Several studies, including ACSS reports, have documented key features of the infrastructure of social science knowledge in the Arab World. Based on these reports and other data, this paper identifies some of the institutional and perspectivist issues that have special bearing on the effort to decolonize social science. Colonial structures in the social sciences continue to be evident today in the dynamics that affect the strength and durability of local or regional scholarly networks; the extent to which research question are rooted in local concerns; the question of “grounded theory;” and the communicative hierarchies of global structures of knowledge. The paper proceeds to outline the role played by protest movements, national crises, and environments of general uncertainty in both fostering and inhibiting communities of knowledge, as well as some elements of a social science that uses these transformations in ways that may foster decolonial perspectives and a more even ecosystem of scholarly communication.