Toward affective decolonization: Nurturing decolonizing solidarity in higher education

Abstract

This paper turns our attention to a rather neglected dimension of (de)colonization, namely, the affective elements of (de)colonization in the context of higher education. Affective decolonization highlights that decolonization has to also happen at the level of affective life. The notion of affective decolonization complements the work taking placing in the realm of “intellectual decolonization” in higher education, by exploring what it would mean to decolonize the deeply affective structures and sensibilities of coloniality entrenched in contemporary universities, especially in the Global North. The analysis traces the potentiality of a particular affect, namely, decolonizing solidarity, and illustrates how it might be possible to build deep decolonizing solidarities within and across higher education institutions. The paper proposes that the deployment of a “public pedagogy” of decolonizing solidarity pays explicit attention to affective decolonization and works to create teaching and learning environments in higher education that nurture affective practices of decolonizing solidarity.