Theme 1: What does decolonisation mean?
Sylvia Tamale (2020) Decolonization and Afro-Feminism, Ottawa: Daraja Press
In this book, Sylvia Tamale argues about the importance of understanding how the histories of colonisation, globalisation, and neoliberalism have operated, and continue to operate as mechanisms of othering, exploitation, and dehumanisation of the people and heritage of Africa. If decoloniality is the way to deconstruct the mechanism of oppression, Tamale argues for an intersectional approach to processes of global capital, othering, and discrimination, and calls for an Afro-feminist praxis that is built transnationally and collectively. Through different examples, the author discusses how the philosophy of the individual standpoint is essentially a capitalist, Westernised, and colonial way of understanding personhood and human rights. She explains the need for understanding personhood through the middle ground of ubuntu – ‘I am because we are.’ She highlights the concepts of humanness and interconnectedness for countries to adjust their legal, political, economic, and social basis. The emphasis here is that both decolonisation and Afro-feminism can help in critically engaging with local, regional, and international policies in an attempt to create a more socially equitable system.
Frantz Fanon (1968) The Wretched of the Earth, New York: Grove Press
Fanon’s famous work, The Wretched of the Earth, is the author’s last and most influential analysis of colonial oppression and violence. He died of leukaemia in 1961 soon after this book was published. Authored in French, this book is translated to English by Richard Philcox. It is considered a classic and a textbook for those who want to understand the deep dehumanising effects and psychological damage that colonial oppression has inflicted on individuals and societies, with a focus on Algeria where he worked as a psychiatrist and later joined the Algerian nationalist movement. It also underscores the power of anti-colonial and anti-racist movements that hold the potential to challenge and dismantle colonialism and racism. The interpretations of this work are many, and Fanon’s conceptualisation of violence as a tool to fight colonial and racist oppression is much debated by scholars including Homi Bhabha, Hannah Arendt, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir, but where most scholars and activists come on the same page is regarding the continued theoretical and human relevance of this book. This book will be useful to anyone who is interested in understanding injustice, oppression, psychological trauma, and the fight for freedom.
Dipo Faloyin (2022) Africa is Not a Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa, Norton
Africa is often spoken about as if it is a homogenous unit. In his book about breaking stereotypes of Modern Africa, Faloyin deconstructs this colonial understanding of Africa. He argues, ‘A continent of fifty-four countries, more than two thousand languages and 1.4 billion people’ is ‘spoken of as it if were a single country, devoid of nuance and cursed to be forever plagued by deprivation’. This book, therefore, takes on the task of creating a portrait of a vibrant and diverse continent while describing the various ways that Africa is stereotyped. The book starts with a historical description of the division of the continent in a haphazard manner with no consideration for the people living there. The division of the continent led to frequent border wars leaving the countries struggling with poverty and conflict. This allowed the West to come in as the Saviour and African countries as needing intervention. Faloyin discusses the concept of White saviour syndrome – yet another form of paternalism – as evinced by the Invisible Children project in Uganda and such celebrity charity campaigns as We Are the World and Live Aid. The colonial lens often portrays most African countries as being under authoritarian rule (when in reality less than 10 per cent are). The book aims to present Africa as other regions of the world – complex, complicated, diverse, and not as a ‘monolith of predetermined destinies’. Towards the end of the book, the author also highlights the progressive ways in which African countries are managing gender and sexual violence, climate change, and other pressing matters.
Arturo Escobar (2011) Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World, Princeton University Press
Escobar’s book questions the reasons that resulted in industrialised nations of North America and Europe becoming models for post-Second World War societies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He argues that development policies are also mechanisms of control that are as pervasive and effective as their colonial counterparts. According to him the concept of post-development needs to be redefined to meet today’s significantly new conditions, suggesting the need to ‘unmake and unlearn development’. The book creates a dialectic examining the discourse of development and the manner in which development institutions construct problems to control the global South. It encourages practitioners to find newer ways of understanding and looking at problems that the global South faces.
Celia T. Bardwell-Jones and Margaret A. McLaren (2020) ‘Introduction to indigenizing and decolonizing feminist philosophy’, Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy 35(1): 2–17, https://doi.org/10.1017/hyp.2019.19 (open access)
This special issue is a project working towards decolonising and indigenising feminist philosophy. At the outset, the authors present what the terms Indigenous, Native, or First Nations refer to in the issue, moving on to the critique of ‘whitestream’ feminisms by indigenous women. The authors foreground critical terms like settler-colonial ideology, decolonisation, and indigenous/indigenising in the introduction. They discuss the contestations, various formulations, and what they mean. Articles in this issue are organised under thematic sections dealing with decolonising university institutions; indigenous ways of knowing; ambiguities and incommensurability; and undermining settler futures and making space for indigenous futures. Musings in the issue offer perspectives on indigenising and decolonising feminist philosophy. Bringing together article summaries from the issue and existing literature on the topic in the introduction, the authors locate this special issue as being ‘about a future for feminist philosophy, imagining our discipline in ways that make space for indigenous feminism’. This issue would be of interest to scholars and practitioners alike.
Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang (2012) ‘Decolonization is not a metaphor’, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1(1), https://clas.osu.edu/sites/clas.osu.edu/files/Tuck%20and%20Yang%202012%20Decolonization%20is%20not%20a%20metaphor.pdf (open access)
This powerful essay seeks to ‘remind readers what is unsettling about decolonization – what is unsettling and what should be unsettling’. The authors discuss settler colonial relations as external, internal, and a combination of the two (settler colonialism), laying out what these mean and how they are manifested. They draw attention to the ‘desire to play Indian’ as settlers’ means to have some relief from their guilt – that they directly or indirectly benefit from the erasure and assimilation of indigenous people. The authors discuss settler nativism, settler adoption fantasies, colonial equivocation, and other ways in which settlers move to innocence. They highlight that the critique of Occupation is not a critique of rhetoric; they lay bare the materiality of colonisation. They discuss the incommensurability of colonisation and argue that this is where the opportunity for solidarity lies. The essay ends with the powerful lines, ‘Decolonization offers a different perspective to human and civil rights-based approaches to justice, an unsettling one, rather than a complementary one. Decolonization is not an “and”. It is an elsewhere’. This is an important and relevant work for anyone interested in the topic of decolonisation.
