This book grapples with complex contemporary politics of knowledge from a decolonial epistemic perspective and gestures towards constructions of pluriversal knowledges amenable to pluriversal worlds. It begins with the long story of how the global architecture of knowledge came to be Eurocentric, why these matters for our time, and what the principal currents of decolonial scholarship have brought to the conversation. At its heart is the idea of knowledge as life which subverts the
dominant Western conception of knowledge as power, as something to be extracted, commodified, and wielded. Theoretically, it boldly develops decolonial systematic conceptual architecture of knowledge. Empirically, it engages contemporary debates on the African university, the Rhodes Must Fall movements, language and literature, restitution of cultural heritage, and the global stakes of African epistemic freedom while widening the lens to the planetary scale of reworlding the world into its pluriverses.

“Architecture of Pluriversal Knowledges for Plural Worlds dives deep into the organization and integration of diverse systems of knowledge. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Patricia Pinky Ndlovu brilliantly outline why and how we should
approach knowledge from a pluriversal perspective rather than a singular one. This is a must-read book for scholars and activists who are interested in epistemology, pedagogy, and decolonization.”

--Toyin Falola, University Distinguished Teaching Professor and Jacob and Frances Sanger Missiker Chair in the Humanities, University of Texas at Austin, USA.

“Building on groundbreaking earlier work, pioneering to the point of being the first extended work of its kind, this volume adds an elegance of expression and example which will make it a must-read for new and old readers alike.”

--Stephen Chan, OBE, Professor of World Politics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, United Kingdom.

“The authors have gifted us with one of the rare intellectual enterprises that fulfils its promise: to engage with ontological contemplations and epistemic traditions not through the lens of comparative lack or historical lag, but in an attempt to
reimagine the human in concert with peoples, cultures and knowledge systems long consigned to the margins. At once convivial and forceful in tone, the work succeeds in rendering complex ideas accessible to a wider audience while maintaining exemplary intellectual rigor. Across its content, form, and methodology, it exemplifies a mode of scholarship that is both intellectually ambitious and profoundly inclusive.”

Gilbert Shang Ndi, Heisenberg Professor of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, University of Bayreuth, Germany.

“The thesis that ‘knowledge is life’ is refreshing and revitalizing and its decolonial power and profundity cannot be underestimated. It lays a secure, intimate and provocative move to reconstitute the infrastructure for “the futures we are willing to imagine.” This work goes beyond the theorization of decolonization and begin to build an architecture for a yet unknown horizon we collectively seek to build. This work marks an architectural shift fitting for the decolonial and pluriversal ambitions required in these times; a magisterial and reinvigorating work worth the often-overused moniker of “decolonial’ given its engagement with multiple planetary traditions.”

Roberto D. Hernandez, Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies, San Diego State University, USA.