Postcolonial Politics

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Decolonial Thinking

Can the colonisers decolonise themselves?

Can the colonisers decolonise themselves?

The immediate answer to this question is no. Cultural transit, translation and transformation are sustained in networks historically constructed in asymmetrical relations of power. Despite the illusions of liberal humanists, the exchange is never equal. Even the currency is rarely common. Presenting as a universal template the philosopher exchanging views

Black Soil Poems: Wangechi Mutu at the Borghese Gallery

Black Soil Poems: Wangechi Mutu at the Borghese Gallery

In the heat of July in Rome, we discussed the exhibition ‘Black Soil Poems’ (brilliantly curated by Cloé Perrone) by Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu at the Galleria Borghese. A certain dissonance was inevitable in the conversation with the writer and journalist Igiaba Scego and Andrea Viliani, director of the Museum

12+3 days of writing. Mowing the Grass: The Epistemic Violence and the Enemy of My Enemy

12+3 days of writing. Mowing the Grass: The Epistemic Violence and the Enemy of My Enemy

This is the map published by the IDF on June 24th, ordering an emergency evacuation for everyone within the red circle, district 7 in Tehran. It is a map of my old neighbourhood in Tehran, a mixed area of working and middle-class families. The place where I was born, grew

Changing Words, Changing Nothing? A Critical Look at Humanitarian Terminology

Changing Words, Changing Nothing? A Critical Look at Humanitarian Terminology

Language shapes reality. That is the argument we hear every time a new term replaces an old one in development and humanitarian work. “Third World” became “developing countries,” then “Global South” or “majority world.” “Beneficiaries” turned into “participants” or “rights holders.” “The field” is now increasingly called “the response area”

Narrating and Displaying China and Chineseness: White Dominance, White Saviourism and Decoloniality

Narrating and Displaying China and Chineseness: White Dominance, White Saviourism and Decoloniality

Who are the Chinese and what is China? These are seemingly irreverent and vacuous questions. Surely, the answers are evident to any Cartesian-minded person. And yet these are questions I have increasingly felt the need to address over the past three decades, from the moment I started questioning my own

Socialist Yugoslavia and the Non-Aligned Movement: Decolonial Contradictions

Socialist Yugoslavia and the Non-Aligned Movement: Decolonial Contradictions

Context[1] A book which I edited and which has been published recently Socialist Yugoslavia and the Non-Aligned Movement: Social, Cultural, Political and Economic Imaginaries,[2] whilst not primarily oriented to the field of Postcolonial studies, certainly addresses a number of important questions regarding socialist Yugoslavia's enrolment in

Decolonial Thinking And Revolutionary Events Conference - March 8th & 9th (Virtual)

Decolonial Thinking And Revolutionary Events Conference - March 8th & 9th (Virtual)

Goldsmiths' Centre for Postcolonial Studies is hosting Decolonial Thinking and Revolutionary Events conference on March 8th and 9th, 2023. In the last decades, decolonial thinking has been reterritorializing corners of academia, producing a series of dislocations in our relationship to knowledge and political discourse. In doing so, it has