Madina Tlostanova (2019, 15 May) ‘Shifting the geography of reason’, New Frame, https://www.newframe.com/shifting-geography-reason/ (accessed 1 August 2023)
In this edited excerpt, Madina Tlostanova, a postcolonial feminist, and philosopher Lewis Gordan discuss what it means to build ‘new futures by relocating the spatial and temporal grounds of reason’. Gordan elaborates on what the current ‘geography of reason’ entails and its implications. A shift would require everyone to take responsibility for reason, and ‘It is done without permission of those who attempt to hoard reason’. This shift makes reason a relational commitment. Further, he speaks of ‘unreasonable’ reason and shifting the notion of ‘modern’. Tlostanova asks pertinent questions on the ways for shifting the geographies of reason, and by whom. Additionally, the conversation weaves in questions of appropriation. This interview would be of relevance to academics, philosophers, activists, and students committed to the work of decolonisation.
Aman Sium, Chandi Desai, and Eric Ritskes (2012) ‘Towards the ‘tangible unknown’: decolonization and the Indigenous future’, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1(1), https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18638 (open access)
This editorial from the Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society journal’s first issue draws attention to the many ways in which decolonisation has been defined and understood, highlighting ‘decolonization demands an Indigenous starting point and an articulation of what decolonization means for Indigenous peoples around the globe’. Writing themselves into the introduction, they recognise their location academically and geographically, addressing settler colonialism, colonisation and its materiality. Further, they explore how people may work together and the possibility of a global indigenous movement that supports and strengthens local decolonisation. The authors discuss the discourses on indigeneity, who is indigenous, and contestations to it. They address the theory versus practice framework and the need to see these as interlocking and not exclusive. Finally, cognisant that solidarity and alliances are not a given, they draw attention to efforts that must be put in to nurture connections. This is a very relevant read for students, academics, or practitioners.
‘Decolonial Thinkers from Africa’ series (n.d.) Antipode Online (accessed 1 August 2023)
Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography published interviews with Franklin Obeng-Odoom, Sabelo-Ndlevu-Gatsheni, and Syvia Tamale, and includes a reflection piece by Patricia Daley as part of its ‘Decolonial Thinkers from Africa’ series. The series centres the works of decolonial scholars from Africa. The first conversation focuses on the recent work of Obeng-Odoom – The Commons in an Age of Uncertainty: Decolonizing Nature, Economy, and Society. In his interview, Obeng-Odoom, a Ghanaian political economist, elaborates on his decolonial approach which engages with and transcends ‘Conventional Wisdom and Western Left Consensus’ to decoloniality. The interview with Sabelo-Ndlevu-Gatsheni is in two parts and discusses his recent co-edited volume titled Marxism and Decolonization in the 21st Century. The conversation ‘touches on some of the key African and African diasporic theoretical reference points for the volume, including Pan-African, Black radical, Afrocentric, nationalist, and Black consciousness traditions of thought’, and also the ‘relevance of land reform, mining and feminism to the theoretical and empirical frameworks deployed in the book’. The third interview in the series with Sylvia Tamale discusses her book Decolonization and Afro-feminism. Interviewed by Sylvia Bawa and Grace Adeniyi-Ogunyankin, their conversation focuses on ‘re-storying Africa, African spirituality, Afro-ecofeminism, restorative justice, legal pluralism, and Wakanda’. In this intervention, author Patricia Daley, a Caribbean scholar and professor at the University of Oxford, reflects on the aforementioned interviews and discusses ‘defiant scholarship’. Interview with Franklin Obeng-Odoom: https://antipodeonline.org/2021/09/02/a-conversation-with-franklin-obeng-odoom/. Interview with Sabelo-Ndlevu-Gatsheni (part 1): https://antipodeonline.org/2022/06/15/interview-with-sabelo-ndlovu-gatsheni-part-1/. Interview with Sabelo-Ndlevu-Gatsheni (part 2): https://antipodeonline.org/2022/07/05/interview-with-sabelo-ndlovu-gatsheni-part-2/. Interview with Sylvia Tamale: https://antipodeonline.org/2023/02/28/africa-will-inevitably-rise-an-interview-with-sylvia-tamale/. Intervention by Patricia Daley: https://antipodeonline.org/2023/04/17/defiant-scholarship/.
Shaun Grech (2014) ‘Decolonising Eurocentric disability studies: why colonialism matters in the disability and global South debate’, Social Identities 21(1): 6–21, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2014.995347
This paper discusses how disability has existed, been constructed, imagined, and lived against the backdrop of colonialism. The colonial provides the landscape for understanding contemporary Southern spaces within which disability is constructed and lived – neocolonised spaces hosting what he calls neocolonised bodies. According to the author ‘understanding the disability narrative in the global South means (re)positioning it and understanding it as a global historical narrative’. This is because ‘Normality’ or what is understood as being normal has to be seen in the context of history and geopolitics – traceable to what we may call colonial normativity. The work of researchers, academics, and practitioners is framed by this knowledge which positions and legitimises them, their epistemologies and disciplines (e.g. disability studies), methods, practices, and the universalising knowledge that is produced. This includes the pillaged knowledge from the global South that remains eternally unacknowledged. It also sustains the structures (global North universities and organisations) to maintain this epistemic and material superiority and the exportation/imposition of its ‘knowledge’ methods (e.g. the social model of disability), and practice to an undeveloped South space historically (re)constructed ontologically as perpetually deficient. Therefore, the paper concludes that decolonisation and colonialism are not metaphors, rather these represent continuous violent and political processes owned by the global South but open to collaboration, drawing on forms of resistance that have long colonial lineages.
Cindy Wan (2023) ‘The economic effects of colonization in Korea’, LSE (Blog), https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/economichistory/2023/05/19/the-economic-effects-of-colonization-in-korea/ (accessed 16 September 2023)
Through the case study of Korea, the article tries to explore the economic effects of colonisation (1910–1945): how the colonised country changed, and who won and who lost during that change. During their rule, the Japanese colonialists introduced legal institutions that promoted the formation of firms in Korea and monetary institutions; the Korean currency grew along with the financial capital markets. New firms were founded and Korea’s financial sector grew; however, when analysed by nationality, it becomes clear that Korea’s business sector grew mostly to the benefit of Japanese enterprise. Korea’s business sector under Japanese rule shows how aggregate and distributional observations can tell two different stories. Although Korean entrepreneurs stood to benefit from the institutional development promoted by the colonial government, many of them could hardly take part in the core of industrial development. This kind of analysis is important when people talk about the ‘benefits’ of ‘colonial rule’ and how it helped in organising the social and economic systems among the colonised. This analysis brings out that the organisation and systems introduced by the rulers are usually not for the benefit of the ‘native’ population but to ensure colonialists’ long-term interests.
SPINE UPN (2023, 23 February) Transfeminismo y decolonialidad del género (YouTube Video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B_DjQYvQQw (accessed 21 September 2023)
This is a round table with Karina Ochoa, Sayak Valencia, Lu Ciccia, and Siobhan Guerrero, presented by Kano Romero on transfeminism and gender decoloniality. This video has Spanish subtitles that can be auto translated into several languages; it was uploaded by the Permanent Research Seminar of the New Epistemology (Seminario Permanente de Investigación sobre la Nueva Epistemología, SPINE) at the National Pedagogy University, Mexico.
