TY - CHAP

T1 - Reappraisal and conclusion

AU - Rainsborough, Marita

PY - 2024/12/30

Y1 - 2024/12/30

N2 - In Africa and elsewhere around the world, decolonial theories have taken the arts and social sciences by storm. In many fields they define current discourse on topics regarding, in particular, Africans’ relationships with themselves; how pre-colonial Africa, colonialism and postcolonialism are understood; and critical examination of “colonial heritage”. In addition to the theory of the continued structural existence of colonial institutions, shaping processes and characteristics, the focus is, in particular, on the investigation and combatting of epistemic, emotional and physical impulses of subjectivation and the formation of categories, for example with regard to views on what constitutes progress and modernity in comparison to indigenous knowledge with its knowledge production and implementation practices and the connection of knowledge to power. The theory of coloniality/modernity which originates from Latin America (Quijano 2007, Mignolo 2010) emphasises the geopolitical aspect, understanding coloniality as the dark drawback of modernity which has hitherto been blanked out. Decolonial theory thus becomes a fierce enemy of the theory of modernity, as currently represented by, for example, Habermas, who does not believe that the project of modernity has yet been completed. European modernity begins with the Renaissance – according to, among others, the decolonialist thinker Walter Mignolo – and includes the expansionist politics of the European powers on distant continents such as the Americas and Asia. In Europe, the detachment from the hegemony of the power of the (Catholic) Church in the epistemic field is illustrated by Descartes’ methodological consciousness and his rational consciousness of the self which, as a consequence, promoted systematic scientific study, particularly in the sciences. European modernity can be understood in the narrower sense of the 18th-century project of Enlightenment, which encompasses the autonomy and critical ability of the individual, republican political ideas and cosmopolitan thought. Within the framework of decolonial thinking, European theories of modernity are subjected to a critical examination. The weaknesses of these theories – such as incorporated racism and hegemonial thinking – become clear when subjected in particular to deconstructivist hermeneutics (e.g. Hountondji). The common element of the wide-ranging analyses of European modernity in Critical Theory (e.g. Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse); the theory of the postmodern (e.g. Lyotard); poststructuralism (e.g. Foucault); deconstructivism (e.g. Derrida) and by post- and decolonial thinkers (e.g. Spivak, Mignolo) is their shared concern to reflect critically on European modernity. Critical Theory, the postmodern, poststructuralism and deconstructivism critique the term “rationality” as used in modernity; its claim to universality, which negates differences; and the key metanarratives such as the concept of progress, focusing on investigating forms and strategies of power. This enables a comparison of many theoretical concerns of these schools of thought, including their practical and political consequences, and of the positions of post- and decolonialism, which also explains why, some cases, a number of postcolonial and decolonial thinkers reference these theories.

AB - In Africa and elsewhere around the world, decolonial theories have taken the arts and social sciences by storm. In many fields they define current discourse on topics regarding, in particular, Africans’ relationships with themselves; how pre-colonial Africa, colonialism and postcolonialism are understood; and critical examination of “colonial heritage”. In addition to the theory of the continued structural existence of colonial institutions, shaping processes and characteristics, the focus is, in particular, on the investigation and combatting of epistemic, emotional and physical impulses of subjectivation and the formation of categories, for example with regard to views on what constitutes progress and modernity in comparison to indigenous knowledge with its knowledge production and implementation practices and the connection of knowledge to power. The theory of coloniality/modernity which originates from Latin America (Quijano 2007, Mignolo 2010) emphasises the geopolitical aspect, understanding coloniality as the dark drawback of modernity which has hitherto been blanked out. Decolonial theory thus becomes a fierce enemy of the theory of modernity, as currently represented by, for example, Habermas, who does not believe that the project of modernity has yet been completed. European modernity begins with the Renaissance – according to, among others, the decolonialist thinker Walter Mignolo – and includes the expansionist politics of the European powers on distant continents such as the Americas and Asia. In Europe, the detachment from the hegemony of the power of the (Catholic) Church in the epistemic field is illustrated by Descartes’ methodological consciousness and his rational consciousness of the self which, as a consequence, promoted systematic scientific study, particularly in the sciences. European modernity can be understood in the narrower sense of the 18th-century project of Enlightenment, which encompasses the autonomy and critical ability of the individual, republican political ideas and cosmopolitan thought. Within the framework of decolonial thinking, European theories of modernity are subjected to a critical examination. The weaknesses of these theories – such as incorporated racism and hegemonial thinking – become clear when subjected in particular to deconstructivist hermeneutics (e.g. Hountondji). The common element of the wide-ranging analyses of European modernity in Critical Theory (e.g. Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse); the theory of the postmodern (e.g. Lyotard); poststructuralism (e.g. Foucault); deconstructivism (e.g. Derrida) and by post- and decolonial thinkers (e.g. Spivak, Mignolo) is their shared concern to reflect critically on European modernity. Critical Theory, the postmodern, poststructuralism and deconstructivism critique the term “rationality” as used in modernity; its claim to universality, which negates differences; and the key metanarratives such as the concept of progress, focusing on investigating forms and strategies of power. This enables a comparison of many theoretical concerns of these schools of thought, including their practical and political consequences, and of the positions of post- and decolonialism, which also explains why, some cases, a number of postcolonial and decolonial thinkers reference these theories.

KW - Philosophy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85213919138&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4324/9781032683522-18

DO - 10.4324/9781032683522-18

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85213919138

SN - 9781032683447

SP - 271

EP - 292

BT - Beyond Decolonial African Philosophy

A2 - Agbakoba, Joseph C. A.

A2 - Rainsborough, Marita

PB - Taylor and Francis Inc.

ER -