Cultural Decolonization Research Articles

Repertoire policy and activities of the national opera and ballet theaters in the conditions of military aggression

The purpose of the work is to identify changes in the repertoire policy of these institutions based on the analysis of the activities of the national opera and ballet theaters of Ukraine, which are determined by the influence of Russian military aggression and worldview and value transformations that are being formed in Ukrainian society and are aimed at protecting cultural and national identity. The research methodology is based on such scientific methods as analytical, comparative, and art studies, which made it possible to obtain reasonable research results and formulate appropriate conclusions. The scientific novelty of the work consists in the generalization and systematization of the activities of the national opera and ballet theaters (Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa) in the conditions of military aggression and the study of the corresponding changes in the repertoire policy, caused by the rejection of the repertoire related to Russian culture, instead of the promotion by the national opera theaters and ballet of Ukrainian culture and its values ​​among the international community. Conclusions. As a result of the conducted research, it was established that in the conditions of martial law, art, and in particular opera and ballet, in addition to continuing to perform their immediate functions, become expressions and symbols of indomitability and national stability. Modern productions, reflecting the drama of the time, make it possible to convey the complex emotions of the people, their pain of loss and hope for victory in an artistic form. In addition, national opera and ballet theaters acquire other features in their activities, transform into cultural hubs engaged in charity, volunteering, joining various public initiatives, especially among foreign colleagues and partners. Performances of opera and ballet troupes become an important component of the informational and cultural struggle against aggression, demonstrating the strength and beauty of Ukrainian culture to the world. The abandonment of the Russian repertoire by Ukrainian opera and ballet theaters during the war is a significant and symbolic step, driven by both cultural and political motives, which is part of a wider process of decolonization of Ukrainian culture and a break with the imperial heritage. This step symbolizes the desire for cultural independence, support of national identity and rejection of any form of cultural dependence on the aggressor country. Thus, the national opera and ballet theaters in Ukraine, despite all the difficulties, continue their activities, fulfilling not only a cultural, but also a social and patriotic mission in the conditions of war.

"England was simply a world": George Lamming's The Emigrants as Cultural Decolonization

Abstract: While the significance of George Lamming's second novel The Emigrants (1954) as a ground-breaking work of Black British literature is widely acknowledged, my essay re-examines the novel as a serious exploration of the possibility of cultural decolonization for West Indians. In particular, I consider the implications of the psychological turmoil of some characters after their arrival in England, as well as the connections between the different phases of their emigration. The emigrants' voyage destabilizes their worldview and allows them to start forming a West Indian identity, which Lamming deems a crucial starting point for cultural decolonization. Yet their collective psychological strain, which partly results from their shocking encounter with racism in England, reveals that internalized colonial values still deeply condition their mindsets and obstruct further development of cultural decolonization. The novel's ending, however, subtly points to the emergence of a new solidarity based on a clearer understanding of the cultural conditioning in question. In highlighting both a certain degree of liberation of the mind and the enormous difficulty in achieving it, The Emigrants elaborates a torturous yet crucial stage of cultural decolonization.

Decolonisation: meaning, sentiments and implications for heritage

ABSTRACT Within the printed and online newspaper media in the UK, notions of ‘decolonisation’ referring to various contexts, such as historical, relating to museums and institutions, cultural decolonisation and in relation to modern independence discussions, can be traced. In this article, we have applied topic modelling and natural language processing methods to carry out a classification of, and sentiment analysis on, newspaper headlines and texts from leading British newspapers covering decolonisation over the past decade. The results show an abrupt change in the meaning of decolonisation starting in the middle of the 2010s with an increased focus on cultural and institutional matters, particularly in right-leaning media. Surprisingly, the editorial slant of broadsheets seemingly only had at best moderate effects on tone, while headlines in right-wing tabloids were significantly more negative. Articles covering cultural aspects of decolonisation were substantially more negative than those applying a more traditional, territorial definition of decolonisation. Given the influence of newspaper media on public and private opinions, we discuss the heritage implications of these findings and suggest avenues for further investigation.

