Coloniality, Racialization, and Epistemicide in African Youth Mobilities

This essay explores the experiences of Black African youth migrating to and working in an Australian regional town using the concepts of epistemicide and coloniality of labor. Drawing on qualitative interviews conducted with twenty Black African youth in Australia, colonial violence is highlighted by demonstrating how these young people negotiate Australia’s immigration regime which seeks to produce docile, colonial subjects of value to the Australian national labour force. This essay argues that aspects of epistemicide are enacted when young immigrants are required to position themselves as desirable residents under terms that eliminate their existing ways of knowing themselves and the world. Meanwhile they occupy devalorized positions critical to economic transformations taking place because of deindustrialization. Conclusions reflect on the value of producing knowledge from African youths’ position as a critical step toward uncovering colonial violence and realizing a decolonized Youth Studies.