Decolonization or Not?

Keywords: Coloniality of power, colonial difference, centers of power, colonial modernity, colonial capitalism, liberation vs. emancipation, neocolonialism, global north, global south.

This blog is based on reflections from Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni’s article, “50th Anniversary of Decolonisation in Africa: A Moment of Celebration, or Critical Reflection?” From this publication, the construction of theories with regard to the decolonial agenda has been conceptualized for critical analysis. As the introductory post for this blog, I see it fitting to outline a few key concepts which will be recurrent in the publications by other scholars on this forum. A number of these are listed in the keywords above. To reflect upon the decolonial process I will begin by outlining the key terms below:

Coloniality of Power: Anibal Quijano coined the term to describe the invisible mediums of power that control knowledge systems, religious and cultural rituals, authority and power, gender and sexuality, labour and the economy in favour of the West. These systems allow those in power to control all socio-political and economic aspects of human life. The coloniality of power captures the Eurocentrification (centred on Europe) of the world by race and class. This historical phenomenon persists and is in constant reproduction today in all regions of the world affected by the colonial experience. It is the reason behind the asymmetrical structure of the global social order.

Colonial Difference: This is the space where imperial worldwide designs (the systems of the colonizer) interact with local histories (the historical realities of colonized peoples) resulting in adaptation, adoption, integration and even in some cases, rejection. Simply put, colonial difference describes how colonialism interacted in the historical realities of colonized peoples all over the world, and the resultant responses to this interplay. Colonial differences bore the characterization of the colonizer as “human” and the colonized as the “other”, giving the colonizer the self-proclaimed authority to categorize people. In a modern context, colonial difference facilitates the interpretation of the modern world from the perspective of the ex-colonized people’s perspective, born out of their experience of imperialism. Colonial difference enables the coloniality of power.

Centres of power: These are the symbolic “places” that hold power within any societal context. The centre of power can also be in reference to a group of people (or persons) who hold authority over a larger group in society, and who control social, political, cultural, and religious perceptions. It also describes those who hold the ultimate influence and determine collective identities in society based on hierarchical categorizations.

Colonial Modernity: This term refers to the interlinked phenomenon of historical transformations that took place in the global North (Europe) such as urbanization, industrialization, and the technological revolution, with the phenomenon of colonialism. The occurrence of these two phenomena concurrently constitutes the origins of colonial modernity. Within the present context of Africa, colonial modernity manifests as the emphasized conceptions of Western modernity that govern the systems in place within African nations today. According to Maria Lugones, colonial modernity is characterized by the hierarchical categorization of the human(colonizer) vs. the non-human(colonized). This is replicated in the modern context via the relations between the ruling elite and the common citizens in African nations.

Colonial Capitalism: This concept draws on the property structures, systems of exchange as well and labour that were created by and constituted in the British Imperial economy. These systems persisted the test of time in history and are presently acknowledged as the global capitalist standards

Reflection

The African nation today has 59 independent nations, and about half of these nations have been living in the post-colonial era for over 50 years. While it is remarkable that less than half a century following imperialism Africa is steadily making strides towards a new modernity, the question of the impacts of the colonial experiences in the vastly different regions of Africa remains at the forefront of sociopolitical and academic discourses. Several African writers contend that while we are in the modern-day post-colonial era, we are steadily treading the footprints of our colonial masters with numerous colonial matrices of power influencing the social, political, and economic systems within African nations. In many ways, the weapons used against the once-oppressed are the very ones used by the new oppressors. These are native bourgeoisie better known as the ruling class in the post-colonial era. The ruling class in post-colonial Africa manifested the creation of colonial modernity in African states by being champions of the ways of the West.

The three main arguments posed by Sabelo are outlined briefly as follows. Firstly, the celebration of the decolonial process as the proudest moment in African History obscured the continuing colonial frameworks that capitalize Africa’s universal politics. This is proven by the reality that most African nations today are heavily influenced by Western conceptualizations of colonial global capitalism, government, and domination over its people. It enables the continuity of the coloniality of power in African nations today. Sabelo contends that the present political decolonization marks the move from global colonization to global coloniality.

