Researching the south on its own terms as a matter of justice

Abstract

This essay draws on the collective learnings from the research study published as Moral Eyes: Youth and justice in Cameroon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa in order to explore both the principles and possibilities of producing theory from the South by the South. By describing the journey of the study and highlighting its struggles and challenges, as well as innovative steps taken along the way, it offers insights into how existing geopolitical inequalities in knowledge production between the Global North and the Global South may be disrupted. Central to these disruptions include the role of Southern theory, the relationships between researchers, methods of data collection, and the ways in which participants are engaged in the study. The task of producing knowledge from the South by the South entails speaking out and insisting on the space to produce knowledge; speaking back while remaining geographically, ethically, and theoretically grounded; speaking up and rooting research in emancipatory methodologies and ontologies; and never being spoken for especially by only accepting funding that supports principles of justice and emancipation in Southern knowledge production.