Pan-Africanism and Afrocentrism — current trends of the XXI century: the potential of symbiosis

The object of the study is the movement of pan-Africanism, which arose at the end of the XIX century and the concept of afrocentrism, at the end of the XX century. The first concept, pan-Africanism, turned into a powerful socio-political movement aimed at the national liberation, political struggle of the peoples of Africa against the metropolises, colonialism, as well as other forms of oppression. Afrocentrism was also formed as a tool to combat colonialism, but mentally, spiritually, and culturally. It was created as a tool to support and fight African Americans, the peoples of Africa and representatives of the African diaspora living around the world against the dominance of the Eurocentric model of the world. The subject of the study is the study of the formation of these concepts and the main ideological positions that formed the basis of their ideological foundation. The author examines in detail such aspects as spiritual decolonization, cultural decolonization, and the African personality. Special attention is paid to the study of the semantic core of pan-Africanism and Afrocentrism, the influence of European culture and the position of Africa as an object rather than a subject of history. The purpose of the work is to establish common ideological positions, as well as the possibility of symbiosis to solve the current challenges of the African continent. The methodological basis of the study was the historical approach necessary to restore the picture of past events, which were the basis for the formation of the ideological base of pan-Africanism, Afrocentrism, as well as the emergence of certain provisions. A systematic approach is used to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between ideological trends and determine the main trends in the development of these relations, methods of deduction, induction and synthesis. The novelty of the research lies in considering the concepts of pan-Africanism and Afrocentrism as complementary and mutually reinforcing parts. Both concepts were born almost a hundred years apart, but their similarity and relevance of ideas remain to this day. About 100 years ago, pan-Africanism called for the decolonization of African countries, and today for the eradication of neo-colonialism. Afrocentrism has common roots with pan-Africanism. The main conclusions of the study showed the possibility of a symbiosis of pan-Africanism and afrocentrism. It can become an effective tool for strengthening African society and obtaining the necessary energy to implement national strategies and protect the interests and values of both individual States and the continent as a whole.

An island in the sun material. Legacies of colonialism in sardinia between the nation-building process and (a lack of) decolonization

As European colonialism has had an impact both on the territories and populations that have undergone European occupation, and on Europe itself, decolonization must also be investigated by taking into consideration the so-called “motherland” as well, to verify whether, and in what way, Europeans have come to terms with that past. Studying the presences and the permanencies in the public space which shows signs of the colonial past offers an essential perspective from which to answer these questions. At the same time, conducting this analysis on a local scale allows us to investigate the meanings of these presences and legacies in depth. From this perspective, the essay investigates the case of Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean that occupies a peripheral position in the Italian state. It aims to understand, on the one hand, the role colonialism played in the island’s “nationalization”. On the other hand, the island has faced its colonial past from the fall of the Italian empire until now. The essay first retraces the position of Sardinia and Sardinians within the colonial project, then analyses the presence of different types of colonial signs (toponymy, commemorative plaques, commercial activities) in the public space. It identifies them not just in space but also in time, historicizing their presence and, therefore, their meaning. The study demonstrates that the island was crossed by an intense process of “colonization”, which ran parallel to the process of urbanization and modernization; at the same time, it has not only not questioned those signs, but in several cases they were presented again, demonstrating the absence not only of material decolonization but also, above all, of cultural decolonization.

Decolonizing Comparative Literature

This essay seeks to contribute to ongoing debates about disciplinary decolonization in Comparative Literature by urging scholars and students to return to the literature and theory of twentieth-century anticolonial liberation struggles. I begin by considering the relationship of Comparative Literature as it is currently practised in the metropolitan academy to earlier projects of cultural decolonization, focusing particularly on the contrast between the depoliticized ‘worlding’ of the discipline and the more radical and purposeful comparative praxis demonstrated by the Afro-Asian Writers' Association's literary journal Lotus (1968–91). I then turn to examples of literary criticism by two major fiction writers, theorists and party activists with ties to Lotus: Ghassan Kanafani (Palestine, 1936–72) and Alex La Guma (South Africa, 1924–85). Putting their work into conversation enables us to challenge the distance from organized struggle that most contemporary criticism maintains, while also developing our understanding of the conditions, principles, and tactics of what Kanafani famously called adab al-muqāwama, or resistance literature, a concept that any attempt to decolonize Comparative Literature cannot do without.

