The death of scientific knowledge in [South] Africa: An Afrocentric response to M. P. Sebola

• Published date: 01 February 2020
• Date: 01 February 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1975
• Author: Kgothatso B. Shai

ACADEMIC PAPER

The death of scientific knowledge in [South] Africa: An

Afrocentric response to M. P. Sebola

Kgothatso B. Shai

Department of Cultural & Political Studies,

School of Social Sciences, University of

Limpopo, Sovenga, South Africa

Correspondence

Kgothatso B. Shai, Department of Cultural &

Political Studies, School of Social Sciences,

University of Limpopo, Private Bag X1106,

Sovenga 0727, South Africa.

Email: kgothatso.shai@ul.ac.za

On the basis of the Afrocentric perspective, this article uses South Africa as a test

case to critique Mokoko Piet Sebola's piece titled “Peer review, scholarship and edi-

tors of scientific publications: the death of scientific knowledge in Africa,”which

appeared in Koers ‐Bulletin for Christian Scholarship, Volume 83 (1): 1–13. I argue that

Sebola's piece provides a partial guide to understanding the state of the knowledge

industry in Africa, particularly in South Africa. Safe to say that Sebola's work deepens

scholarly and public discourse on the politics of scholarship in Africa and the world at

large. However, I do not intend to blatantly praise Sebola's contribution to this aca-

demic area, which remains under researched due to the reasons that are beyond

the scope of this article. In particular, the current article aspires to identify scholarly

weaknesses in Sebola's work with a view to correcting them by offering an alternative

view. This correction deserves the attention of all scholars and practitioners espe-

cially because it is interdisciplinary in nature, and it is poised to undo the misinforma-

tion disseminated in Sebola's piece. Such misinformation has a potential to

overshadow the few truths advanced in his article. Methodologically, this article is

based on document review, conversations, and interdisciplinary discourse analysis

in its broadest form.

1|INTRODUCTION

There is a paucity of academic literature on the politics of scholarship

in South Africa (Chasi, 2015). This can be largely attributed to the fact

that globally, and South Africa in particular, there are very few scholars

(if there is any) that specialise in the politics of scholarship. Due to the

multidimensional diversity and mosaic nature of Africa, by and large, I

am using South Africa as a test case (Chazan, 1988). In this article, I

also embrace the narrow meaning of politics as the struggle for power

(Morgenthau, 1948). The limited academic literature that is available in

this regard is mainly in the form of editorials. This is also

complemented by scant academic literature produced by activist

scholars such as Mokoko Piet Sebola, who is the author of the article

under review. It is instructive for the reader to note that issues

pertaining to the politics of scholarship are at times reflected in pass-

ing within journal articles that focus on certain topical societal issues

(Phago, 2015). The foregoing observation should be understood

within the context that the manifestations of the knowledge structure

of political economy have spill over effects on security, economic,

trade, and financial structures of political economy (Shai, 2017). Mean-

while, there is some official literature in the form of commissioned

reports that evaluate South African Post‐Secondary Education

(SAPSE) accredited journals (Mouton, Valentine, & Spies, 2016). On

the other hand, there is a build‐up of popular literature (as featured

on national newspapers) on the issues that are pertinent to the well‐

being of scholarship in South Africa (Motau, 2018). It is envisaged that

the seriousness of the issues pertaining to the politics of scholarship

as brought to the fore by mainstream media would stimulate the pub-

lic and academic interest on this subject.

It is on this basis that Sebola's article is timely and relevant. This

submission should not be mistaken to suggest that his contribution

is breaking the ground on this subject. Other scholars have remarkably

made seminal scholarly interventions in this regard, to a point of pro-

ducing monographs such as the one published by the Africa Institute

of South Africa (Ngobeni, 2010). The thrust of the engagement of this

subject by Ngobeni (2010) and other like‐minded scholars is fairly

Received: 27 November 2018 Revised: 24 January 2019 Accepted: 23 April 2019

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1975

J Public Affairs. 2020;20:e1975.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1975

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of7