Decolonizing what? Categories, concepts and the enduring 'not yet'

Abstract

What does it mean to decolonize? At one level, decolonization refers to the attainment of political sovereignty. The transfer of power from colonial to regional and indigenous authorities, however, also involves a handover of political forms and institutions. This process leaves behind some of the narratives that accompany coloniality, even if refashioned versions of these. This enduring coloniality resides within and proliferates through the categories of political discourse. In India, we may find its continual hum in tirades against ‘corruption’ or in laments that Indians lack a ‘civic sense’. The decolonial project, having found expression in nationalist movements, in political and epistemic resistance, and in reform and revival, therefore continues to be undertaken in the language of coloniality, which obscures all that resides outside the colonial worldview. Show more