Mikaelah Drullard (host) (2023, 31 July) ‘Café Marika’ (Podcast), radionopal.com/programas/cafe-marika
The ‘Café Marika’ podcast, with Mikaelah Drullard, is a space for political reflection and decolonial critique. It encompasses discussions regarding racism, decoloniality, cis-heterosexism, feminisms, and sexual and gender dissidences. Episodes include dialogues with Latin American and Caribbean activists and researchers, mainly women, such as Yuderkis Espinosa, Carolina Meloni, and Ochy Curiel. This podcast is also available on Spotify.
Lung-chih Chang and Min-chin Kay Chiang (2012, Spring) ‘From colonial site to cultural heritage’, The Focus: Postcolonial Dialogues, The Newsletter No. 59, https://www.iias.asia/sites/default/files/nwl_article/2019-05/IIAS_NL59_2829.pdf (accessed 21 September 2023)
This paper aims to revisit Taiwan’s postcolonial identity formation which has been unique as it has witnessed different regimes. Taiwan became a Chinese immigrant frontier in the 17th century and since then witnessed different regimes, including the Dutch (1624–1661), the Koxinga (1662–1683), the Qing (1684–1894), and the Japanese empire (1895–1945). This unique trajectory of postcolonial identity formation has been explored with respect to heritagisation of former Japanese colonial sites on the island. The controversies between Taiwanese and Chinese nationalisms in relation to these sites give an insight into the vicissitudes of resistance and possibilities of decolonisation. This paper discusses the new phenomenon of the ‘memory boom’ which emerged in the 1990s; the number of museums and heritage sites increased with the transformation of identity narratives and eco-political changes in Taiwanese society. The bond between memory and place indeed inspired grassroots initiatives of conservation and triggered a sense of community. An understanding developed that decolonisation does not necessarily mean ‘removing all traces of colonial material’. In fact, ‘preserving colonial sites through the recognition of their contested nature, actively exploring and engaging controversial voices, discovering the historical depths of every memory attached to the site, and transforming structural inequality with persistent locality building, would more successfully trigger a decolonizing process’.
Chinnaiah Jangam (2021, 8 April) ‘Decolonizing Caste and Rethinking Social Inequality in South Asia’, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania in partnership with South Asia Center and the Penn History Department, https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/events/chinnaiahjangam
This webinar titled ‘Decolonising Caste and Rethinking Social Inequality in South Asia’ was organised by the Center for the Advanced Study of India in collaboration with South Asia Center and the Penn History Department. In this webinar, Chinnaiah Jangam, an Associate Professor at the Department of History at Carleton University and author of Dalits and the Making of Modern India, discusses his book project that traces the way caste histories and social formations have operated and evolved from precolonial to current times, and concludes that ‘caste hierarchy has become intrinsic to the very idea of social structure of India’ and is a ‘fundamental aspect of Hindu social structures’. He further stresses that the role of colonialism and colonial knowledge in shaping caste identities and formations has been highlighted, while the existence and crystallisation of caste in precolonial India and ways that these have survived, even consolidated through time, are not given sufficient scholarly attention. Furthermore, the role of anti-caste consciousness and alternate sociological imaginations put forth by Buddhism, Jainism, Bhakti traditions, and Lingayats are also important, as is examining current caste privilege across social, political, and intellectual domains.
Walaa Alqaisiya (2018) ‘Decolonial queering: the politics of being queer in Palestine’, Journal of Palestine Studies 47(3): 29–44, https://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2018.47.3.29
In this critical piece, the author examines the political work of alQaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society and its potential to unpack the exclusions and discriminations that operate in queer discourse and politics. They argue that these power dynamics cannot be understood without exploring their deep interlinkages with Zionist settler colonialism. An organisation like alQaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society challenges the normalising of exclusionary and colonial queer politics and the challenges faced in these decolonial efforts.
Angel Sophan and Arya Nair (2023) ‘Decolonising caste in the Indian context: the psyche of the oppressor’, Psychology and Developing Societies 35(1): 110–30, https://doi.org/10.1177/09713336231157802
In this research, the authors step beyond the usual disciplinary framings deployed to study caste such as anthropology, sociology, economics, and political science, and utilises the lens of psychology to research the cultural mindset of the oppressor caste, rather than focusing on the ‘oppressed caste’ where most academic research focuses. Acknowledging the interlinkages between colonialism, casteism, and religion, the researchers deploy the psychological framework of ‘purity and pollution’ to explore the historical and inter-generational persistence of this exploitative and discriminatory system of social stratification.
Ibtisam Ahmed (2019) ‘Decolonising queer Bangladesh: neoliberalism against LGBTQ+ emancipation’, E-International Relations, https://www.e-ir.info/2019/08/16/decolonising-queer-bangladesh-neoliberalism-against-lgbtq-emancipation/
An excerpt from the e-book Sexuality and Translation in World Politics, this piece argues that decolonisation is the best way ahead for the advancement of queer rights in South Asian countries, particularly in Bangladesh. The author traces the history of Section 377, the law against ‘unnatural offences’ imposed during British rule, and points out why there was no organised resistance at the time although same-sex intimacies were tolerated, if not accepted. It also highlights discriminatory laws that were imposed, rendering hijras and kothis second-class citizens. The author says, ‘With the simultaneous explicit criminalisation of non-binary genders and evolving criminalisation of same-sex desire, the colonial period saw the entrenchment of social and political norms that effectively oppressed queerness’. Post-independence, the author traces the trajectory of the nascent queer movement wherein ‘Hijra had to identify with a wider movement out of necessity, while the early gay men’s rights movement did so out of the desire for social mobility and acceptance into urban cosmopolitanism.’ The author argues rooting queer activism in decolonisation is critical for undoing historical systemic oppression of the queer community.
Audre Lorde (2018) The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House, Penguin Classics
This is a collection of essays that were first presented at conferences between 1978 and 1982. These essays focus on the power of women, poetry, and anger. They discuss feminism, racism, and sexuality through the lens of intersectionality. The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House includes the titular work, as well as ‘Poetry is Not a Luxury’, ‘Uses of the Erotic’, ‘Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism’, and ‘Learning from the 1960s’. These essays talk about the need for ‘difference feminism’, how racism is not an issue that Black people need to solve rather it is a problem that needs to be addressed by those who enact and enable it to happen, the need for people to work together to create social change. One of the strongest messages comes out of the titular work which discusses the issue that the tools given by the oppressors cannot help people in getting their message across. There is a need for the oppressed to discover and use their own tools to fight oppression. Another important takeaway from this collection is the need to recognise, understand, and support differences.