In the second argument, the writer claims that for African countries, decolonization only afforded political-juridical freedom which is misconstrued as the freedom of the ordinary peoples of Africa. Ideally, the systems built during imperialism were not broken down, and instead, the masters enforcing the rule of law on the people changed from the colonizers to the African ruling Elite. While the countries in Africa achieved freedom from rule by the white colonizers, their own leaders replaced the colonial masters and continued to dominate their own people.

The third argument stipulates that the celebration of decolonization in Africa misrepresents the fact that ordinary Africans have been and are still engaged in new struggles to liberate themselves from the oppression imposed by the post-colonial African State. From here Sabelo goes on to numerate what is in his view, the failures of the decolonial agenda in Africa. He highlights as follows:

• Few strides have been made towards political and economic empowerment

• The heavy influence of Western historical revolutions in society, industrialization, religion, imperialism, modernism, and post-modernism on the overall post-colonial design in Africa reveals the coloniality of power which still lies in the West even to the present-day in African states

• The post-colonial state was not embedded in society. Therefore, the relationships between the state and citizens have always been unstable in African nations today.

Sabelo then continues to emphasize that the failures of decolonization in Africa have brought on a new phase of the same agenda relating to “the passage from the independence of states to the self-determination of the people” (Ndlovu-Gatsheni Sabelo 2012:73) Additionally, due to colonial modernity which was the starting point for liberation and emancipation struggles, the agenda of decolonization is now muddled with both spheres of emancipation and liberation coexisting, despite them being vastly different. Emancipation is rooted in modernity leading to liberal democracy and the realization of individual human rights.

Liberation, on the other hand, is linked to colonial differences and is the starting point for decolonization, social justice and the birth of new humanity divorced from colonial modernity. According to Mignolo, emancipation realizes changes within the colonial system without questioning the logic of coloniality. Liberation, however, is the expression of the aspirations of the oppressed people whose desire is to be delinked from the oppressive colonial empire. The goals for this lie in epistemological freedom and politico-economic independence

Conclusion.

From the above, it is only clear that within all the goodwill intended, decolonization has its limits. The failures of the indigenous bourgeoisie (ruling elite) led to the creation of a post-colonial neo-colonial world. These failures by the ruling elite in the era following imperialism in Africa sparked the new search for freedom from those in control of the post-colonized neo-colonized states.

Being and becoming are processes that are still in progress and in need of consistent improvement to be effective and appropriate. In a nutshell, the agenda of decolonization is still very young and much is yet to be accomplished. For resistance and liberation to occur among African people, their resistance to colonial modernity must exceed the influence of Western modernity on Africa.

The process of decolonization would also be effective in two parts; the Liberation of the oppressors (neo-colonial African ruling elite) and the liberation of the citizens of African nations. Perhaps then it would be possible to create new beings who are neither psychologically nor physically colonized. As suggested by Ngugi wa Thiong’o, decolonization is a process which is null and void so long as the people in question are mentally enslaved.

Citations:

1. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J. “Fiftieth Anniversary of Decolonisation in Africa: a Moment of Celebration or Critical Reflection?” Third World Quarterly 33.1 (2012): 71–89. Web.

2. LUGONES, MARÌA. “Toward a Decolonial Feminism.” Hypatia 25.4 (2010): 742–759. Web.

3. Hammer, Ricarda, and Jose Itzigsohn. 2021. “Colonial Modernity in Historical Sociology.” SocArXiv. January 23. doi:10.31235/osf.io/pgce4.

4. Pinheiro, L.G. Colonial capitalism and the dilemmas of liberalism. Contemp Polit Theory 20 (Suppl 3), 110–114 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-020-00412-6

5. Ngũgĩ̃ wa Thiongʼo. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. London: J. Currey, 1986. Print.