The decolonial subject and the problem of non-Western authenticity.

It is argued in this paper that some decolonising strategies in the study of global politics are precluded by the problem of non-Western authenticity. I question the idea of an identifiable non-Western geo-cultural context that could significantly reconstitute what already is a post-Western subject....

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Published in:Postcolonial Studies Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 150 - 168
Main Author: Vieira, Marco
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jun2019
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: The decolonial subject and the problem of non-Western authenticity.
      aug:
        au: Vieira, Marco
        affil: Department of Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS), University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
      su:
        Decolonization
        Imperialism
        Postcolonial analysis
        Subjectivity
        Sovereignty
      sug:
        subj:
          Decolonization
          Imperialism
          Postcolonial analysis
          Subjectivity
          Sovereignty
      keyword:
        Authenticity
        decolonial thought
        post-Western subjectivity
        postcolonial psychology
      ab: It is argued in this paper that some decolonising strategies in the study of global politics are precluded by the problem of non-Western authenticity. I question the idea of an identifiable non-Western geo-cultural context that could significantly reconstitute what already is a post-Western subject. I claim that in most cases the asymmetrical encounter between the colonised and the coloniser has fundamentally and extensively redefined human subjectivity in a way that largely negates decolonial emancipatory projects. This is the result of the all-encompassing penetration of Western coloniality (in its political, economic and cultural representations) into the spaces of pre-colonial or uncolonised forms of subjectivity. I draw from Frantz Fanon's and Jacques Lacan's theories to argue that attempts to recover non-Western forms of self-identification are useful albeit illusory psychological mechanisms to stabilise hybrid postcolonial subjectivities rather than an actual restoration of non-colonial and purified forms of existing in the world. I suggest that an effective anticolonial politics of resistance will necessarily entail the understanding of post-Western subjectivity in terms of psychological 'hybridity' rather than decolonial 'authenticity'.
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    language: English
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