YEWIL

Where African & Caribbean Scholarship Sets the Global Standard

An Archive of Intellectual Rigor • A Platform for Scholarly Authority • A Community Setting New Precedents

From Oral Archives to Academic Authority

For centuries across West Africa, oral historians known as yewel in Wolof (Senegal), jeli in Mandinka (Mali), gawlo in Fula, and géwél in Serer served not merely as storytellers, but as custodians of precision, accuracy, and intellectual lineage. They maintained rigorous genealogies, preserved exact historical narratives, and upheld standards of recall that rivaled any written archive. Their role demanded disciplinary rigor, methodological consistency, and peer validation within their communities.

Yewil advances this tradition into the domain of global academic excellence.

We are building a curated database of contemporary and historical African and Caribbean scholarship that meets and exceeds the standards while centering the intellectual African traditions that birthed this knowledge.

Why Submit to Yewil?

What Sets YewIl Apart from Mainstream Platforms:

Curatorial Standard: Traditional databases often exclude non-Western epistemologies. Yewil validates multiple knowledge traditions with equal rigor.

Methodological Range: Traditional platforms are limited to familiar Western methodologies. Yewil celebrates and explicates African/Caribbean methodological innovation.

Peer Review: Mainstream review is gatekept by established Western institutions. Yewil will employ peer review by scholars deeply familiar with the contexts and contributions.

Historical Depth: Many databases begin with colonial records. Yewil traces intellectual lineages to pre-colonial scholarly traditions.

Academic Rigor, African-Centered

Our Editorial Standards:

Methodological Transparency: Each work must clearly articulate its epistemological foundations.

Contextual Rigor: Scholarship must demonstrate deep engagement with its cultural/historical context.

Analytical Precision: Arguments must meet the highest standards of logical coherence and evidentiary support.

Innovative Contribution: Works should advance their field, whether through new data, novel analysis, or theoretical innovation.

What We Host:

• Theoretical frameworks emerging from African and Caribbean contexts
• Methodological innovations developed within the Global South
• Historical scholarship meeting contemporary academic standards
• Interdisciplinary work that challenges disciplinary boundaries
• Practice-based research with documented impacts

Elevating the Standard

While mainstream platforms often tokenize or marginalize African scholarship, Yewil positions it at the center of global academic discourse. We apply the rigorous standards and then add the contextual depth, methodological awareness, and epistemological fairness that mainstream platforms frequently lack.

Your work here will: Be evaluated by peers who understand its significance. Be presented with the academic respect it deserves. Join a community setting new standards for scholarly excellence. Influence not just African studies, but global academic conversations.

The Future of African Academic Publishing

Yewil represents a paradigm shift: from merely hosting scholarship to validating and elevating intellectual traditions that have been systematically undervalued. We're not creating an alternative we're creating a truly African, epistemically diverse, academically rigorous scholarly platform.

Submit your work to be part of setting this new standard.

Timbuktu Yewil • A project of Timbuktu Group • yewil.timbuktu-group.africa

Academic rigor meets epistemic justice • Where African scholarship defines excellence