examination of power structures and identity in academia and society.
“Western epistemic traditions claim detachment of the known from the knower.”	Mbembe critiques the Western tradition of objectivity, arguing that it falsely separates knowledge from its context and creator, ignoring the relational and situated nature of knowledge.
“There is something profoundly wrong when syllabuses designed to meet the needs of colonialism and Apartheid should continue well into the liberation era.”	This points to the need for curriculum reform, addressing the persistence of colonial legacies in the content and structure of academic programs.
“Non-racialism is truly about radical sharing and universal inclusion.”	Mbembe argues that the ultimate goal of decolonization is not only to dismantle racial hierarchies but also to foster an inclusive, shared humanity that transcends market-driven individualism and fosters collective well-being.

Suggested Readings: “Decolonizing The University: New Directions ” by Achille Joseph Mbembe  

1. Parker, Kendra R. “Introduction: Decolonizing the University: A Battle for the African Mind.” CLA Journal, vol. 60, no. 2, 2016, pp. 164–71. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26355914. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.
2. Mount, Liz. “Teaching in Unfamiliar Terrain: Empowering Student and Teacher Learning through a Photography Assignment.” Teaching Sociology, vol. 46, no. 1, 2018, pp. 54–61. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26429257. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.
3. Botha, Louis, et al. “Epistemological Decolonization through a Relational Knowledge-Making Model.” Africa Today, vol. 67, no. 4, 2021, pp. 50–73. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/africatoday.67.4.04. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.
4. Connell, Raewyn. “Decolonizing Sociology.” Contemporary Sociology, vol. 47, no. 4, 2018, pp. 399–407. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26585853. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.