Hierarchy (noun):
a graded or ranked series
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hierarchy
“Nontsikelelo Multi on interrogating the Euro-centric design cannon”
It states “It automatically placed a hierarchy among forms, ways, and language. ”
It means that there was a system put on the different forms, ways, and languages. All of them were based on ranks
Can you say who It is? Do you mean the author of the article? Your explanation would make more sense if you quoted more than just the single sentence. Would the sentence before or after make the context clearer? Please edit your post to include these additional pieces of information.