**2. Theoretical framework**

The theoretical framework underpinning this chapter is Afrocentric-centered leadership in the context of higher education. Higher education leadership has a mammoth task of not only transforming these giant intellectual institutions but to also ensuring that the core business of teaching, research, and community engagement are pursued ethically and professionally [22]. Afrocentrism leadership demonstrates that like Western and Oriental cultures, Africans have ideas, norms, traditions, culture, and values that shape their worldview [25]. The Afrocentriccentered leadership is built upon the theory of Afrocentrism, which points to the fundamental African leadership framework. The central supremacy of African culture and knowledge in addressing African development challenges is the main thrust of Afrocentric leadership [26]. Afrocentric-centered leadership is a scientific approach to African development that is founded on African history, culture, behavioral patterns, beliefs, and norms. It is not a carbon copy of Western leadership models [27]. Afrocentric leadership is, therefore, an African-centered approach on indigenous African cultures in order to harvest a variety of leadership principles, patterns, practices, institutions, ceremonies, and ideas for modern use [28]. As this leadership is founded on Afrocentrism, it is a direct reaction to Eurocentrism, a cultural phenomenon that elevates European cultural values above those of other cultures and universalizes European, and thus American, experiences for other cultures around the world. According to Afrocentric-centered leadership, Fairfax [29] alludes that Western leadership and development ideologies are based on European culture and norms. Because African experiences differ greatly from those of America or Europe, Afrocentric-centered leadership contends that applying Western theories to explain African people's ethos is inappropriate and should be deconstructed [25].

Within an educational context, Afrocentric-centered leadership strives to achieve the overarching Afrocentric theory's goal of African-led and African-centered development. Focusing and involving critical components such as indigenous knowledge systems, African philosophies and experiences remain relevant to leadership [30]. The foundation of Afrocentric-centered leadership is based on African lived experiences, regional economic and social requirements, African values and traditions [31]. These are applied as a means of understanding diverse disciplines and carving out a place for oneself in the world. Through such use of Afrocentric-centered leadership education, Africans discover their roots, fall in love with their content, and assume responsibility for it. They possess a "decolonized agency," as described by Abdi [30], which enables them to challenge unassuming but racist and foreign structures of knowledge that influence everyday contact. As a result, Afrocentric leadership promotes an African worldview that is inclined toward their psychic and cultural independence, which Afrocentrism claims is essential to Africa's growth [32]. In essence, higher education leadership foregrounded on Afrocentricity has the potential to enhance scholarship that reaffirms African intellectualism and capabilities [33]. Furthermore, Sabela ([33], p. 29) argues that discourse on Afrocentrism could be instrumental in addressing issues of "inclusivity, to redress the past deficiencies of equity access and outcomes, reduce socio-economic inequality, and stimulate physical wellbeing." For higher education to deal with the besetting challenges, transformational leadership is imperative, transformative leadership can be applied to foster collaboration among African universities in core functions of research and innovation [34]. This could include areas to build institutional capacity, exchange programs and infrastructure for effective interventions in dealing with African problems. In this regard, Marwala [35] opines that there is a need for Africa to transform the higher education system in its quest to build world-class universities. For Marwala [35], this mammoth task could be actualized by: a) reforming the curriculum for relevance, b) improving infrastructure inclusive of the 4IR infrastructure, c) increasing research capacity through postdoctoral research fellowships, visiting academics, research centers and institutes, e) galvanizing funding for human and technological readiness. Above these pointers, universities can be accessible to citizens and for public good.

*Toward Advancing African Scholarship through Afrocentric Leadership in Higher Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108459*

Afrocentric-centered leadership is geared toward breaking free from colonial and post-colonial thinking and recommit to an African value system, leading to calls for an "African Renaissance" inside the continent itself in recent years [27, 36–38]. These concepts have gained traction across the continent and have since been used to lead businesses and communities. Therefore, aspects of "Western culture with its narrow, arrogant, empty, materialistic values of hamburger and cocaine" [39–42] must be rejected in order for this shift to a more Afro-centric leadership views to take place. A reconnection with African "indigenous knowledge" that places an emphasis on interdependence and solidarity is required. However, given the hybridity argument, such an aspiration is intriguing and poses important issues regarding (a) how this Afro-centric knowledge can be (re)discovered, (b) how it can be captured and transmitted, and (c) the degree to which it will resonate with the lived experience of modern Africans on the continent and elsewhere [27, 41].
