The College of Law recently hosted an incisive seminar titled Re-imagining Afro-Asian relations in the age of decolonisation. The Office of Strategic Projects in the Office of the Executive Dean organised the seminar in partnership with the Afrikan Peer Growth Network (APGroN). Scholars from India, Finland and South Africa spoke about how the current discourse on decolonisation focuses on the narrative of the Global South versus the Global North and fails to include linkages between Africa and Asia regarding topical issues in international law and politics. The panel argued that the manifestation of Eurocentrism in the knowledge generation matrix is evident for all to see. Still, there seems to be a reluctance to address its historical and contemporary impact on understanding Afro-Asian relations.

Prof Angelo Dube, Acting Manager in the Office of Strategic Projects, opened the seminar by highlighting the importance of collaborations among the College of Law, civil society and other stakeholders in the quest to decolonise the knowledge generation machinery. He underscored the need for continued collaboration with APGroN and its wide network of scholars across Africa and beyond.

Shift of global forces

The theme of the seminar emanated from the realisation that the shift of global forces owing to unprecedented developments in the international scene, particularly relating to matters of peace and security in Europe, will amplify disruptions to the supply of goods and services across the world and that the Global South, as a bearer of vast deposits of fuels and minerals, has an opportunity to play a more prominent role in the international theatre. However, the Global South’s dependence on global markets for the supply of essential goods and services places it at the epicentre of an emerging new world order, whose players might as well come from Asia and Africa. But what guarantees are there for the protection of Africa’s sovereignty?

Prof A Dube (Strategic Projects), College of Law

Thomas Mabala

In this context, Thomas Mabala, Lecturer at Unisa’s Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law in the College of Law, discussed the importance of understanding the need for decolonising knowledge so that African universities can play a meaningful part in decolonisation. His argument arose from the reality that curricula in universities are still primarily colonised and only mention African values in passing without any meaningful engagement.

Dr Prof Felix Dube, Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law

Dr Felix Dube, also from the Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law, contextualised the relationship between sovereignty and decolonisation in Afro-Asian relations. He highlighted that as we know it today in international law and politics, sovereignty will not survive the onslaught of globalisation and the developing new world order. Hence, there is a need to re-imagine sovereignty in the context of decolonisation to understand and safeguard Africa’s future adequately. Finally, Rosemary Mwanza from the School of Law at the University of Finland argued for a rethinking of Afro-Asian relations from the perspective of bilateral investment agreements. She argued that while these agreements could aid the decolonial project, there seems to be a lack of ethical and committed leadership on the continent to see the project through. She also argued that we might want to look at indigenous values such as ubuntu in our thinking of decolonisation.

The emerging new world order holds signs of hope

Mohammad Nasar Nasir, Lecturer at the Jindal Global Law School, India, unravelled the curse of the sovereign nation-state in the context of the unfolding epistemic and cultural violence of international law. He argued that in its current form, international law has neither the capacity nor the appetite to deliver on the ideals of decolonisation and that a new way of thinking is essential. He submitted that the emerging new world order holds signs of hope, although the Global South will have to pull its socks up. Given the predominantly colonial nature of environmental laws and policies, Prof Nabeela Siddiqui from the School of Law at Christ University, India, exposed the structural contradictions of international environmental law from an Indo-African perspective. She argued that the decolonisation of environmental law is essential for protecting the Global South’s resources.

The seminar was successful in that it got a dialogue going among Global South scholars regarding the skewed nature of international relations and the need to reclaim the knowledge production space by centring the narrative on Afro-Asian relations. Furthermore, this initiative opened up a platform for exploring future collaborations on precolonial, colonial and postcolonial Afro-Asian interactions and how these interactions shape the world we live in today.

* By Prof Felix Dube, Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Public, Constitutional and  International Law, and Prof Angelo Dube, Acting Manager: Strategic Projects