Critical Conversations: From Different Worlds Through Decoloniality, Gender Equity and Diversity

This special issue responds to decades of calls to recentre decoloniality, gender equity, and diversity as pivotal areas of social justice that have shaped people’s lived experiences. With significant contributions, this special issue offers a multifaceted exploration of how decoloniality, gender equity, and diversity, as intersecting and diverse themes, inform scholarship and practices in the Global South.

Decoloniality, in particular, challenges us to critically examine and dismantle the enduring legacies of colonialism that persist in our knowledge production and everyday lives. In a similar tone, this special issue calls for a re-evaluation of power dynamics, knowledge production, and cultural representations, with the aim to centre marginalised voices and perspectives that have historically been silenced, most notably in the Global South. Simultaneously, gender equity remains a fundamental area of social justice, advocating for the equitable treatment and representation of all genders. This special issue investigates the complexities of gender identity by highlighting its intersections with race, class, and sexuality; among other axes of identity. Much has been said and written about diversity by the Global North. In its broader sense, diversity encompasses not only demographic variety but also a diversity of perspectives and epistemologies, including those emerging from the Global South. With a specific focus on the southernmost region of Africa, this special issue embraces the richness of diversity across disciplines, cultures, and, most importantly, people’s lived experiences. In so doing, it recognises and demonstrates that true intellectual and social progress can only emerge by engaging with a plurality of voices.