ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the assumption that the theory of academic dependency provides an adequate framework within which the relationship between social science communities in the North and South can be understood. 1 I suggest that we as scholars cannot do much at the structural or material level of academic dependency as we are in charge neither of institutions nor of the state. However, there is more that can be done at the intellectual or theoretical level. At this level, non-Western knowledge traditions and cultural practices are all to be considered as potential sources of social science theories and concepts, which would decrease academic dependence on the world social science powers. Therefore, it becomes clear that the emergence and augmentation of alternative discourses are identical to the process of universalizing and internationalizing the social sciences. It should also be clear that alternative discourses refer to good social science because they are more conscious of the relevance of the surroundings and the problems stemming from the discursive wielding of power by the social sciences. As such, alternative discourses could be advocated for Western social science itself. These are discourses that present themselves as alternatives to what they regard as the Orientalist or Eurocentric social sciences of the North on which the Southern social sciences are dependent. Examples of what may be considered as alternative discourses in social sciences are provided.
