Pathway to enlightenment : a Dimechian analysis of postcolonial eurocentric bias in Maltese academia

Abstract

This article explores the existence of a postcolonial Eurocentric bias in Maltese academia and its broader implications for Maltese society. Obtaining a doctoral degree is traditionally considered to be an important rite of passage into the world of academia, rendering the choices early career academics make about where they pursue their studies particularly insightful. Three strands of quantitative analysis were carried out to investigate a foreign-local dynamic in the choice of awarding institutions among early-career Maltese academics. A sample of 370 publicly accessible online profiles of full-time academics at Malta’s two largest higher education institutions, as well as an additional 87 profiles from two Cypriot institutions added as controls, provided compelling data to test the hypothesis that Maltese academics demonstrate an aversion to obtaining a doctoral degree at home. The findings confirmed a clear bias in favour of foreign institutions located exclusively in the United Kingdom and other Western countries. An in-depth discussion follows as to why this is so, adopting mainly a postcolonial perspective and an alternative Dimechian theoretical framework. The argument is developed that a postcolonial Eurocentric bias in academia ultimately reinforces persistent collective colonial inferiority and dependency complexes, silences potentially useful locally-contextualised knowledge, and sabotages the long-term educational, social, economic, and political development of Maltese society in a contemporary neo-colonial global setting. The article mainly aims to encourage more meaningful and critical debate about the genuine decolonisation of Maltese academia, the development of a more authentic Maltese academic tradition, as well as the broader implications of continuing deference to Western academic monoculture.