Tribute to Maria Paula Meneses by Boaventura de Sousa Santos

Maria Paula Meneses (1963-2026)

She was an outstanding scholar, mentor, a long-standing ally of African social science and a committed member of CODESRIA whose service to the community was enduring.

A Mozambican scholar of international renown, Maria Paula Meneses was a coordinating researcher at the Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra, and a leading intellectual voice in debates on law, justice, epistemologies of the South, postcolonialism, and legal pluralism. Her academic journey—spanning Mozambique, Russia, the United States, and various countries in Europe, South America, and Asia—was marked by an unwavering commitment to rigorous, critical, and socially engaged scholarship, firmly grounded in African historical and contemporary realities.

Her relationship with CODESRIA was both substantive and deeply engaged. As a Visiting Fellow in August 2019 under CODESRIA’s Training, Grant, and Fellowship Programme, she made a significant contribution to the Council’s intellectual life, bringing her sharp analytical insight and interdisciplinary perspective to questions of epistemic freedom in Africa. Her scholarship consistently foregrounded the experiences of those most affected by colonial violence and epistemic marginalisation, strongly resonating with CODESRIA’s mission. As a resource person and mentor within the 2024-2025 Meaning-Making Research Initiatives (MRI), Maria Paula Meneses reinforced this commitment by consistently emphasizing the importance of research grounded in local knowledge systems and lived experiences.

Maria argued that while science is indispensable, it is not a self-contained or exclusive endeavour, but rather one that builds upon and coexists with other forms of knowledge. Her work framed knowledge production as a genuinely global project, challenging the dominance of perspectives rooted in the “Global North” and calling for epistemic plurality. Importantly, her critique was not directed at science itself, but at the hierarchies and exclusions that have historically structured it. In her most recent contribution to the MRI programme, in September 2024, she gave a conference presentation on “How epistemologies of the South have influenced theoretical debates and research approaches in the humanities and social sciences,” emphasizing the importance of “thinking from ourselves” and reaffirming the centrality of locally based, context-sensitive research.

Maria Paula Meneses generously and dedicatedly served as a mentor to CODESRIA Fellows, supporting early-career African scholars with intellectual rigour, care, and a deep sense of responsibility towards the future of social science on the continent. Through her mentorship, teaching, and supervision across Africa and beyond, she played a vital role in nurturing new generations of researchers, particularly in the fields of history, law, feminist studies, and postcolonial theory. She was not only an engaged and committed African intellectual and academic, but also a scholar of profound and far-reaching knowledge of social processes across Africa, with particular attentiveness to African Portuguese-speaking countries. She consistently upheld the importance of horizontal dialogue in the research process, advocating for modes of inquiry that recognise communities as co-producers of knowledge rather than as objects of study. In this spirit, her understanding of Epistemologies of the South was rooted in the ethical and political commitment to producing knowledge with communities, not about them—a commitment that will continue to inspire scholars across generations.

Maria Paula Meneses will also be remembered for her long-standing contribution to CODESRIA’s publishing and knowledge production. As editor of Law and Justice in a Multicultural Society: The Case of Mozambique (CODESRIA, 2006), she contributed to the production of a seminal work that remains a key reference on legal pluralism, justice, and multiculturalism in African contexts. This publication exemplifies her broader intellectual legacy: scholarship that is empirically grounded, theoretically innovative, and politically attentive to issues of justice and dignity.

Outside CODESRIA, Maria Paula Meneses was a prolific author and editor of influential books and articles published across Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Her work on the Epistemologies of the South, often in collaboration with scholars from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, has left a lasting imprint on global debates concerning knowledge production, decolonisation, and cognitive justice.

Maria Paula Meneses’ passing of represents a profound loss for CODESRIA, for Mozambique, and for the broader African and global scholarly communities. We remember her as a brilliant and committed intellectual, a generous mentor, and a principled scholar whose work and example will continue to inspire.

On behalf of CODESRIA’ community, we extend our heartfelt condolences to her family, colleagues, students, and all those whose lives and work she touched. May her memory endure through the scholarship she leaves behind and the many scholars she guided so thoughtfully.

Full article here

Boaventura de Sousa Santos