Theme 2: Decolonising development practice
Convivial Thinking – Critical | Decolonial | Collaborative, https://convivialthinking.org/ (accessed 18 September 2023)
This website aims to ‘create a counterpoint and a platform for critical thought and contestation for horizontal dialogues and collaboration’. It brings together pieces in the form of poems, short and long articles, podcasts, webinars, and artworks. It is a collaborative project and includes resources for anyone interested in the topic through reading circles, inviting contributions to the website, bringing visibility to relevant calls, events, conferences, and other initiatives by similar networks. This website would be of interest to individuals and collectives looking to explore the topic of decolonisation, and the group also invites contributions from readers and artists.
The New Humanitarian (2022, 12 August) ‘Decolonising aid: a reading and resource list’, https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2022/08/12/Decolonising-aid-a-reading-and-resource-list (accessed 17 July 2023)
This is an archive of resources related to decolonisation and aid, compiled by The New Humanitarian and the Center for Transformational Change. Founded by the United Nations and formerly IRIN News, The New Humanitarian is currently an independent non-profit news organisation. This repository includes links to videos, podcasts, books, short briefs, and articles. The resources are organised thematically, covering what decolonisation, in general, and decolonising aid, in particular, mean, perspectives on racism, diversity, and localisation in the development sector, and future directions. This would be of relevance to practitioners and researchers working on decolonising funding.
Prachi Patankar (2021, 2 December) ‘It’s time for funders to debrahminise philanthropy’, Alliance Magazine (Blog), https://www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/its-time-for-funders-to-debrahminise-philanthropy/ (accessed 17 July 2023)
Amidst calls to decolonise funding, this article calls on funders to debrahmanise funding. Prachi Patankar, an activist and development practitioner, provides context on Brahmanism in South Asia and highlights the tendency of funders to fund urban NGOs with access to resources instead of small Dalit Bahujan-led and indigenous groups. The author provides actionable steps for philanthropies to debrahmanise aid. This would be interest to international funders working in South Asia.
Heba Aly (2022, 12 August) ‘Ten efforts to decolonise aid. Changing practices around funding, leadership, narrative and identity’, The New Humanitarian, https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2022/08/12/10-efforts-to-decolonise-aid (accessed 17 July 2023)
This piece from The New Humanitarian brings together ten initiatives towards decolonising aid that are being implemented by diverse international aid organisations and frameworks and tools developed by aid workers and collectives. The article links relevant statements, strategies, frameworks, handbooks, and podcasts. For instance, ‘How to Write About Africa in 8 Steps: An Ethical Storytelling Handbook’ linked to the article takes the reader to a practical and well-designed guide on why ethical storytelling matters and how to do it through case studies. Other examples include the ‘Anti-racist and Decolonial Framework’ from Start Network, and a podcast on Rethinking Humanitarianism. This would be of interest not only to funders from the global North but also local philanthropies.
The Development Hub (host) (2023) ‘The Power Shift: Decolonising Development’ (Podcast), https://devhubuk.org/podcast/
Titled ‘The Power Shift: Decolonising Development’, this podcast series brings together activists, practitioners, and academics to discuss ideas and practical steps towards decolonisation. It covers a range of topics like agenda setting, funding priorities in practice and research, power relations between individuals and organisations, and individuals and individuals located in the global North and global South, when working on collaborations. For instance, the conversation with Piyumi Samaraweera highlights the discourses on development and decolonisation from a global South-led organisation; the one with Disha Sughand focuses on lessons from feminist organising towards decolonisation and anti-racism. The podcasts are available on Spotify and YouTube; most include transcripts to the conversations. This series would be of relevance to practitioners in the global North and funders as well as those in the development sector across the globe.
The Development Hub (2022) ‘Decolonising Development Resources’, https://devhubuk.org/home/985-2/ (accessed 18 July 2023)
The Development Hub has curated a list of practical resources to support decolonisation in the development sector, organised thematically under anti-racism, contracting and partnership agreements, funding, localisation, mutual capacity strengthening, participatory grant-making, and sector reform. Each resource links to the relevant document, and all of them are freely available to the reader. They also include a reading list for understanding decolonisation which is organised by reading levels and serves as a handy resource for anyone wanting to familiarise themselves or for those familiar and looking for more in-depth readings on ‘decolonising the northern mind’, ‘gender and decolonisation’, and ‘organisational transformation’.
Yannicke Goris and Kiza Magendane (2021, 14 June) ‘Transformational solidarity: the journey towards decolonising development cooperation’, The Broker, https://www.thebrokeronline.eu/transformational-solidarity-the-journey-towards-decolonising-development-cooperation/
This piece draws from a webinar series, ‘The Decolonisation of Aid’, organised by the Kuno, Partos, and the International Institute of Social Studies. While one argument on decolonising aid proposes that aid can be truly decolonised only when international aid ceases to exist, the other rejects the option of abolition. Against this backdrop, the piece presents Tulika Srivastava’s (human rights lawyer and director of Women’s Fund Asia) and Lydia Zigomo’s (Global Programmes Director of Oxfam International) thoughts on ‘global solidarity’, based on the webinar. The piece deconstructs the development sector, highlighting that development co-operation is determined by power and control. The speakers emphasise that it is critical to think about gender norms and practices to build a decolonial agenda for development co-operation. Transformative change requires shifting power from the global North to the global South and a rehaul of the funding ecosystem, wherein local communities lead and flexible funding mechanisms speak to needs of local organisations. Importantly, ‘a transformational approach to decolonisation also means that Northern organisations and grant organisations should realise that they are not the owners of the resources that they hold’. This is an important resource for those in the development sector and particularly for funding organisations of the global North.
Farhana Sultana (2022) ‘The unbearable heaviness of climate coloniality’, Political Geography 99: 102638, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2022.102638
This paper discusses the uneven and inequitable impacts of climate change on differently located people. The author highlights how experience, response, and coping with the climate crisis and related vulnerabilities is radically different in the global South as compared to the global North. Indigenous and environmental activists have argued that various climate solutions are false and are a form of perpetuating colonialism through land grabs, extraction, displacement, and dispossession. Using three sets of empirical examples and lived experiences – COP26 (26th meeting of the Conference of Parties on climate) speeches, her vignette, and a collection of reflections – the author showcases how the personal and the structural are linked. Burdens are placed on the global South to reduce greenhouse emissions without differentiating between luxury versus survival emissions. The paper advocates for decolonising climate by integrating decolonial, anti-colonial, feminist, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist critiques and struggles into mainstream climate discourses and practices to redress ongoing oppressions and marginalisations. It concludes by emphasising that dominant discussions around climate change see it as a phenomenon to be fixed with technology and finance, instead of a restructuring of relationships to ecologies, waters, lands, and communities that people are intimately, materially, and politically connected to.
