Decolonial Discourse Research Articles

Object as subject: Material agency in Ismat Chughtai’s “The Quilt” and “Chhoti Apa”

ABSTRACT Ismat Chughtai was an Urdu-language writer in India whose affiliation with the Progressive Writers Movement sparked a lifelong tryst with socialism. This article examines the “material agency” found in household objects that help to co-create a society for women within their private gendered domains in which they hold power. The quilt and the diary – objects in Chughtai’s short stories “The Quilt” and “Chhoti Apa” respectively – serve as biographical insight into the women’s lives because they create a subjectivity that was previously denied to Muslim women by oriental ethnographic studies. The agency of the objects lies in their ability to morph their meaning according to contexts, revealing the socially constructed nature of identity of humans and objects, forged by wrestling with variables such as gender and sexuality. Chughtai’s stories “unveil” Muslim women’s daily performative acts of resistance in a decolonial discourse on material culture and postcolonial feminism.

Ruins, Ruination, and Counter-Memory in Kurdish Women’s Art

This article focuses on the contemporary visual art practices by Kurdish female artists as strategies of counter-memory. The Kurdish community in Turkey has been facing ongoing violence, with its (cultural) heritage, memory, and archives constantly under threat. In this article, I use the archaeological metaphors of “ruins” and “ruination” by Ann Laura Stoler to examine the destruction, and discuss a selection of contemporary artworks by Kurdish women artists who represent such forces of destruction symbolically to build a counter-archive. Consulting research from other disciplines to explain the colonial dynamics in the region, I trace the decolonial feminist discourse within the Kurdish women’s movement. Finally, I explain how the female body and the city are recurrent themes in these artworks to challenge the colonialist, heteronormative, and nationalistic paradigms. Such artistic expressions of ruination, I argue, animate politics, disturb common sense, and mobilize counter-memory, one that is decolonial and feminist.

Editors’ Introduction

Editors’ Introduction

Whiteness in Christianity and Decoloniality of the African Experience: Developing a Political Theology for ‘Shalom’ in Kenya

The decolonial discourse around Christianity must not avoid dealing with Whiteness if there is going to be any fruitful decolonization. Colonialism and the Western missionary enterprise were not necessarily two distinct and unrelated entries to precolonial Kenya. How then did Christianity, for decades, live side by side with colonialism? In this article, we contend that Colonialism in Kenya could not have been possible without the missionary enterprise activity. The impact of that unholy relationship is felt and sustained in contemporary forms of violence. Unfortunately, critics of such a discourse dismiss the decolonial efforts in African Christianity citing intellectual activism. Such voices of dissent may not be far from the truth as Jesus’ ministry involved elements of activism. Whenever he confronted oppressive institutional structures, he used activism tempered with a degree of pacifism. Looking at the history of historical injustices in Kenya, we see instances whereby missionary Christianity conveniently abetted injustices for colonial structures to sustain the oppression of the indigenous Africans. Such injustices have been unresolved to date because the oppressive structures are still in place in the shape of neocolonialism. Land, for example, is a present source of conflict in Kenya. In the precolonial African ontology, the land was in harmony with the people. For land to be taken away from its owners, a separation of the people from the land had to happen. This was facilitated by a Christian theology that created existential dualism, violently separating the African bodies from their souls and the person from the community. Hence, Christian doctrine that emphasized ‘saving souls’ and ‘personal salvation’ was entrenched. This separation and fragmentation are fundamental to Whiteness. Whiteness universalizes truth, even theology; it puts a face of neutrality that obscures specificity. Such has made the church uncritical of oppressive and unjust political structures. Whiteness realizes that it is hard to enter into something that is in harmony. Therefore, separation needs to happen for Whiteness to succeed. Unfortunately, much of our theological understanding today is tempered with a neocolonial mindset that separates the soul from the body for Christian triumphalism. It anesthetizes the pain of oppression with the eschatological promise of future deliverance. This paper will analyze the impact of Whiteness in Kenya during and after colonialism to demonstrate how the British explorer–settler–missionary alliance ‘oiled’ the religious and economic disenfranchising of African people. Secondly, it proposes a political theology that will restore ‘Shalom’ in a socially, economically, and spiritually broken country. It is such a theology undertaken in Africa that will confront oppressive structures and identify with the marginalized communities in Kenya.

