What Are the Decolonization Advocates Really Looking For?

Decolonize Explained w/Dr. Bruce Gilley

What Are the Decolonization Advocates Really Looking For? I think a “decolonized society” would look a lot like the contemporary academy is starting to look like (what contemporary American colleges are starting to look like). What they’re starting to do in American universities and colleges is create segregated systems (segregated dorms, segregated graduation ceremonies, segregated study programs, segregated student groups/affinity groups, even segregated sports teams). And that’s all being done in the name of “decolonization.” So, let’s get the white man out of the way of the non-white people in society, and let’s let them rule themselves and govern themselves according to norms that are going to be different (what those norms are is unclear). And that then creates basically a campus of different identity groups who interact in different systems in ways. Now, the promise of that supposedly is that this makes these people in non-white societies feel more safe. It makes them more empowered; they’re less likely to suffer from microaggressions and whatnot. That’s the promise, but I think the peril, which we’ve seen in a lot of these places, is it undermines their ability to function outside of their own cultural sphere. And in a multicultural society, that’s the kiss of death.