Holding space at the margins: a decolonial approach to academic publishing in Africa

Publishing in Africa has long been debated among academics in the global south who recognise the marginal status of African academics' ideas and knowledge. Many of the solutions proffered in global north academies, such as internationalisation and collaborative research, often fail to address specific issues that continue to mark the unequal status of publications from the continent because of the location of the interventions. More recently, a growing number of scholars have argued for a decolonial approach to thinking about African academic publishing. The current paper adds to this growing body of literature and examines alternative considerations to publishing in Africa. This article focuses on the idea of space holding as a tool for navigating the publishing world and suggests the conscientious work by editors, experimental writing and thinking, peer learning and identification of scholarly archives that aligns with theoretical and methodological needs of African scholars.