This paper is a discussion of how indigenous Afrocentric epistemologies proffer critiques and alternative to neoliberal discourses of resilience and what differences it makes for the study of International Politics. There has been an epistemological shift in recent times towards resilience as a form of governance aimed at enhancing the agency and adaptive capacity of populations. This has necessitated the mainstreaming and theorisation of local systems of ontology. Importantly, the current emphasis privileges how societies absorb and manage natural exigencies of life. The underlying assumption of this shift in the contemporary critical and policy discourse is that indigenous forms of ‘‘knowledge’’ and indigeneity can enhance the ability of local actors to navigate the uncertainties of a globalised world. I question this assumption by highlighting the fact that the apparent epistemological interest in local ontology is a crisis resolution strategy that has become necessary after the universal neoliberal project faced crisis and rejection. Given this, the promotion of resilience epistemology is meant to extend the reach of global actors into the deep recesses of peripheral systems and to instruct how resistance can be reduced. This makes resilience a technology or strategy of governmentality, a new emerging form of governance agenda. Given that the globalisation crisis for neoliberalism has not abated, the only insurance of Africa will be to formalise and own its ontology of resilience strategies to insulate its populations from external pressures of disruption.

本文讨论的是本土的非洲中心论认识论如何批判和替代新自由主义的复原力话语，以及它对研究国际政治有何不同。近年来，认识论向适应力（resilience）转变，这是一种旨在增强人口的代理和适应能力的治理形式。这就需要将本地本体系统主流化和理论化。重要的是，当前的重点强调了社会如何吸收和管理自然的生活需求。这种在当代批评和政策话语中发生这种转变的基本假设是，土著形式的“知识”和本土性可以增强当地参与者应对全球化世界的不确定性的能力。我通过强调这样一个事实来质疑这一假设，即在认识论上对本地本体论的兴趣是解决危机的策略，在新自由主义的普遍计划面临危机和排斥之后，这一策略就变得十分必要。有鉴于此，提倡弹性认识论旨在将全球行动者的影响范围扩展到外围系统的深处，并指示如何减少抵抗力。这使恢复力成为一种管理性的技术或策略，这是一种新兴的治理议程形式。鉴于新自由主义的全球化危机并未减轻，非洲的唯一保证将是形式化并拥有其复原力策略的本体论，以使其人民免受外部破坏的压力。