Epistemological moor-ing. Re-positioning Foucault, Bourdieu and Derrida theory to its Northern African origins

ABSTRACT

The question of why the works of Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu and Jacques Derrida are often attributed to France by HE lecturers and students when the origins or developments of their key ideas come from northern Africa is examined from critical and personal standpoints. The article joins the call for the decolonisation of the HE curriculum and describes how the theory of these oft-cited thinkers and philosophers comes ‘out of Africa’ through an examination of their experiences in the Moorish regions of Tunisia and Algeria. Reasons for the attribution of the ideas to France include Eurocentrism, Wikipedisation of theory and the mythologisation of France. The article combines theoretical debate with personal reflection on what it means to be Algerian and witness a homeland disenfranchised in teaching and learning at HE. It also provides a way of contributing to the decolonisation of HE syllabuses through accurate attribution of knowledge.

KEYWORDS:

• Postcolonial
• Bourdieu
• Derrida
• Foucault
• epistemology
• decolonisation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.