This panel was part of the Festival of Ideas conference, hosted by SOAS and chaired by Amina Yaqin on 9 November 2020, and explored the possibility if decolonising knowledge. Knowledge is often evaluated by who produces it rather than its utility. Given the hierarchies that such judgements are filtered through, based on gender, nationality, ethnicity, seniority, age and so on, it is usually the knowledge of marginalised groups that becomes undervalued, twisted and appropriated, often with traumatic consequences. We addressed a range of processes that undervalue the expertise of specific groups, and how this relates to conflict, violence and peace, through presentations, films and discussion with three members of SOAS’s Global Research Network on Parliaments and People focusing on different exclusions.

Emma Crewe (SOAS University of London), Deepening democracy in international research coalitions

Myat Thet Thitsar (Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation, Yangon), Challenging processes of the exclusion of knowledge in Myanmar

Sewit Haileselassie Tadesse (Addis Ababa), Embracing Dissent: youth, political participation and peace-building in Ethiopia

Jas Kaur (SOAS University of London), Moderator

The session is available on SOAS YouTube.