Revisiting international relations theory : discourses from Africa

Abstract

African voices and experiences have been erased from the canon of mainstream IR theory, and even in well‐intentioned accounts that take the power dynamics between the developed and underdeveloped world into account. This is a product of a worldview that sees the European experience of modernity as a template for what the world should look like. Denying the experiences of slavery, colonialism and imperialism as pivotal in understanding international relations, as well as refusing to acknowledge the philosophical and intellectual contributions of African thinkers, and the agency of African actors, is detrimental to our understanding of the international, and to IR. There is a new generation of young intellectuals, including women from the Global South, who are rewiring the African experience and offering new theoretical insights.