THE IM/MEDIACY OF THE WAR

In the given article, the author addresses the issue of the perception of war in the information age through the prism of the concept of “im/mediacy”, considered in several interconnected aspects. Of special interest are the following questions: How the effect of the im/mediacy of the war is being constructed and produced in the current political, media, cultural and technological context? What factors define the distancing of and/or proximity of the war, and what role do the languages of war and resistance (as tools of communication) play in this process? The author discusses these key issues on the example of two specific cases — the full-scale Russian war against Ukraine that started in 2022, and the undeclared war of the authoritarian regime in Belarus against civil society that began in 2020. The author places this discussion in a larger context of the debates on decolonization of knowledge and culture in the ex-Soviet spaces. The conceptual framework employed combines semiotics, deco- lonial approach and poststructuralist philosophy.

"It Was Broken Here Before": Present day impact of historical trauma in telemental health services in a rural and remote Aleutian Islands Community.

Telemental health technology is a feasible tool for providing behavioral healthcare in rural areas. However, there is scant literature about implementing this technology within Indigenous populations. The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association is an urban-based Tribal Health Organization in Alaska tasked with providing behavioral health services to remote Unangax̂ communities. To expand telemental health services, a formative program evaluation was conducted to examine the acceptability of and barriers to implementing telemental health. Using a qualitative approach, five individuals with lived experience in the same community were interviewed using a semi-structured format. Data were analyzed using critical thematic analysis and situated within the context of historical trauma. Five themes were constructed that showed broken trust as the primary barrier to services, despite the substantial obstacles related to communications infrastructure. When situated within the context of historical trauma, the results show how colonization spurred and has maintained broken trust. The clinical, research, and policy implications resulting from this study point to the need for decolonization and integration of culture in behavioral health services. These findings can be informative for organizations and providers seeking to implement telemental health in Indigenous communities.

최인훈의 소설에 나타난 서구 근대 자아관의 변주와 비판

Choi In-Hoon's “Thought on the Mask” pursues the novelian task of postwar Koreans' self-discovery. This story, like The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, deals with the theme of Renaissance people's dream of self-fulfillment and shows that pursuing the Western self-concept emphasizing faithfulness to oneself to the end will result in the tragedy of self-division and alienation of the others. By referring to Dorian Gray's trial and error, it suggests a process of self-exploration of properties that reversed it. And by introducing the concept of self-liberation from Buddhism in the ending, the theme of self-exploration in modern Western novels was completed as an oriental self-discovery, and formally, the possibility of cultural decolonization is discovered by producing a dramatic story of transformation and self-liberation that is different from the typical narrative structure of a modern Western novel. Lastly, Choi In-hoon shows the complexity of the task of cultural decolonization, which must be approached from the perspective of multilayered mutual criticism, breaking away from the simple logic of the East instead of the West by overlaying a frame that criticizes this ending again outside the story.

Indigeneidad, descolonización y la paradoja del desarrollismo extractivista en el Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia

Históricamente, los pueblos indígenas fueron marginados y oprimidos en la economía política boliviana. En tiempos de Evo Morales en la presidencia y con la Constitución de 2009, la descolonización política, económica, social y cultural ha llegado a ser el proyecto central de la transformación del Estado y la sociedad. Por un lado, la nueva Constitución ha sido clasificada como una de las más progresistas del mundo en relación con los derechos étnicamente definidos. Los principios indígenas ético-filosóficos del Suma Qamaña/Vivir Bien, acerca de la relación armónica entre individuos y naturaleza fueron incorporados en la Constitución. Por otro lado, estos derechos colisionan con los derechos sociales más amplios (definidos por clase), e igualmente, con los derechos del Estado de extraer y comercializar los recursos naturales (en especial hidrocarburos y minería) bajo la bandera de la justicia redistributiva, reformas sociales y bien común, que en este estudio se define como la paradoja del desarrollismo extractivista. Este artículo se basa en un trabajo etnográfico y se problematiza el dilema extractivista y las tensiones entre derechos étnicos y derechos de clase. De esta manera, se aporta a los debates sobre la indigeneidad y la los desafíos y dilemas de proyectos descolonizadores.