Sarah Al Bouery (2023, 23 January) ‘Seeing an Inclusive Framework for Human Security & Social Justice within the IMF and GoL Restructuring and Reform Plan: Education an Equalizer and Enabler’, Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship, Malala Fund and Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, https://asfariinstitute.org/2023/02/17/setting-an-inclusive-framework-for-human-security-social-justice-within-the-imf-and-gol-restructuring-and-reform-plan-education-an-equalizer-and-enabler/
This research report outlines the gendered implications of the IMF’s restructuring and reform plan on the education sector in Lebanon. It calls for structural reform within public finances including expansion of fiscal space and employing gender budgeting for education for the benefit of most vulnerable groups such as women, girls and segregated communities that face multi-dimensional poverty and precarities. The report was prepared by the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship in partnership with the Malala Fund and Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs. The report advocates for policy reform through participatory dialogue with a range of stakeholders such as government, policy makers, feminist activists, donor organisations, and civil society, to carve more equitable economic policies for Lebanon. This research has produced a policy brief in both English and Arabic and these are available at the American University of Beirut and Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship website.
Theme 3: Academia and research
Decolonial Dialogues, https://decolonialdialogue.wordpress.com/ (accessed 31 July 2023)
This website is ‘a shared space for exchanging and advancing ideas and information about the decolonisation of knowledge – through activism, research, inclusive reaching, leading and creativity’. It has been set up by a small group of researchers, and the website features a wide range of resources including documentary films, webinars, blogs, articles, book reviews, and resources on research methods. It has a section dedicated to decolonising research methodology, teaching and learning approaches, and development of inclusive curriculum; a list of similar collaborative networks, and section on updates and news related to events related to decolonisation. Practitioners and scholars can also contribute to this website.
List of resources is available at: https://decolonialdialogue.wordpress.com/2020/04/04/online-resources/.
Miguel Zavala (2013) ‘What do we mean by decolonizing research strategies? Lessons from decolonizing, Indigenous research projects in New Zealand and Latin America’, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 2(1): 55–71, https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1108&context=education_articles
This paper develops a positional review of existing bodies of work, like the participatory action-research (PAR) projects, while focusing on what can be learned from the experiments in community self-determination. She argues for a renewed understanding of the primacy of grassroots structures in decolonising using examples from PAR projects as they have taken form in New Zealand and Latin America. These lessons suggest that decolonising research strategies are less about the struggle for method and more about the spaces that make decolonising research possible. Concerns with methods and participation need to be framed within the broader context in which the research gets carried out. According to her, decolonising research exists at ‘the interstices between political ideology (the ideas that shape any given praxis), space/place (the spaces that give life to such projects), and community (the people that carry out such work), each a dimension of decolonization as an expression of community self-determination’. In this kind of research, the ‘objects’ of the study become ‘subjects’ changing the paradigm of traditional research methodologies.
Marie Meudec (2016) ‘References on Decolonizing Knowledge / Methodologies (De)Coloniality Post/De-Colonial Perspectives. Références à propos de Décolonisation de la connaissance / des méthodologies (Dé)Colonialité Perspectives Post/Dé-Coloniales’, Academia.edu, https://www.academia.edu/24440462/References_on_Decolonizing_Knowledge_Methodologies_De_Coloniality_Post_De_Colonial_Perspectives_R%C3%A9f%C3%A9rences_%C3%A0_propos_de_D%C3%A9colonisation_de_la_connaissance_des_m%C3%A9thodologies_D%C3%A9_Colonialit%C3%A9_Perspectives_Post_D%C3%A9_Coloniales
This bibliography of about 400 references has been compiled by Marie Meudec, a social anthropologist. The list includes resources on the topics of decolonising knowledge and methodologies, decoloniality, and post- and decolonial perspectives. It consists of references in English and French and includes books, book reviews, and journal articles. The lack of signposting thematically or on the basis of language makes the list slightly difficult to follow and identifying relevant readings for someone interested in a particular sub-theme can be time-consuming. However, this would be a relevant starting point for someone looking to explore what decolonising knowledge and methodology means and entails, and the diverse related perspectives.
Sheila Trahar, Adisorn Juntrasook, James Burford, Astrid von Kotze, and Danny Wildemeersch (2019) ‘Hovering on the periphery? ‘Decolonising’ writing for academic journals’, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education 49(1): 149–67, https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2018.1545817
In this piece, the authors challenge the pre-eminence of English and ‘also “metropolitan” genres of scholarly writing and discourse’. They call on authors to reflect on how their academic writing might be ‘colonised’. This article brings together different languages and genres to discuss what it might mean to ‘decolonise’ writing for journals. It is organised in the form of letters, one of which is in the Thai language, and then short sections to acknowledge and address that there are multiple audiences and an ‘international’ audience does not mean one from the ‘north’. The paper then presents five sections divided into ‘shifts’ which call on the readers to embrace humility and acknowledge vulnerability, to uncover mechanisms of power, to recognise that different economic and political realities means that Eurocentric theorisation does not explain all contexts, to write accessibly, and to look at creating or supporting emerging alternative publications. The article is reflexive, critiques existing practices of writing and publishing, and includes action points on what authors can do. This introduction would be of interest to scholars and practitioners who are interested in engaging with decolonisation as a topic and as a way of being.
Vina Adriany, Desy Ayu Pirmasari, and Nur Latifah Umi Satiti (2017) ‘Being an Indonesian feminist in the North’, Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies 20(3): 287–97, https://doi.org/10.5117/TVGN2017.3.ADRI
This essay presents the experiences of three Indonesian Muslim women undertaking gender research in a UK higher education institution. The three researchers had different histories of engagement with Northern Academia and found it challenging to ‘fit’ into global North feminism. According to them, feminist theories from the global North dominate academia in Indonesia while there is no reciprocal attempt by the global North to read the narratives formed in different countries within South-East Asia. Using an autoethnographic approach, they explored each of their experiences. They found that a tendency to reduce women’s experiences into one single experience is very powerful. The ideas that women in the South are helpless and Muslim women are all oppressed, continue to be disseminated. This, in turn, increased their feelings of being voiceless, invisible, marginalised, and discriminated against, perhaps not physically, but through discourses circulated in the media. They highlight the importance of engaging in the act of decolonising by co-creating a hybrid space that results from proximity in identities with other marginalised groups.
