Contending Epistemologies and Methodological Nationalism in Kenyan African Studies: A Critical Appraisal

The field of African Studies in Kenya has been shaped by a complex interplay of indigenous knowledge systems and imported academic paradigms. Persistent methodological nationalism, which confines analysis within the nation-state framework, often obscures trans-local realities and epistemic diversity. This working paper critically appraises how contending epistemologies and methodological nationalism influence knowledge production. It aims to deconstruct the dominance of state-centric analyses and evaluate the integration of alternative epistemic frameworks within the discipline. The analysis employs a critical interpretive synthesis of scholarly literature, institutional reports, and curriculum documents. It utilises a conceptual framework drawing on decolonial theory and the sociology of knowledge to examine epistemological tensions and methodological boundaries. A dominant theme is the persistent framing of social phenomena through colonial-era administrative borders, which marginalises cross-border community dynamics and non-Western knowledge. Approximately two-thirds of the sampled literature implicitly adopted the nation-state as the primary unit of analysis, neglecting sub-national and regional perspectives. Methodological nationalism remains a significant, often unexamined, constraint, reinforcing epistemic hierarchies that undervalue community-based and translocal knowledge. This limits the field's explanatory power regarding key social processes. Scholars should consciously adopt multi-scalar methodologies that transcend state borders. Academic institutions ought to revise curricula to formally incorporate epistemic pluralism and support research on cross-border community systems. epistemology, methodological nationalism, decolonisation, knowledge production, Kenya, African Studies This paper provides a novel conceptual synthesis that explicitly links the critique of methodological nationalism to the epistemic decolonisation debate within the Kenyan context, proposing a framework for multi-scalar analysis.