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African cultural and philosophical studies

African cultural and philosophical studies is a research topic within Education. Science Explorer counts 9.1k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the decolonization of education in the African context, focusing on African philosophy, indigenous knowledge systems, and the impact of colonialism on higher education. It delves into topics such as Ubuntu, communal values, epistemic violence, and the ethical implications of decolonizing education.

  • Decolonization
  • African Philosophy
  • Ubuntu
  • Indigenous Knowledge Systems
  • Higher Education
  • African Ethics
  • Colonialism
  • Epistemic Violence
  • Communal Values
  • Postcolonialism
Research works
9.1k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
910
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+33%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
South Africa
36% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
African cultural and philosophical studies

Which countries lead African cultural and philosophical studies research?

By volume, South Africa and the United States publish the most (793 and 408 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 South Africa 793 works
  2. 2 United States 408 works
  3. 3 Nigeria 370 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 156 works
  5. 5 Germany 92 works
  6. 6 Canada 88 works
  7. 7 Ghana 82 works
  8. 8 Zimbabwe 78 works
  9. 9 Kenya 69 works
  10. 10 India 67 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

South Africa: 36.0%United States: 18.5%Nigeria: 16.8%United Kingdom: 7.1%6 others listed: 21.6%36%largest
South Africa793 · 36.0%United States408 · 18.5%Nigeria370 · 16.8%United Kingdom156 · 7.1%6 others listed475 · 21.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead African cultural and philosophical studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of South Africa publishes the most African cultural and philosophical studies research, followed by University of Pretoria and University of Johannesburg.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 137 works
  2. 2 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 80 works
  3. 3 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 77 works
  4. 4 University of the Free StateSouth Africa 65 works
  5. 5 University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 54 works
  6. 6 Stellenbosch UniversitySouth Africa 42 works
  7. 7 University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa 41 works
  8. 8 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 39 works
  9. 9 North-West UniversitySouth Africa 37 works
  10. 10 University of GhanaGhana 32 works

Who are the leading researchers in African cultural and philosophical studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on African cultural and philosophical studies include Michel Foucault and Noam Chomsky.

  1. 1 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  2. 2 Noam Chomsky United States 141k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in African cultural and philosophical studies?

The most cited paper in African cultural and philosophical studies is "Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide" (Jennifer Padilla Wyse, 2015), with 2,878 citations. Next come "Epistemic Disobedience, Independent Thought and Decolonial Freedom" (2,336) and "Dismantling the Divide Between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge" (2,190).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide Jennifer Padilla Wyse · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews 28 Oct 2015 2,878
2 Epistemic Disobedience, Independent Thought and Decolonial Freedom Walter D. Mignolo · Theory Culture & Society Dec 2009 2,336
3 Dismantling the Divide Between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge Arun Agrawal · Development and Change Open access Jul 1995 2,190
4 Indigenous Research Methodologies Cindy L. Hanson · International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies Open access 2012 1,710
5 Decolonizing the university: New directions Achille Mbembé · Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 19 Jan 2016 1,223
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is African cultural and philosophical studies research done?

The largest centres of African cultural and philosophical studies research in 2022-now are Pretoria (South Africa), Johannesburg (South Africa), Bloemfontein (South Africa) and Durban (South Africa). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Empangeni, Alice and Bloemfontein.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 PretoriaSouth Africa 236 works
  2. 2 JohannesburgSouth Africa 152 works
  3. 3 BloemfonteinSouth Africa 71 works
  4. 4 DurbanSouth Africa 55 works
  5. 5 NairobiKenya 44 works
  6. 6 StellenboschSouth Africa 43 works
  7. 7 HamburgGermany 41 works
  8. 8 AccraGhana 39 works
  9. 9 LondonUnited Kingdom 38 works
  10. 10 PotchefstroomSouth Africa 37 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. EmpangeniZA · 23.8 works157×
  2. AliceZA · 26.2 works143×
  3. BloemfonteinZA · 70.8 works88×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in African cultural and philosophical studies than the world average.

See African cultural and philosophical studies on the map

Where is the best place to study African cultural and philosophical studies?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Johannesburg, University of South Africa and University of the Witwatersrand score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 15.92%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of BayreuthUniversity of Johann…University of South …University of the Wi…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 83.420.6%50.6×77 +51.7%
2University of South AfricaSouth Africa 73.013.1%129.1×137 +28.3%
3University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 65.59.2%50.7×54 +50.3%
4University of BayreuthGermany 65.330.2%19.5×8 +70.4%
5University of the Free StateSouth Africa 65.012.2%112.6×65 +63.3%
6University of ZululandSouth Africa 62.117.5%181.9×24 +89.0%
7University of PretoriaSouth Africa 59.910.7%74.6×80 -3.7%
8University of GhanaGhana 58.812.1%51.3×32 +90.6%
9University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa 58.016.0%44.6×41 -16.8%
10University of Fort HareSouth Africa 56.517.6%162.2×26 +32.5%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in African cultural and philosophical studies, country by country

Is African cultural and philosophical studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 33% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are African cultural and philosophical studies.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is African cultural and philosophical studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.010% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%African cultural and philosophical studies0.013% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of African cultural and philosophical studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%African cultural and philosophical studies10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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