Gurnam Singh (2023, 5 June) ‘Keynote: Decolonising Bibliographies, Referencing and Citational Practices’, CALC Conferences (YouTube Video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPfrbE484I0 (accessed 3 August 2023)
In this rich and illuminating presentation, Dr Gurnam Singh introduces an emerging sub-field of citation justice led by anti-racist scholars, and the ways that reassessing and unpacking current citation and referencing practices could potentially enable scholarship to be more just, diverse, and inclusive. He explains ways in which the principles of colonialism, that of exploitation and extraction, continue to be reflected and embedded in the histories of educational institutions and libraries which ended up systematically delegitimising and excluding large bodies of knowledge produced by the ‘non west’. He proposes that we reimagine and restructure the ways we cite knowledge so that it challenges the neoliberal metrics and citation count that are currently used to measure the value of scholarship.
Tara Brabazon (2020, 2 October) ‘Vlog 237: Citation Politics’, Office for Graduate Studies, Flinders University (YouTube Video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0iYubwKQV8- (accessed 29 August 2023)
In this vlog, Prof. Tara Brabazon examines the politics that undergird citation practices in academia. She discusses ways in which scholars can not only recognise the inequities, discriminations, and biases that are embedded within citation practices, but also explore transformative ways to challenge and even dismantle these inequities and work towards making bibliographies and citation practices more socially inclusive, gender just, accountable, and democratic.
Tara Brabazon (2020, 2 October) ‘Outrider 10 – Mandalorian Citations’ (YouTube Video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBr7A957UqM (accessed 29 August 2023)
In this vlog, Prof. Tara Brabazon summons the ideological value of citations; in other words, what do citations symbolise when it comes to academic research in terms of the robustness of research and how research is being cited. She brings to the fore the power of citations in bringing attention to specific scholarship, and the responsibility that this power poses for authors. She asks: what kind of, and what modes of scholarship do we want to highlight, which scholars do we want to bring attention to, and what are the ways in which emerging authors can get their research cited? She also explains the two kinds of citations, referential and critical citations, the latter of which highlights poor research. The powerful role of citations in decolonising academic practices can be explored by means of bringing attention to research and researchers that are otherwise marginalised, and also shining light on unethical academic practices and weeding poor research.
Priyanka Basu (2021) ‘Decolonising the archives: “Two Centuries of Indian Print” at the British Library’, Sanglap: Journal of Literary and Cultural Inquiry 1, https://sanglap-journal.in/index.php/sanglap/article/view/197
‘Two Centuries of Indian Print’ is an international collaborative initiative between the School of Cultural Texts and Records (SCTR) at Jadavpur University, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore, and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Library in London, with an aim to digitalise rare printed books in Bengali, Assamese, and Sylheti printed between 1714 and 1914, as part of a rich repository that can be used by doctoral scholars and early career researchers who are not able to access physical archives. With the physical archives housed at the British Library, this digital project running over five years becomes particularly significant given the pandemic and reiterates the need to digitalise archives and other research materials more urgently so that research processes can continue uninterrupted and archive materials become more accessible. It also showcases sustained efforts at decolonising archives.
Biswaranjan Tripura (2023) ‘Decolonizing ethnography and tribes in India: toward an alternative methodology’, Frontiers in Political Science 5, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2023.1047276 (open access)
In this article, the author calls out the lack of self-reflexivity and sensitivity within Tribal Studies in India and the continued use of colonial approaches and methodologies. Based on empirical research with a Tripura tribe in north-east India, the author pushes for alternate and collaborative epistemologies that are ‘congruent with indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing’, and underscores the need to integrate principles of decoloniality, responsibility, sensitivity, and accountability in ethnographic research.
‘The Decolonized Librarian: A Platform for Cambridge Librarians Approaching Decolonisation’ (Blog), https://decolonisingthroughcriticallibrarianship.wordpress.com/ (accessed 29 August 2023)
This initiative by Cambridge University constitutes a series of collective efforts to decolonise libraries through decolonial understanding of sourcing, cataloguing, classification, and democratising access to knowledge. It also recognises the role of libraries in acting as gated communities, as well as their potential in enabling and activating anti-racist, anti-caste, and anti-colonial knowledge systems and processes. This website includes cataloguing and classification, resources, special collections, as well as case studies on decolonising library collections and processes.
Daniel Souleles (2020, September) ‘What to do with the predator in your bibliography?’, Allegra Lab Anthropology for Radical Optimism, https://allegralaboratory.net/what-to-do-with-the-predator-in-your-bibliography/ (accessed 29 August 2023)
In this short yet stridently argued article, Souleles brings to the fore the emotional and ethical dilemmas of citing scholars who have done pioneering work, but are accused, or have been proved to be involved in criminal behaviour such as sexual harassment and assault. The author discusses the ways that she attempted to tackle this in her article and the barriers that for-profit academic publishers posed in the way of her attempts. She urges the academic and publishing community to come up with editorial guidelines that could help authors navigate these ethical challenges in citations, while also pushing for authors to approach open access journals that might enable these ethical citation practices more successfully and meaningfully.
Theme 4: Resistances
Layla F. Saad (2020) Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change The World, and Become a Good Ancestor, Chicago: Sourcebook
The author describes this work as a journey designed to push its readers to examine the hidden mechanisms of white supremacy and systemic racism in the everyday lives of people. This is an anti-racism education workbook that was initially offered for free in an Instagram challenge and was self-published as a digital workbook in 2018. This book aims to help the readers to take ownership of their own participation in the oppressive system of white supremacy and helps them to take responsibility for dismantling the system within the person and the communities they live in. By helping people become aware of their privileges, it can help people to stop inflicting damage (often unconsciously) on people of colour. Although this workbook focuses on racism, the exercises and concepts described here can be applied to examining many other ‘isms’ such as Ableism, Classism, Sexism, and so on.
The Funambulist (host) (2023) ‘A Moment of True Decolonization (Eng).’, https://thefunambulist.net/show/a-moment-of-true-decolonization/page/4
The Funambulist is a platform that engages with the politics of space and bodies. During the time of the pandemic, a series of podcasts was organised during the time that people were confined at home. Every day (31 days) a person was asked the same question: ‘what is for you a moment of true decolonization?’ The person could describe this by talking about a historical moment or something they witnessed; something heroic and grandiose, or rather discreet and mundane; a durable blow to the structures of colonialism or a short instant of liberation. The podcasts feature a series of people from different parts of the world talking about decoloniality in the context of culture, music, arts, prisons, women, indigenous people, and many other relevant areas.
Radio New Frame (host) (2022, 27 June) ‘What of Our Mother Tongues?’, season 8, episode 6 (Podcast), https://www.newframe.com/s8-episode-6-what-of-our-mother-tongue/
This podcast asks the question – What of our mother tongues? – as it brings together Iribe Mwangi, Thabo Jacobs, and Lynn Adib. It uses a mix of Kiswahili, Setswana, Arabic, and English, and reminds the listeners that the language of the host is not English and yet they speak it so that listeners around the world can understand them. The podcast explores questions of one’s experiences of navigating in languages that are not one’s mother tongue and the possibility of Kiswahili as the global lingua franca. It traces the history of the Kiswahili and demonstrates the diverse influences on the language and the breadth of its usage. There are approximately 200 million Kiswahili speakers in the world. This podcast speaks to the question of English being a universal language, the experiences of non-native English speakers, and the possibilities of communication in languages beyond English.
