Decolonising SDG Frameworks: African Knowledge Systems as Pathways to Systemic Transformation
Original framing: “African Perspectives On SDGs –Paths To Knowledge” — bing news
African epistemologies like Ubuntu ('I am because we are') and agroecological practices (e.g., Zimbabwe’s *pfumvudza* conservation farming) centre relationality, challenging the SDGs’ anthropocentric and individualistic metrics. These systems have sustained biodiversity for millennia, yet are sidelined in favour of 'modern' scientific paradigms that often lack long-term ecological memory. The volume’s focus on indigenous knowledge aligns with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), but its integration into SDG frameworks remains tokenistic.
The volume *African Perspectives on SDGs* exposes how global sustainability frameworks are colonial constructs, repackaging African knowledge as 'local solutions' while perpetuating extractive economic models.
By centring Ubuntu philosophy and agroecological practices, it challenges the SDGs’ anthropocentric and individualistic foundations, revealing a deeper truth: sustainable futures require decolonising not just knowledge, but the power structures that define 'progress.' This aligns with historical precedents like the *1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights*, which affirmed indigenous knowledge as a right, yet today’s SDG architecture—designed in Geneva and Washington—remains complicit in its erasure. The trickster’s laughter (Anansi, Eshu) cuts through this solemnity, exposing how 'paths to knowledge' are often paved with stolen wisdom. True systemic change demands African-led governance of indigenous knowledge, redirecting climate finance to community stewardship, and dismantling the intellectual property regimes that commodify Africa’s ecological heritage. The solution pathways—indigenous data sovereignty, agroecological sovereignty, climate finance reform, and educational decolonisation—offer a blueprint for a pluriverse of futures, where knowledge is not a 'path' but a living, relational ecosystem.