College of Human Sciences
Two-eyed critical southern decoloniality examined
Prof Chaka Chaka
At his recent inaugural lecture, Prof Chaka Chaka of the Department of English Studies in the College of Human Sciences, argued for the transknowledging and a two-eyed critical southern decoloniality in Applied English Language Studies (AELS).
The NRF C3-rated researcher’s study is entitled "The geopolitics of knowledge production in Applied English Language Studies: Transknowledging and two-eyed critical southern decoloniality".
His professorial inaugural lecture mapped out and explored the geopolitics of knowledge production in AELS. He investigated four composite factors in volume 2 of the journal, Applied Linguistics (AL), which comprised six issues and forty-three articles, as published in 2021. These composite factors were nationalities and institutional affiliations of the editor, the associate editors, the editorial board and the international advisory board; nationalities and institutional affiliations of publishing or contributing authors; the foci of the published articles; and the theoretical framings and epistemic orientations of the published articles.
In his lecture he maintained that these composite factors serve as important axes of epistemic production practices and as loci of knowledge circulation for AELS in this journal. AL has occupied the first quartile (Q1) in linguistics and language since 1999, as ranked by both Scopus and Resurchify. As such, it is a top-tier journal in the field of AELS or applied linguistics. Based on his analysis, one of the arguments he makes is that individually and collectively these composite factors function, simultaneously, as a gate-keeping mechanism for knowledge production and as a validation, legitimation and arbitration mechanism for knowledge production in AL.
The Free State province-born professor also established that there is an invisibilisation of the Global South authors in these six issues of AL. This factor, he contends, is attributable to the geopoliticising of knowledge production in these issues. Lastly and importantly, he advocates transknowledging and a two-eyed critical southern decoloniality for AELS.
Chaka holds a BA degree from the University of the North in Qwaqwa, a BA honours degree in Applied Linguistics in the University of Natal, a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics cum laude from the University of the Western Cape and a PhD in English Language from the University of Free State.
After the inauguration, Chaka said he had learnt that hard work, perseverance and dedication are key to one's academic career progression. "I learnt that one should not allow one's family background, especially a poor family background, to determine one's future academic fate; one must arise above such a family background and defy all the odds in life for one to realise one's life goal," he added.
* By Tebogo Mahlaela, Communication and Marketing Specialist, College of Human Sciences
Publish date: 2022-09-08 00:00:00.0
Unisa and ATUPA recognise researchers for ingenuity and innovation
Recognising the unceasing resilience of women
Unisa and SHECASA promote institutional health and safety
Effectual partnership to advance public health knowledge
OR Tambo remembered as a radical democracy builder