Abstract
This article argues for a theoretical synergy between critical race theory (CRT) and decolonial thought. The author propounds that while CRT and decolonial thought have different scopes, we can synergize them in analysis. Specifically, decolonial thought’s transnational focus on coloniality complements CRT’s ‘presentist’ focus on national racialized social systems. The author displays the efficacy of this theoretical synergy by discussing Brexit Britain and Trumpamerica. While CRT is helpful for analysing how these political projects built upon contemporary post-racial ideology and racialized emotions, it struggles to deal with the postcolonial melancholia that runs through both political moments. Decolonial thought is thus required to tease out the transnational, historical dynamics of coloniality embodied in Brexit Britain and Trumpamerica. This is particularly apparent in the way both projects involve a desire to return the nation to its imperial glory, and to keep those who are deemed to be opposed to Western civilization – particularly ‘the Muslim’ – outside of the nation’s borders.
Highlights
This article argues for a theoretical synergy between critical race theory (CRT) and decolonial thought
While CRT is helpful for analysing how both these projects built upon contemporary post-racial ideology and racialized emotions, it struggles to deal with the postcolonial melancholia that runs through both political moments
If we look at a dominant approach in the sociology of race – critical race theory (CRT) – it goes directly against decolonial thought’s global and historical focus
Summary
This article picks up on a tension that I have experienced in sociology. Namely, while various scholars have accelerated a ‘decolonial turn’ in sociology (for instance Alatas and Sinha, 2017; Bhambra, 2014; Connell, 2007; de Santos, 2014; Go, 2016; Rodriguez et al, 2016), others remain confused about what decolonial thought entails. As Grosfoguel (2017: 158) describes the past half-millennium: During the last 520 years of the ‘European/Euro-North-American capitalist/patriarchal modern/ colonial world-system’ we went from ‘convert to Christianity or I’ll kill you’ in the 16th century, to ‘civilize or I’ll kill you’ in the 18th and 19th centuries, to ‘develop or I’ll kill you’ in the 20th century, and more recently, the ‘democratize or I’ll kill you’ at the beginning of the 21st century This divergence between decolonial thought’s focus on coloniality, and CRT’s focus on contemporary racism, creates a methodological difference between historical analysis and presentism. Pluriversality involves different theories ‘meeting’ one another to reach the common goal of critical knowledge production; this dynamic is captured in the practice of theoretical synergy
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