СОЦІОКУЛЬТУРНА РОЛЬ ЖУРНАЛІСТИКИ В УМОВАХ ВОЄННОГО ЧАСУ

<p><strong><em>The study purpose </em></strong><em>is to outline the developing paradigm of new socio-cultural reality, changes in ideological priorities, and to reveal new cultural phenomena represented in media texts after February 24, 2022.</em></p><p><strong><em>Research Methodology. </em></strong><em>The research applied such methods of scientific knowledge as: historical comparison that was used to analyze and systematize the data on changes in spiritual and cultural national baselines that emerged as the result of Ukrainian society transformation under wartime conditions and were described and reviewed in journalistic texts of a social and cultural nature; the method of data classification and compilation that enabled the clarification and description of vectors for the development of social and cultural content of personal journalism in leading socio-political Gazeta.ua and День.ua web-based media.</em></p><p><strong><em>Results. </em></strong><em>One of the key tasks of journalism in the frames of the social and cultural paradigm is the demythologization of concepts related to the aggressor country, the liberation from empire myths, and rewriting of history. This will benefit the decolonization of Ukrainian culture, which is a long and complicated (though very important) process, especially for the purposes of struggling for self-identification.</em></p><p><em>Due to the unstable and complex social situation under the conditions of Russian aggression, each individual has to realize his/her significance as a citizen and a feeling of spiritual exaltation. This is possible by constructing positive myths that actualise the universal spiritual values of the Ukrainian nation in particular and human civilization in general.</em></p><p><em>At this stage, the social and cultural role of journalism consists not only in spreading the realignment and unveiling artificial myths of the Soviet era but in producing positive national myths that will be aimed at strengthening and retaining national identity and will contribute to representing the image of Ukraine around the world.</em></p><p><strong><em>Novelty. </em></strong><em>The paper makes an attempt to define the social and cultural role of journalism under the conditions of war; new cultural milestones aimed at realigning imperial myths and new cultural phenomena of national myth formation represented in journalistic texts after February 24, 2022, were set</em><em>.</em><em></em></p><p><strong><em>Practical significance. </em></strong><em>The research results could be used for the purpose of further developing personal journalism and representing new strategies of national identity formation to the mass media public.</em></p><p><strong><em>Key words: </em></strong><em>socio-cultural role of journalism, national identity, ideological priorities, cultural phenomena, demythologization, formation of national myths.</em></p>

Child naming and the need for cultural decolonization initiatives Among the Hausa in Northern Nigeria

This paper revisits the naming practices among cultures and peoples across Northern Nigeria, especially the Hausa, in relation to the question of cultural coloniality and the need for decolonial initiatives that can reposition value systems being buried by colonial power relations. Naming, prior to the Arab presence or Arab colonization in the region, was a space that foregrounds the history, spatial and temporal identities of the person bearing the name. It also occasioned people’s expectations and hopes on the child who was given the name. There was no arbitrariness in this knowledge-based system of naming. However, with the advent of Islam and its attendant Arab culture from the 7th to the eleventh and twelfth century, people’s cultural practices, especially in the naming spaces, became increasingly hybridized to contain Arabic influences. Arabic names have now dominated the naming spaces throughout the region, especially among the Hausa-Muslim families. The increasing influence of Western culture does not alter this practice. It intensifies the urge to identify and sound Arab, to Arabize by going beyond the names of pious figures found in Islam. Naming today in the region is informed by the fancies of Arab sounding names that are often unconnected to people’s realities, identities, and personal and collective histories. These names are typical among educated middle class. They range from names of animals to places and objects. This paper digs out the meanings of names given to people before the arrival of Arabic culture in Northern Nigeria as part of indigenous epistemologies that are becoming unpopular because of the pejorative notions associated with them today as animist practices. It also portrays some popular Arabic names and their meanings that are prioritized today. It foregrounds the conceptualization of identities in the Hausa language, the lingua-franca of the greater part of Northern Nigeria.

