The politics of culture and knowledge after postcolonialism: Nine theses (and a prologue)

Abstract

Whatever the achievements of postcolonial studies, its practitioners were evasive about some fundamental questions that must be grasped if we are to strive for more ecumenical futures. This paper puts forward nine theses, commencing with the claim that postcolonial theory mounted an effective epistemological critique neither of the nation-state nor of history. It disavowed any substantive interest in civilizational dialogues and similarly shows its affinity with the dominant intellectual traditions of the West in its refusal to take the idea of nonviolence seriously. Howsoever much of the classic forms of oppression remain with us, it is critical to understand that oppression will increasingly be exercised through an imperialism of categories associated with modern knowledge systems. We shall perhaps have to think of the dissent that is beyond dissent if we are to achieve a more equitable state of affairs than can be presently comprehended.