Unsettling epistemic hierarchies in peace and conflict studies: the role of early career scholars and South-South collaboration

Abstract

This article examines how early career researchers (ECRs) from the Global South can challenge entrenched hierarchies of knowledge production in Peace and Conflict Studies. Drawing on a British Academy–funded initiative—Visibilising Marginalized Early Career Researchers in Peace, Conflict and Security Studies—we reflect on a three-day publishing and writing workshop held in Meru, Kenya, in March 2025, for ERCs from the Global South. Using a collective autoethnographic and reflexive methodology, we explore the structural barriers faced by Global South scholars, including linguistic, financial, and institutional constraints, and what we designate as a “knowledge trap”, i.e., the need to be validated by current academic structures to contest the very hierarchies they consolidate. Recognising the positive outcomes of the workshop and its challenges, we argue that ECRs can act as “pollinators,” incrementally unsettling epistemic hierarchies through collaborative, bottom-up and inside-out approaches, while stressing the need for sustained, equitable North–South partnerships.