Phillip Penix-Tadsen (ed.) (2019) Video Games and the Global South, Pittsburgh, PA: ETC Press
This book explores the way in which games impact daily lives of individuals across the globe and include those who have existed on ‘peripheries’. It analyses the cultural impact of video games, growth of game development, and the vitality of game cultures across Africa, the Middle East, Central and South America, the Indian subcontinent, Oceania, and Asia. Through contributions from different parts of the world, it attempts to show how diverse video game cultures are. It draws on postcolonial studies and on Mignolo’s (2011) and Iqani’s (2016) definition of the global South.
The book contains 18 essays and is divided into three sections: ‘Serious Games and the Politics of Play’, ‘Gaming Communities and Subcultures’, and ‘Circulation of Games and Game Culture’. The editor brings out the impact of colonial era on games and online spaces and presents some forms of resistance that are happening through the games. The ideas explored include depictions of indigenous and non-Western peoples in strategy games, limitations of Eurocentric mechanics of many games, extension of colonial spaces through certain games, and use of online spaces to express racist attitudes that have largely been suppressed in public. Through the essays, it attempts to map the ‘colonial matrix of power’. It is a good resource for people interested in game studies, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, and the digital social sciences.
Ho Chi Minh Reference Archive, https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/index.htm (accessed 15 September 2023)
This archive contains documents from Vietnam from 1919 to 1960 related to Annamese people’s struggles against various colonial powers. It contains documents from the Selected Works of Ho Chi Minh. These documents outline the conditions in the country during the colonial rule. The documents, while highlighting the struggles of the ‘natives’ against the colonial rulers, appear to be a means of resistance. Issues related to struggles, economic changes, and the lifestyle of the colonists are covered in these documents.
‘PKF – Zubaan Translation Series | Translation as Exploration’ (2023) – Prabha Khaitan Foundation 18 May (YouTube Video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_rg7FpvfRQ (accessed 3 August 2023)
In an effort to make literary and academic knowledge accessible beyond English, Prabha Khaitan Foundation and Zubaan, an Indian publishing house, launched a translation programme in May 2022. This collaborative effort brings together translators, authors, and publishers to translate feminist literature into Indian languages and bolster several local publishing houses across the country. As part of this initiative, 35 books have been translated into ten Indian languages. This particular discussion focused on the process of these translatory endeavours, their social and epistemological value, and the economics (particularly the undervalued labour that undergird these efforts), and brought together Arshiya Sattar from Sangam Playhouse and Rita Kothari at Ashika Centre for Translation and Urvashi Butalia from Zubaan.
France Nkokomane Ntloedibe (2019) ‘Where are our heroes and ancestors? The spectre of Steve Biko’s ideas in Rhodes must fall and the transformation of South African universities’, African Identities 17(1): 64–79, https://doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2019.1654851
In this article, the author draws linkages between the ‘Rhodes must fall’ students’ protests that reverberated across universities in South Africa in 2015 powered by the call to transform higher education, and the political and philosophical teachings of the South African social justice activist Steve Biko who called for a transformation of Africa’s education system by invoking ‘Black consciousness’ in the 1970s. The difference between ‘decolonising’ institutions and ‘transforming’ institutions is explored and the deep resonances of students’ protests and Biko’s conceptions of education, culture, and resistance, along with other Black political activists are examined. Overall, the author tries to understand such calls for political transformations within the histories of anti-racist resistances.
Andrea Wallace (2021) ‘Decolonization and indigenization’, Open GLAM, https://openglam.pubpub.org/pub/decolonization (accessed 18 September 2023) (open access)
In this piece, the author places the open GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) movement, including the components of digitalisation of materials as well as the restitution of materials, within the histories and legal processes of ‘possession, ownership, control, authorship, commercialization, restitution, repatriation, knowledge production, cultural memory’. The author discusses the significance of understanding these while approaching reforms of restitution policies, restoration processes, and heritage management practices. These are essential to ensure that the movement does not end up re-enforcing or obfuscating colonial power dynamics and dominant cultural agendas that shape access to historical materials, and continue to bring visibility to the histories of their production, management, and dissemination (digital or analogue). The role of GLAM is transformative. ‘As sites that collect, interpret and produce knowledge(s) around cultural heritage, GLAMs are obvious interlocuters to facilitate action, advance goals, and amplify Indigenous voices around decolonisation and indigenisation’. At the same time, discussion around critical themes of ‘material and digital property, intellectual property and land’ are key to actually bring the goal of decolonisation to fruition. The author also summons debates around the term ‘decolonisation’ which has been co-opted, and instead lists alternative terms such as ‘abolition, equity, anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-ableist, or anti-hegemonic’. The author makes another important argument – of paving the way towards ‘indigenisation’ which means not only focusing on the process of restitution or restoration or other anti-colonial initiatives, but also shining light on the question of custody and leadership. In whose custody and care are these processes being undertaken? This calls for accountability and sovereignty, and ensuring that the relevant communities are taking charge to care for their historical artefacts and cultural memory.
Sarah Hunt and Cindy Holmes (2015) ‘Everyday decolonization: living a decolonizing queer politics’, Journal of Lesbian Studies 19(2): 154–72, https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160.2015.970975 (open access)
How do two queer cis-gender academic women, one indigenous and one non-indigenous, located in unceded Salish territories, navigate patriarchal and queer phobic discourse and politics which are deeply marked by settler colonialism? What do their everyday decolonial politics and allyship look like in ‘private’, ‘intimate’, and ‘non-academic’ spaces, and how are these everyday practices interlinked with social movements and ‘public’ actions? These are some of the core themes that these authors tackle through their use of personal storytelling. Through these self-reflexive tools, the authors explore what ‘decolonization entails in the intimate spaces of daily life, particularly moments with family members and close friends’. They explore ways to participate in this decolonising and queering praxis, shine light on the works of queer indigenous scholars and community leaders, particularly women, question tensions within queer and trans spaces, and carve intimate geographies of decolonial, queer, respectful, and accountable allyship.
Red de Pensamiento Decolonial (Decolonial Thought Network), https://www.facebook.com/rpdecolonial/?locale=es_LA
This is a collective of independent cultural and scientific journals from Argentina, Chile, and Mexico discussing decolonisation (including Revista Filosofía Afro-Indo-Abiayalense).
