i. Aim
To use Pan-African, progressive, feminist and people-centred approaches and methods in order to generate, build, share and democratise knowledge in various forms towards a liberated Africa based on the needs and input of African social movements.
ii. Approach
The Tuliwaza’s approach will be based on the principle that Amilcar Cabral articulated as the “Theory of Practice”. It says:
“(…) every practice produces a theory, and though it is true that a revolution can fail even though it be based on perfectly conceived theories, nobody has yet made a successful revolution without a revolutionary theory.” Amilcar Cabral, The Weapon of Theory, 1966.
Seeking to bridge the gap between the wealth of contemporary African intellectual thought and the practice of people-led struggle for social justice through community organising and movement building, Tuliwaza will seek to create an interface between emerging African academics, leaders and activists, ensuring that knowledge generation will be in the service of African people. Further, Tuliwaza will seek to build knowledge that arises from the experience of movements while democratising the process of knowledge generation and sharing.
Research carried out by Tuliwaza will, wherever feasible, seek to be participatory and collaborative in its conceptualisation – in particular with the communities the research seeks to benefit. We will also promote debate, discussion and further contribution to all research in examination of ongoing knowledge generation and engagement with political thought.
In addition, Fahamu understands that the gap between theory and practice is also one of access. As such, built into all research design will be channels of distribution and communication as a key cornerstone of the programme. Similarly, through Fahamu’s Adilisha program the research will form the cornerstone of learning provided to and for activism and therefore be communicated and accessed by a wide audience particularly among economically oppressed and marginalised communities, especially young women and men.
iii. Expected outcome
Through Pan-African, progressive, feminist and people-centred approaches, knowledge based on the needs and input of African social movements is generated and shared by at least five African scholars in collaboration with Fahamu every year.