‘Ek is Kain’: ’n Hermeneutiek van weerloosheid as ’n antwoord op die dekoloniale diskoers

‘I am Cain’: A hermeneutics of vulnerability in response to decolonial discourse. Given the theological justification of apartheid by past influential theologians such as Totius, a hermeneutics of vulnerability is presented in response to the experiences of those who suffered heavily under apartheid in an attempt to render accountable those who benefited from apartheid. The effect of acknowledging the negative influence apartheid had on the black Other, places the white Bible reader in the position of an implicated evildoer or a sinful human being. The author wants to put this awkward position on the table by looking at Cain’s position and whether there is any empowerment in his story. In the first part of the article, after the introduction, a brief account is given of certain aspects of Reformed hermeneutics with which the author, as reader, wants to map himself. In the second part, Cain’s role is linked to whiteness under apartheid and colonialism, and to the German adaptation of the Holocaust in World War II under the rule of the National Socialist Party in Nazi Germany. Finally, the reader pays attention to the figure of Cain in Genesis 4 under the heading ‘I am Cain!’ As part of a final word, I seek to connect his interpretation to Reformed hermeneutics.Contribution: With this, the author hope to draw attention to the role of whiteness (and masculinity) of the reader in the Bible reading process in a period where people within the Reformed religious tradition must reposition themselves in a post-apartheid and decolonial society. It makes the white male reader uncomfortable, but within a hermeneutics of vulnerability, it contributes positively to change.

Introduction: Art and culture – actors or representatives?

ABSTRACT Central Asian art and culture have been gaining increased attention both within the region and on the international scene. This special issue brings together scholars and participants in the Central Asian cultural scene who specialize in different, often isolated, spheres. This multidisciplinary approach will enhance understanding of the current trends of display, presentation, accessibility and analysis that relate to individual countries, as well as to the entire region. Some articles are by established scholars; most have resulted from extensive field research. The papers question existing notions of history and memory production by applying a decolonial discourse. Ultimately, the main unifying theme is that of identity and its formation, including national, ethnic, cultural, religious and gender. The main purpose of this special issue is to try to understand the role the cultural scene plays in society, the issues raised by cultural production and the shape it could take. The collection of papers here seeks to explore whether culture offers a representation of society and its potential for change, or the vehicle through which such change can be achieved.

Translanguaging strategies in multimodality and audiovisual translation

Translanguaging practices are firmly embedded in South African communication practices given the country’s high levels of linguistic diversity. This approach represents a challenge to the institutional and educational system in the current decolonial discourse where English serves as the dominant language. The critical analysis of the relationship between translanguaging and translation resonates with recent studies in the domain of applied linguistics and language practice. This article aims at highlighting the practical implications of the use of translanguaging strategies in the subfield of multimodal and audiovisual translation, through the analysis of the cinematic adaptations of Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country, and Joshua Sinclair’s Shaka Zulu. The analysis suggests that linguistic normalisation, cultural substitution, domestication, and also the addition and deletion of isiZulu words, can foster discrepancy of communication, and generate macro-textual modifications, as in the case of identity markers. The field of language practice can benefit from a more careful consideration of the value and advantages of the translanguaging approach, posing critical questions regarding the actual need for translation.

Organisation: A Decolonial Interpretation

In the pursuit of decolonizing MOS, extant work still operates from a Western frame of what an organization means. As such within decolonial discourse communitarian organizing is contraposed to concepts of efficiency, effectiveness, strategy, etc are implicitly assigned to and associated with Eurocentric meaning of organization/organizing and rejected. This prevents the possibility of decolonizing organization/organizing and developing plural understandings of these and cognates concepts such as efficiency and strategy. This paper through the study of two exemplars, one of a strategic planning workshop for NGOs and second a communitarian NGO suggests an alternate meaning for organization as community enmeshment. A community enmeshment does not treat individual and organization as ontologically prior and distinct from each other. Organisation and community are thus relationally constituted. Organisation as community enmeshment is also functional where function preserves human dignity and freedom.

Decolonial Discourse on the Origins of the 20th Century American Pentecostal Movement

Many church historians have done research on the foundation of the 20th century American Pentecostal Movement. However, these church historians have not used a decolonial discourse. This article is a decolonial discourse on the origins of the 20th century American Pentecostal Movement. The article assesses four prospects regarding the originator of the movement in order to conclude who can be observed as the true originator of the movement. The first likelihood discards a human contribution and only admits God or the supernatural as founder of the movement. The second likelihood is that the founder of the movement is Charles Parham. The third likelihood is that both Charles Parham and William Seymour are the originators of the movement, in what is termed an interracial theory. Finally, there is also the likelihood that the founder was an African-American, namely William Seymour. After the discussion of all four possibilities, this article concludes that William Seymour is the true originator of the 20th century American Pentecostal Movement. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate through a decolonial discourse the African-American origins of the 20th century American Pentecostal Movement and the implications thereof.

