Introduction

In this introduction, we attempt a conceptualization of African epistemology by examining its meaning and some key discourses regarding its development. The aim is to provide the reader with a reference through the text and the discourse of African epistemology. We begin with how African epistemology is conceived, and the approach to knowledge in the extant literature. In this regard, we identify African epistemology as a discourse on knowledge according to how knowledge is taken to relate to ontology. After this, we turn attention to discussions about the sources and justification of knowledge in African epistemology. The historical examination of the beginnings of African epistemology takes the focus after briefly looking at some remarks about the sources and justification of knowledge. A key point here is that the historical beginning of African epistemology, at least, in the 20th century, is linked to the African colonial experience. The next concern we examined is some debates on aspects of the discourse of African epistemology. The introduction was concluded with a look at African epistemology in the context of the global discourse of knowledge.