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My decoloniality is not your decoloniality: the new multiverse – an opinion piece

Chan, Stephen

Authors



Abstract

The term has become a mantra, but “decoloniality” has almost no precise meaning and is used as an ideological trope. It points in a “progressive” sense towards a status quo ante, almost an arcadia descended from an anti-slavery Victorian regret that colonialism had robbed the “native” of his “innocence.” It is a term brandished often in African studies, but the imperial outreach impacted most of the world. When China’s President Xi Jinping speaks of eroding Western influence, is this a form of decoloniality or a form of chauvinist imposition? If imposition, it all the same draws from a Confucian tradition in which an endless genealogy of Chinese emperors have participated. When Zambia, under the organised umbrella organisation, the United Church of Zambia, brings together both mainstream Christian religions and a host of charismatic religions that have “indigenised” Christianity, is Christianity anymore a colonial project? Is there anything at all in common between Xi and Zambian Christianity? In this essay I object to the laziness of “decoloniality” as a term of righteousness, and argue for complexity, plurality, and a means all the same of speaking together in a common language for international decency and generosity.

Citation

Chan, S. My decoloniality is not your decoloniality: the new multiverse – an opinion piece. Social Dynamics, 49(2), 369-375. https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2240151

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Jul 31, 2023
Deposit Date Aug 14, 2023
Journal Social Dynamics
Print ISSN 0253-3952
Electronic ISSN 1940-7874
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 49
Issue 2
Pages 369-375
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2240151
Keywords Decoloniality, postcolonial studies, translation, President Xi Jinping, authenticity, hybridity