Geografia, complexidade e construções epistemológicas na América Latina

A relação entre geografia e complexidade destaca as diferenciações espaciais como estratégicas para se pensarem novas construções epistemológicas. Essa relação traz entendimentos científicos que sustentam o discurso decolonial, de produção de novos conhecimentos a partir dos locais, das diferenças e das tradições dos lugares. Com base em teorias e autores, a discussão correlacionou entendimentos da complexidade, da decolonialidade e dos discursos da modernidade, tendo como referência o destaque da contribuição espacial e o sentido de diferenciação espacial. A reflexão mostra convergências e complementaridades entre as propostas da complexidade e o discurso decolonial, como é a crítica ao universalismo eurocêntrico, o destaque das diferenças, da multiplicidade e dos mecanismos internos-locais, a subjetividade na produção do conhecimento e o destaque dos lugares para se pensar o sentido de progresso. Tais considerações realçam o papel do geográfico para a produção de conhecimentos a partir das raízes e das tradições dos lugares, e, com isso, construir uma epistemologia característica da identidade de quem e de onde se propõe. Ideias destacadas: artigo de reflexão sobre o diálogo entre geografia e complexidade. Problematiza o colonialismo do conhecimento eurocêntrico com base na Teoria da Complexidade em sintonia com o discurso decolonial. A partir disso, a contribuição geográfica pode apoiar a construção de epistemologias próprias da América Latina.

The Debats on Post-Socialism and the Politics of Knowledge in the Space of the Plural “Post’s”

In this article I focus on how the politics of knowledge, have being shaped in a world without socialism, can be also considered as a space of multiple “post’s”. Social researchers from the post-socialist region strive to return their countries onto the map and to identify their place in history, while applying different conceptual approaches based on different ideological premises. Meanwhile, all of these theoretical frameworks are not neutral in their relation to hegemonic discourses. Here I address the methodological nationalism, gender studies, and de-colonial discourse as the examples of “engaged knowledge”, while considering them as the most influential interpretative models among those that have become established in the post-socialist space after 1991, on the ruins of orthodox Marxism. What interests me most of all is the epistemological and political effects that they produce when they are applied to the analysis of the post-“post-socialist condition”. I argue that, depending on the interpretative optics, we might get quite different answers to such questions as whether the time has come to say “Goodbye, post-socialism!”, or to which extent the “Global East” can be considered as a useful category of analysis in the given circumstances. What I understand here by the ‘space of multiple “post’s”, is, firstly, a territory that, after the collapse of socialism, was inscribed into a new spatial constellation, but still continues to search for its place on the geopolitical map of the world and remains very sensitive to the politics of naming; secondly, I invoke it as a space of epistemological heteroglossia, that is, the one in which various ways of conceptualizing both the recent past and the actual present continue to compete with each other.

Islam, Muslims, and the Coloniality of Being: Reframing the Debate on Race and Religion in Modernity

This article aims to more thoroughly intersect the figure of the Muslim into the framework of the coloniality of being, and into the narrative of race and religion in modernity. Two areas of concern are investigated: First, how Islamophobia aided in forming the coloniality of being in ways that decolo-nial scholarship - namely that of leading Latin American decolonial thinker, Nelson Maldonado-Torres - is seemingly unaware of or downplays, and second, how a rereading of a number of the key events and figures that define a decolonial discourse on race and religion, such as the Valladolid debates (1550-1551) and the figure of Christopher Columbus, help to more rigorously conceptualize the figure of the Muslim in relation to the coloniality of being.

Corporeal Identities, Maternal Artivism: A New Decolonial Approach to the Study of Latin American Women Artists

Stemming from Grosfoguel’s decolonial discourse, and particularly his enquiry on how to steer away from the alternative between Eurocentric universalism and third world fundamentalism in the production of knowledge, this article aims to respond to this query in relation to the field of the art produced by Latin American women artists in the past four decades. It does so by investigating the decolonial approach advanced by third world feminism (particularly scholar Chandra Talpade Mohanty) and by rescuing it from—what I reckon to be—a methodological impasse. It proposes to resolve such an issue by reclaiming transnational feminism as a way out from what I see as a fundamentalist and essentialist tactic. Following from a theoretically and methodological introduction, this essay analyzes the practice of Cuban-born artist Marta María Pérez Bravo, specifically looking at the photographic series Para Concebir (1985–1986); it proposes a decolonial reading of her work, which merges third world feminism’s nation-based approach with a transnational outlook, hence giving justice to the migration of goods, ideas, and people that Ella Shohat sees as deeply characterizing the contemporary cultural background. Finally, this article claims that Pérez Bravo’s oeuvre offers the visual articulation of a decolonial strategy, concurrently combining global with local concerns.

