Resisting the Identity Police: A Critique of Decoloniality Theory

Stills photography © Hugh Mdlalose
(hughmdlaloseph... / ; / hughmdlalosephotography )
Kavish Chetty is a PhD candidate in the English Literary Studies Department at the University of Cape Town (www.kavishchet... / kavishchetty .
Much of the critique in this presentation focuses on Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni’s book Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and Decolonization (www.routledge.....
The book referred to as a “hagiography” is Toyin Falola’s uncritical intellectual biography of Professor Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni and African Decolonial Studies (www.routledge.....
The University of Cape Town Curriculum Change Framework is a public university document which can be viewed here: www.news.uct.a....
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[@victoriaculkin1768]

Fantastic articulation! I look forward to familiarizing myself with your work. Thank you.

[@s2a1ha1j2a]

Wow, what a breath of fresh air in the form of nuance. I'm subscribing, please keep the content coming. I'll also share. Blessings

[@MatthewRalston89]

Thank you! Very interesting to hear components of deconstructing the topic.

[@neurohydraulics8713]

The great tragedy of the moment is that in seeking to rationalise modern issues of injustice using the idea of colonialism, these academics have missed the the true engine behind these changes which is technology. The Chinese ability to politically suppress the technological and societal advances inherent in the use of gunpowder is possibly the greatest cultural achievement of the last millennium, this is where the intelligentsia needs to be looking, not vague ideas of cultural dominance.

[@shifty220]

Really good stuff!

[@smishize]

I like what you have done here, interesting to hear Gatsheni's views being challenged, albeit ineffectively.

[@PrimoSchnevi]

why ineffectively?

[@shannonm.townsend1232]

Gabriel Rockhill brought me here

[@shannonm.townsend1232]

What is the engine of technology

[@MunyaradziMapfumo-l5p]

I have several misgivings about the critique; first of all, the basis of this is insisting that even though the scholars do not call it a theory , your point of departure and further analysis is based on that premise. Secondly the scholar problematicsises the idea of geography and how that influences knowledge production, falling into another trope of devaluing indigenous knowledge. Also, after all, that labouring, the concluding sentence is we must find ways of dealing with the negative influences of colonialism. Having laboured against that, tried to show that actually, the Arabs were the first African colonisers, and oh, don't forget the African scholars that had shown that modernity was adopted before the first Europeans landed.

[@nicholashanson9508]

poor brown man white man got him down

[@thinkingcitizen]

the CEO of this platform, KZbin, is Neal Mohan-- a brown/ Asian Indian man

[@Ubu987]

@@thinkingcitizen Poor, systemically oppressed, Neal. His life is a grind of misery and hardship due to colonialism and capitalism.

[@BBWahoo]

White men get me down bad 🥵

[@smishize]

Bathathe Sabza!

[@henrygonsalez9201]

Hello, I have to say the talk was interesting and engaging and I did watch the whole thing. I’m just a regular fella who has engaged with Enrique Dussel, Ramon grosfoguel work on youtube. That is to say far from a scholar. However after watching your talk I’m not convinced that their work or project should be abandoned. I am not sure that’s what you’re proposing anyway. I have to say that we must acknowledge that not only is land colonized but so are our minds.

[@A.R-ol5vm]

He’s just saying that the colonial matrix of power which is an import from Latin America has been imposed top down on the African continent without taking into account its history. In other words the theory works for Latin America as is, but needs to be contextualized in an African context😉