Feminismos Descoloniales (Decolonial Feminisms) (2015, 13 November) (Blog), https://feminismosdescoloniales.wordpress.com/ (accessed 30 August 2023)
This blog includes news, book reviews, and other kinds of texts and links about gender, decoloniality, and feminisms, focusing on Zapatista women. Feminismos Decoloniales is a self-convened Mexican network, established in 2008, that is committed to decolonising feminist epistemology. Bringing together different disciplines and geographical locations, this is a diverse and intergenerational group. ‘The network was born as a space for reflection and political action that is based on self-criticism of racism and colonialism, starting with our feminisms.’ (translated from Spanish to English).
Estudios Interculturales y Decoloniales (Intercultural and Decolonial Studies Research Group), Universidad de Antioquia, https://www.udea.edu.co/wps/portal/udea/web/inicio/investigacion/grupos-investigacion/ciencias-sociales/estudios-interculturales-decoloniales (accessed 18 September 2023)
Estudios Interculturales y Decoloniales is an intercultural and decolonial studies group at the University of Antioquia, Colombia that contributes to building social knowledge about diversity from a critical, intercultural, and decolonial perspective of knowledge, power, self, and nature; it fosters dialogue between academia and social organisations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Afrontera Cimarronca, AFROntera, https://afrontera.org/ (accessed 23 September 2023)
AFROntera is an Afro-indigenous collective that generates antiracist, decolonial, cis-hetero-dissident and anti-patriarchal criticism and actions, including training and research, performance, accompaniment of legal cases, and social protest. They organise Palenque Cimarrón (something like Untamed Territory), an annual antiracist meeting for decolonising self, body, and thought. YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AfroNtera.
Afrochingonas (2022) https://afrochingonas.com/ (accessed 16 September 2023)
This is an interdisciplinary project of Black Colombian and Mexican women dealing with antiracist creation, communication, and research, sharing experiences for collective healing and reflecting about the positionalities we all occupy within racist, patriarchal, and capitalist structures. They organise workshops and have a podcast, available on their website (https://afrochingonas.com/podcast/) and on Spotify.
Red de Feminismos Decoloniales del Sur (Docolonial Feminisms of the South Network), https://www.facebook.com/redfeminismosdescolonialesdelsur/?locale=es_LA
Red de Feminismos Decoloniales del Sur is a transnational and transdisciplinary network of women who are involved in feminist, antiracist, antisexist, and antipatriarchal studies, research, and activism. Their stated objectives include sharing of experiences that ‘create synergies to question racist and sexist patriarchal systems’ and holding annual meetings of the network, disseminating individual and collective productions, and creating awareness on issues such as women’s rights. They aim to build collaborations and alliances between academia and activism, rooted in a decolonial approach.
Book Bunk (2022, 30 August) ‘Panel Conversation: Decolonising the Arts and Culture Space’ (YouTube Video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6DjTAycLew (accessed 10 September 2023)
This panel discussion organised by Book Bunk and Baraza Media Lab explores what decolonising arts and the cultural space means. The panel includes Stoneface Bombaa, a musician, artist, and podcast host of ‘Until Everyone is Free’; Wanhui wa Kamonju, a researcher, dancer, storyteller, and poet; Sitawa Manwalie, a theatre actor, poet, and performing artist; and Maddo, a veteran cartoonist. The discussion is moderated by David ‘Blackskillz’ Oyuke. It discusses the ways in which decolonisation has affected the colonised people’s perception of themselves, its effect on the minds of the oppressed, the need to take on decolonisation, sanitised museum spaces, and the connections between colonialism and capitalism. Bringing together poetry and conversation, this would be of interest to those working in the arts as well as scholars and practitioners.
Ijeoma Nnodim Opara (2021, 29 July) ‘It’s time to decolonize the decolonization movement’, Plos Blogs Speaking of Medicine and Health (Blog), https://speakingofmedicine.plos.org/2021/07/29/its-time-to-decolonize-the-decolonization-movement/ (accessed 24 August 2023)
In this spirited piece about the ways in which coloniality appears and operates in decolonisation movements, the author highlights the lack of a critical analysis accounting for power, history, and sociopolitics, the exclusion of Majority World scholars from discourse, and the absence of intersectionality. She calls for a radical deconstruction and reconstruction of global health spaces through (a) becoming comfortable with multiformity and fluidity, (b) grounding decolonisation in the work of Majority World thinkers, (c) centring intersectionality and interdependence, (d) focusing on a critical analysis of power, and (e) returning to one’s context and prioritising it. The author explains what each of these entails and asserts, ‘Global health will not survive its true decolonisation. It is not supposed to.’ While written for the global health community, this article is of relevance to anyone interested in decolonisation and working with such initiatives.
Anna Bon, Francis Dittoh, Gossa Lô, Monica Pini, Robert Bwana, Cheah WaiShiang, Narayanan Kulathuramaiyer, and Andre Baart (2021) ‘Decolonizing technology and society: a perspective from the global South’, in Perspectives on Digital Humanism, Springer eBooks, 61–68, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86144-5_9 (open access)
This chapter from the book Perspectives on Digital Humanism focuses on the absence of representatives from the global South in discussions around the digital future. Labelled as ‘digital coloniality’ by the authors, the chapter includes examples of what this means in the first section using real-world examples. The second section of the chapter advocates for the inclusion of representatives from ‘poor regions’. They demonstrate the importance of community-oriented digital development using examples of such interventions. However, throughout the chapter, the authors appear to conflate ‘poor regions’ with ‘global South’ without acknowledging the contestations to this narrative. This chapter would be of relevance to workers in technology and policy.
Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures, https://decolonialfutures.net/ (accessed 16 September 2023)
This initiative is by a collective that includes Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (Researchers/Artists Collective) (GTDF), Teja das 5 Curas (Latin American Indigenous Collective), Unbecoming Modernity (UBC Student Collective), partnerships with Uniseres, Bridge47 Project, and Goca EarthCARE, and co-operations with several individuals. GTDF uses this space ‘as a workspace for collaborations around different kinds of artistic, pedagogical, cartographic, and relational experiments that aim to identify and de-activate colonial habits of being, and to gesture towards the possibility of decolonial futures’. This website comes with a ‘pedagogical warning’ inviting readers to understand the context of the work they do, cautioning visitors that the site is not meant for mass consumption, and encouraging them to be discerning in their practice and seek guidance, if needed, on ‘how to process an experience with one of the resources’. The works include guiding questions and denials that shape this decolonial endeavour; a mosaic of artistic, pedagogical, cartographic experiments; and resources in the form of writings, artistic work, and recent relevant publications. Exploring the collaborations and contributions is a reflective and unique experience. YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVYyIL33yxy16d9pD3OKDng.