Publication :

Postcolonial Open Access

Is open access the solution to many of the problems faced in the Global South by postcolonial universities, lacking the resources and capacity to subscribe to expensive scientific journals? In this chapter, drawing on an action-research project in Haiti and in Francophone Africa, I argue that this is not the case. On the contrary, open access can become a tool of neocolonialism if it only gives students and academics better access to science from the North. I conclude with recommendations to make open access an instrument of emancipation and cognitive justice in Africa and Haiti.