CODESRIA Bulletin Online, No. 9, July 2026
Introduction
The African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledges (AFRIAK) programme is implemented by the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. The programme aims to strengthen research and training ecosystems in Africa by supporting young scholars invested in advancing Indigenous and alternative knowledge systems. AFRIAK is rooted in a commitment to re-centring African knowledge systems, promoting intergenerational learning and fostering socially relevant scholarship. The programme supports young researchers, especially young female researchers, to undertake innovative research grounded in Indigenous knowledge (IK) perspectives. It seeks to support the mobilisation of IK systems and locally grounded evidence to revitalise strategic sectors of the economy, contributing to sustainable livelihoods for the youth and broader community well-being. In the long term, AFRIAK aims to re-centre IK systems at the heart of Africa’s transformation by encouraging a more collaborative, reciprocal and non-extractive approach to knowledge production.
As set out in its founding documents, the programme pays close attention to the historical and conceptual debates surrounding the notion of Indigenous knowledge, particularly its colonial and pejorative connotations. While acknowledging critiques such as those by Paulin Hountondji, regarding the externalisation of knowledge production in Africa, AFRIAK uses the term in a broader, more dynamic sense, referring to knowledge systems that emerge organically from African societies and evolve through interaction with other forms of knowledge. Indigenous knowledge might be traditional in many ways but it is not restricted to the deep past. It can also be contemporary knowledge specific to the community and the basis on which a people’s thoughts, creativity and innovation grow.