Understanding The ISMS of Nigerian Post-Colonial Art Movements: An Ideological Path for Emerging Contemporary Art

Scholars of African art have advocated various methodologies for the study of African contemporary arts. These methodologies serve their purposes, however there is no particular most embracing and consensus approach so far. Since the millennium, the outcomes of African contemporary art actually defy any static approach. This paper proposes the ideologies and aesthetics of some post-colonial art movements in Nigeria and their impact on Nigerian contemporary art, as a methodological path to understanding the emerging contemporary arts of Nigeria. The art movements considered in this paper are Zarianism, Osogbo Art, Ulism, Onaism and Araism which are the most outstanding of Nigerian post-colonial art movements since independence in 1960. These art movements, through their ideologies, have largely shaped what is today considered as Nigerian Contemporary Art. This paper is a contribution to the ongoing dialogues on the identity of post-colonial Africa and the processes of de-colonization of African culture. Contemporary Nigerian art in this paper is the art from the 1990s till date. The paper is based on qualitative research and bibliographic surveys. The findings show that many contemporary Nigerian arts and artists are affiliated or linked with early post-colonial art movements. In conclusion, a successful inquiry and understanding of the formation and practice of the art movements hopefully will create a pathway in the prediction, identity, and understanding of recent works of art in Nigeria and Africa.

The elite breakaway sustains its lead on the peloton: social leverage, major sport events, and cultural decolonisation

ABSTRACT Major sport events are considered to be a catalyst of social benefits in society and are a fully-fledged actor within social sport policy. However, sports and sport event participation are socially stratified and many studies indicate non-uniform effects. This article draws on data from an online questionnaire collected in the context of the 2021 Road World Cycling Championship and aims at examining, through Elite theory, early participation and social effect differences between communities in the host city. The self-reported differences in event participation, direct social impact, and long-term social outcomes are compared between the dominant and non-dominant groups within this context. The findings indicate that participation, social impacts, and outcomes are not that straightforward, nor universal throughout different social communities. Despite the rhetoric of events’ beneficiary character, especially towards non-dominant groups, the event turns out to be mainly attuned towards the dominant groups. This is due to the inability of major sports events to be separated from inequality because of their political, cultural and economic embeddedness. In addition, the events serve as a cultural coloniser through the transmission of Western-dominated neoliberal thought patterns.

Institutionalizing Afro-Asianism: Lotus and the (Dis) Contents of Soviet-Third World Cultural Politics

ABSTRACT This article examines the Afro-Asian Writers’ Association’s (AAWA) magazine, Lotus, as an example of the cultural discourse of Afro-Asianism and the logistical and political challenges of institutionalizing a Third World literary canon within the broader context of Cold War alliances. The author's focus on the magazine’s conceptual vocabulary and its internal mechanisms reveals how anticolonial writers and cultural actors brought their own different (often, competing) versions of Marxism and varying degrees of alignment with Soviet-style socialism to the project of cultural decolonization and contributed to a global socialist order. Concerns of literary form, political liberation, and the context of noncommercial patronage shaped an all-encompassing cumulative aesthetic that was not always aligned with Moscow mandates. Her reading of the Lotus archive also draws out the frictions between various geopolitical pivots of the Afro-Asian—a focus on nation, civilization, race, and the larger socialist internationalism—to contribute to studies of the political entanglements between postcolonial and postsocialist studies that can offer insights into current geopolitical predicaments, especially for regions that continue to suffer from new and old forms of occupation and imperialism.

