Postsocialist ≠ postcolonial? On post-Soviet imaginary and global coloniality

Abstract

The article presents the main conceptual intersections and differences between postcolonial studies as a product of the anglophone world, of the history of relations between the British Empire and its colonies, and a critical analysis of post-Soviet discourses and processes, particularly in relation to Russia/USSR and its ex-colonies. This complicates the dichotomous scheme west versus east, north versus south, reflecting the difference between historical colonialisms and the phenomenon of global coloniality, which has assumed a specific guise in Russian/Soviet versions of modernity, marked by external imperial difference.

Keywords:

• the postsocialist
• the postcolonial
• global coloniality
• decolonial option
• external/internal imperial difference