Decolonising Rural Criminology in Africa: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge and Local Realities| Chapter 6 | Rural Justice in Africa: Rethinking Crime, Policing and Community Security in Marginalised Spaces

 

Rural crime remains an under-explored area in African criminology, often overshadowed by urban-centric models and Western paradigms that fail to address the continent’s unique local conditions. Rural crime in Africa is frequently overlooked in academic research, policy design, and law enforcement strategies. Existing frameworks are often imported and ill-suited to the rural African context, lacking engagement with indigenous knowledge systems, traditional justice mechanisms, and community-based understandings of crime and justice. This disconnect limits the effectiveness of interventions and impedes the development of relevant crime prevention models. The primary aim is to assess the conceptual and methodological limitations in the current study of rural crime in Africa and propose a decolonised, context-sensitive criminological approach. This study critically explores the theoretical and methodological challenges associated with researching rural crime in African contexts, with a particular focus on Southern and East Africa. It emphasises the need for a decolonised and locally informed criminological framework that reflects the socio-cultural, economic, and historical realities of rural African communities. Despite its widespread impact, rural crime remains under-explored in African criminology—often overshadowed by urban-centric models and Western paradigms that inadequately capture local dynamics. Drawing on decolonised criminology, restorative justice theory, and community-based crime prevention models, the study examines how dominant criminological frameworks often marginalise indigenous justice systems, traditional leadership structures, and communal norms that shape understandings of crime and justice in rural areas. The limitations of applying externally derived theories in rural African settings are discussed, alongside the risks of erasing African epistemologies. The study adopts a systematic literature review approach, analysing peer-reviewed articles, policy documents, and grey literature from 2000 to 2024. The review is guided by thematic content analysis to identify recurring gaps, theoretical biases, and emerging African-centred perspectives in the study of rural crime. This research contributes to the advancement of African criminology by advocating for methodological pluralism, community-participatory approaches, and the integration of indigenous knowledge systems into criminological discourse. It argues for a fundamental epistemic shift that repositions rural African experiences at the centre of criminological inquiry, paving the way for more relevant and sustainable crime prevention strategies. The study concludes that reconceptualising rural criminology through a decolonised and context-sensitive lens is essential for developing effective interventions, empowering rural communities, and enriching global criminological theory. Future research should prioritise interdisciplinary collaboration and community-engaged methodologies to advance this agenda.

 

 

Author(s) Details

Dr. John Motsamai Modise
Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa.

 

Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/mono/978-93-88417-88-4/CH6