Cirqiniq: the decolonising of social circus in Nunavik

This writing sets out to explore the Social Circus program in Nunavik in the Arctic in Far North Canada which in various forms has now been running for nearly twenty years. The initial program begun by Cirque du Soleil in 2002 had little uptake by the Inuit. There was a lack of community support and very sporadic attendance by the Inuit young people and after five years it was discontinued. The Social Circus program now known as Cirqiniq developed out of this initial program. Its success can be gauged by the fact that every year young Inuit vote in a poll as to whether it should continue or not. The program now has the support to ensure it continues each year. This article asks questions about what it was that changed in order to cause this turnabout? What was it that changed to cause the involvement of young Inuit and Inuit communities? Did the approaches to training change? Did structural changes occur? The authors, two of whom have worked with Cirqiniq, set out to answer these questions. A series of interviews undertaken with Inuit and Qallunaat (non-Inuit) involved in the program, along with research undertaken in response to these interviews, revealed a process of structural and cultural decolonisation of the Social Circus program which the authors point to as the key component in the program’s current success.

‘World of tomorrow’ Afro–Asian solidarity and the Great Leap Forward of Culture in the People’s Republic of China

This paper revises the bellicist theory of state-making by examining the interconnection between state-making and nation-building in the Third World. It argues that nation-building mobilisations for the purposes of self-preservation and aversion of unbalanced wars are equally crucial. By focusing on the People’s Republic of China’s involvement in the Afro–Asian cultural cooperation in the 1950s, this paper elaborates on how internationalism plays a role in the state-driven mobilisation of the general public for the purpose of nation-building in China. It looks at the role of transnational exchanges of cultural productions and cooperation in spurring social empowerment and nation-building in the post-World War II Afro–Asian world under the framework of the Afro–Asian solidarity movement. The Afro–Asian cultural cooperation was intended to create alternative visions to the West-centric narratives of modernisation among the general public. These visions in turn inspired the general public to be involved in nation-building movements in respective Global South nations. This synchronic relationship between national independence and internationalism in China is crucial in understanding the state-making in the Global South as a process of political, economic and, more importantly, cultural decolonisation.

Jornada cultural “La Piedra de las Mercedes”, propuesta descolonizadora de las culturas populares de ascendencia africana

Notions referring to cultural decolonization promote a new view at traditional popular culture or living cultural heritage, elements that constitute forms of resistance to the hegemonic culture of western basement. The study from the history-culture relationship, has led to a legitimation the values engendered in the dependency by subaltern human groups in the Melena del Sur municipality, specifically in the popular La Manchurria neighborhood. One of the contributions of the Piedra de las Mercedes (Mercy Stone) sociocultural project, which began in this neighborhood in 2008, as the cultural day of the same denomination, a decolonizing space for traditional popular cultures of African descent. The exchange between popular and academic knowledge from the animation and sociocultural promotion have legitimized the values generated since the colonial imposition.

The post-colonial novel and the re-construction of national identity in Morocco: conflicts and paradoxes

ABSTRACT Tainted by decades of direct colonial influence, Moroccan cultural identity in the postcolonial era became the battleground for conflicting discourses and competing voices grappling for recognition and dominance. The project of cultural decolonisation and national identity construction was avidly endorsed by Moroccan nationalist authors whose ‘engaged’ literature aimed at resurrecting Moroccanness on solid Islamic and nationalist foundations. Modernist writers, however, espoused a different vision that is based on modernisation, liberalism and secularism. Some other writers wrote ‘undesirable’ literature that is highly individualistic and unconcerned with the question of identity. The cultural scene in general and the novel genre in particular, being a new and a widely receptive genre, vehicled these postcolonial conflicting discourses and ideologies and reflected the discursive and ideological heterogeneity of postcolonial Morocco. This article sheds light on this heterogeneity as manifested in the works of prominent Moroccan post-colonial novelists. I, therefore, contend that there were several literatures at play subsequent to Morocco’s political independence; one is progressive, another reactionary, and the other is ahistorical; all representing the three major currents of post-colonial Moroccan literature.

Nas aberturas do tempo: Quilombo e descolonização cultural no Brasil contemporâneo em Torto Arado, de Itamar Vieira Jr.

This article aims to analyze the configuration of the quilombola territory in the novel Torto arado, by Itamar Vieira Junior. Therefore, the quilombo is taken as a historical event and as a political and artistic category capable of suggesting possibilities of cultural decolonization in contemporary Brazil.