Universities in Africa are increasingly seen as key drivers for development and, hence, as a focus point for development agencies in the global north. However, the concept of capacity building with donors from the global north supporting research capacity building in the global south is encapsulated in hegemonic discourses of how and where knowledge is legitimately produced and consumed. These discourses have been contested by Connell (2007) who describes how social science theory has formed itself not only on western ethnocentric assumptions but also from a position of privilege claiming universal knowledge and universal values. Hence, knowledge production in Africa has mainly been perceived as a place for collection of empirical data and the global north as a place for theory development (Hountondji 1995). Taking a broader perspective Smith (2012) denotes this as ‘research through imperial eyes’ discussing its implications for e.g. conceptions of the individual and society, of space and time. Situated within this theoretical framework I reflect on the conditions for knowledge production in doctoral training from experience being involved in different capacity building projects financed from the Danish Development Agency (DANIDA). Here knowledge production as fields of power and the idea of knowledge transfer will be discussed.