Navigating Epistemological Tensions: A Critical Analysis of African Studies Discourses in Uganda

African Studies as an academic discipline is shaped by complex epistemological debates concerning the production of knowledge about Africa. Within Uganda, these discourses are situated within a post-colonial context, where institutional frameworks and scholarly practices negotiate between indigenous and externally derived paradigms. This study critically analyses the dominant epistemological tensions within African Studies discourses in Uganda. Its objectives are to identify the key issues characterising these tensions and to examine how they influence curriculum development, research agendas, and scholarly identity. A qualitative, critical discourse analysis was employed. Data were generated through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a purposively sampled group of senior academics, early-career researchers, and postgraduate students from three major public universities. Archival analysis of institutional documents and course syllabi provided triangulation. Analysis revealed a central tension between the perceived hegemony of Western theoretical frameworks and the advocacy for epistemic pluralism rooted in local ontologies. A prominent theme was the strategic, yet often superficial, incorporation of 'African-centred' content without fundamental methodological decolonisation. Specifically, over two-thirds of interviewees expressed that career advancement incentives systematically privilege engagement with Euro-American scholarship. The field is characterised by a performative engagement with decolonial theory that frequently fails to reconstitute foundational research methodologies or institutional reward structures, thereby perpetuating epistemic dependency. Academic institutions should reform promotion criteria to value community-engaged and epistemically plural research. Funding bodies are urged to support long-term initiatives developing methodological toolkits grounded in African philosophical systems. Curriculum reviews must mandate substantive integration of these tools into core research training. epistemology, decolonisation, African Studies, discourse analysis, higher education, Uganda This paper provides a novel, empirically grounded analysis of how epistemic tensions are materially experienced and navigated by scholars within a specific national higher education ecosystem, moving beyond theoretical critique to expose institutional mechanisms of reproduction.