Decolonisation as Unlearning Christianity: Fallism and African Religiosity as Case Studies

ABSTRACTThe students whose protests have captured the public imagination of South Africans since 2015, seem to, by and large, have replaced Christianity with a new “religion,” namely decolonisation. On the other hand, many African Christians seem to remain oblivious to the #MustFall movement’s revolutionary manifesto. And yet I argue that unlearning Christianity by the fallists and learning it anew by African Initiated Churches, among others, are two sides of the same coin. This article interrogates a few chosen facets of the intricate and multifaceted relationship between the decolonial project and Christianity in South Africa today. After locating my own voice within the decolonial discourse, I seek to interpret fallism as an overt act of a decolonial resistance, and juxtapose it with a covert one, namely the praxis of African religiosity. With Vellem and others, I argue that this praxis offers a powerful resource for liberating Christianity from its colonial/imperial entanglement.

Fear, Flight, and Freedom: On Anti-colonial Countermasteries and Ontological Insecurities

Abstract in EnglishInUnthinking MasteryJulietta Singh argues that anticolonial discourse hinges on the contradiction of both repudiating the “mastery” of colonialism and at the same time reproducing and advocating mastery towards anticolonial liberation. Through a close reading of Fanon, Singh demonstrates the ways in which he understood countermastery as the production of “new masterful subjects.” This paper deconstructs Fanon's countermastery through the lens of ontological insecurities to illuminate how it informs the production of contemporary decolonial discourse. This paper expands Fanon's conception of decolonial embodiment through proffering queer failure and queer of color disidentification as ways of etching towards decolonial queer-feminist praxis.Key words: Coloniality, Ontology, Queer Studies, Feminist Thinking, Frantz Fanon.

Decoloniality and the Humanities: Possibilities and Predicaments

The humanities continue to witness a decolonial turn. The decolonial project is radical and dangerous because it is an epistemic, political, and ethical project that marches toward a vision of humanity-in-difference. The exhaustion of the episteme, border, and oppositional consciousness politics, though, exposes limitations and indicates the difficulty in actually doing decolonial work. This essay traces decolonial discourse and focuses on its affordances, as well as its predicaments. This has implications for research and teaching.

Indigeneity and subaltern subjectivity in decolonial discourses: a comparative study of Bolivia and Russia

The decolonial discourse of buen vivir in South America has declared the need to overcome Eurocentrism by tapping into indigenous knowledge. We compare the Bolivian version of this project with the conservative turn in Russian politics to demonstrate that they make a structurally analogous argument and they both end up with a false promise. The fullness of indigenous being that underlies such discourses is a Eurocentric, romanticist myth, which contributes to the silencing of the subaltern by imposing on them political categories not directly rooted in any genuine native experience. We reformulate postcolonial critique using Laclau’s theory of populism to suggest that subaltern subjectivity can only emerge in a bottom-up manner, through the aggregation and universalisation of local demands. While it might still be true that the subaltern cannot speak, there is no way for the subaltern to come into being other than through speaking politically.

An ethnological approach to Sister Nations’ verse: new insights into native American de-colonial discourse

With an integrative approach combining critical discourse analysis, Gricean pragmatics and cognitive linguistics, this paper seeks to provide new insights into Native American women’s verse as a lingua franca for the dissemination of social discourses at the intra and intercultural levels. To this end, it starts from the ethnographic notions of speech and discourse communities, applies them to the recently coined concept of Sister Nations, and goes on to explore their poetic production as a multidimensional anthropological practice performing cognitive, mediating and dialogical functions. Sister Nations’ poems not only call into question the traditional definitions of genre and interpretative communities or serve as vehicles for the expression of a dual discourse of reconciliation and resistance, but also evidence the importance of figurative language in the interpretation of cultures and act as ceremonial dialogues between societies in conflict.

Decolonial Discourse and Multi-Celtic Identity in Death of a Naturalist

Decolonial Discourse and Multi-Celtic Identity in Death of a Naturalist

Decolonial Discourse and Revealing the Past: Demythological Tactics in W. B. Yeats Poetry

Decolonial Discourse and Revealing the Past: Demythological Tactics in W. B. Yeats Poetry