The Unsettling Nature Of Decolonisation

Situating this work in decolonial theory

Like any movement designed to bring radical change, decolonisation itself is vulnerable to colonisation.

One interpretation is the white-wellness, westernised version of decolonisation that paints it as an individual journey of liberation and personal happiness. There are also attempts to apply decolonisation frameworks to existing systems such as health and education, without recognition that these exist within a larger system inextricably linked to colonialism. Even the application to social justice can be problematic when not grounded in the core aims of decolonisation. The concept is being co-opted and decolonial scholars have a lot to say about it. In the naming and proposed content of my newsletter, I am cognisant that my work could too easily reinforce the status quo. So let’s talk about it.

Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang, in their paper - ‘Decolonization is not a metaphor’, talk about the ‘unsettling nature of decolonisation’. They describe settler colonialism as being built upon ‘an entangled triad structure of settler-native-slave’ and that:

‘Breaking the settler colonial triad, in direct terms, means repatriating land to sovereign Native tribes and nations, abolition of slavery in its contemporary forms, and the dismantling of the imperial metropole.’

They go on to say that ‘decolonization is not accountable to settlers, or settler futurity.’

In ‘It’s Time to Decolonize the Decolonization Movement’, Dr Ijeoma Nnodim Opara talks about what happens when the label is applied to projects that fail to critically analyse power, history and sociopolitics:

‘This lack of critical introspective analysis of power, hegemony, and the historical and continuing dynamics of internalized and systemic oppression…, results in the reproduction of colonial logics of commodifying human beings, labor, space, and knowledge.’ 

Decolonial theory is a vast area of study and I can’t begin to do justice to the work of decolonial scholars in this piece, but I will revisit it regularly in order to contextualise my work in this space. My current thinking is this:

You can’t engage with, or rather, you are not engaging with decolonisation if you are simply seeking personal liberation from the ways in which colonialism is harming you or those like you. You must also seek to become acutely aware of how you benefit from it, and to secure the futures of those most harmed by it. Furthermore, I believe that pro-actively decolonising our mindbodies with humility, self-awareness and critical analysis is an essential part of bringing about a decolonised reality.

No matter how we are entangled with colonialism, what intersectional experience of power and oppression we have, we have been conditioned to uphold it and our place within it, so change will only come through deep, sustained unlearning of colonial ideas.

How can colonial settlers reconcile that their future is irrelevant to decolonisation if they haven’t embarked on letting go of the colonial thinking that makes them feel entitled to stolen land and unearned power and privilege?

How can white people abolish contemporary slavery without deconstructing their relationship with the colonial construct of white supremacy?

How can Neurodivergent people reckon with their collusion in the colonisation of their mindbodies without analysing the colonial roots of ableism?

I don’t think we can embrace our parts in creating a decolonised reality without an internal journey of decolonising our mindbodies. We must be vigilant, however, not to conflate that internal process of change with the change itself. Decolonising our mindbodies is the preparation needed to decolonise our reality. It will prepare us to bring about personal liberation from colonised constructs that harm us, and it will also prepare us to give up power, privilege and land to restore balance and equality to the collective.

And that should feel unsettling.

AJ