ABSTRACT
The need for a decolonized approach to epistemology and philosophy of science in South Africa’s academic landscape became increasingly urgent in the wake of the student uprising known colloquially as “fallism.” This movement started in 2015 as a protest against exclusionary practices in the tertiary education system and morphed into a series of conflagrations across South Africa’s universities. One startling manifestation of fallism was the “science must fall” slogan. This tapped into the sentiment that scientific thinking was incongruent with African indigenous belief systems, and is thus a cultural imposition that should be eradicated along with other foreign symbols and practices. This burgeoning anti-scientific sentiment has raised the profile of philosophical work exploring the intersection between rationality and power. Epistemic injustice is the topic dominating the epistemological landscape while philosophers of science explore new approaches in fields such as philosophy of medicine and epidemiology. These disciplines have gone some way towards deepening understanding of African traditions and metaphysical beliefs in order to bridge the gap with students and other citizens who find science culturally alienating. The ultimate objective is to explore philosophical frameworks that can respectfully accommodate African culture and heritage while at the same time fostering the type of scientific understanding necessary to meet South Africa’s developmental goals.
