Metaphysical Empire, Linguicides and Cultural Imperialism^*

* This article is a revised version of the English Academy Percy Baneshik Lecture, given on 22 November 2017 at the Cape Peninsular University of Technology (CPUT). The article has been peer- reviewed. (please insert as footnote to this page)

Abstract

Decoloniality names the decolonization of the twenty-first century that is ranged against the ‘metaphysical empire’, compared to the decolonization of the twentieth century that targeted the ‘physical empire’. The ‘metaphysical empire’ co-exists with the ‘commercial- non-territorial-military empire’ with its insatiable appetite for strategic economic resources. The ‘metaphysical empire’ operates and subsists on invasion of the mental universe of the world. Consequently, it unleashes epistemicides, linguicides and cultural imperialism. Mental dislocation, cascades from the invasion of the mental universe. The introduction of imperial languages and the displacement of indigenous languages were deliberate interventions of the ‘metaphysical empire’ on colonized spaces. Inevitably, it provoked epistemological decolonization, which is predicated on the demands for cognitive justice as an essential pre- requisite for re-humanization/re-membering of the dehumanized and dismembered.

Key words:

• culture
• empire
• English
• imperialism
• linguicide
• mltilingualism

Notes

* This article is a revised version of the English Academy Percy Baneshik Lecture, given on 22 November 2017 at the Cape Peninsular University of Technology (CPUT). The article has been peer- reviewed. (please insert as footnote to this page)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni

SABELO NDLOVU-GATSHENI is Professor and Executive Director of Change Management Unit (CMU) in the Vice-Chancellor’s Office at the University of South Africa. He is a leading scholar in decolonial theory, African history and development studies. His latest major publication is a book entitled Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and Decolonization (Routledge, July 2018).