RP4: Coloniality, Colonialism, and Mignolo

Colonialism saddens me, and in a large scheme Mignolo does not support the idea that coloniality is permanent; however, when applying his theory to our daily lives, I have a hard time understanding the ways in which colonialism can be entirely dismantled.  I understand that there are methods which can be applied to anti-colonialism to render its effectiveness, but on a large scale I think that the demolition of colonialism is impossible.

Unfortunately, I am working from a limited perspective and I do not yet have the scope to conceive of the abolition of colonialism.  Considering the ways in which the land of The People has been historically* misused, it will be difficult to adjust all of the structures which were quickly assembled, but built to last and endure.  To an extent, colonial structures were built with a form of survivance in mind.  Once one group is colonized, it almost seems as though the quickest form of reconciliation or retribution is through the colonization of another group of people.  Now, is this to say that I am assuming colonization can only be dismantled in a matter of years?  No.  It is to say that I believe that coloniality will take decades to erase, and I do not see the lifespan of humanity occupying the same lengthy lifespan.

To reiterate, my perspective is limited.  I began reading with the idea that the lifespan of humanity after 2014 is waning.  This limited view constricted me and did not allow me to completely agree with Mignolo's theory.  Although I agree that colonialism is the the "hated little sister" which the family attempts to disguise as modernization, or progress, or development, and I partially agree that "the decolonization of knowledge and subjectivity through the imagination of alternatives to capitalism and alternatives to the modern state and its reliance on military power... is taking place" (Mignolo, 85); however, I do not believe it has garnered sufficient support to be considered ultimately successful.  I also do not believe there is a way for these movements to be greatly successful until all of colonialism is disbanded.

Now this post is not in any way a means to say that I have the answer to ending colonialism.  It is also not not an attempt to say that Mignolo's theory was not brilliant.  Instead it is to say I do not entirely agree with his theory.

*the use of the term historical is not to confine this text to the European, Greco Abrahamic linearity of time, but merely to contextualize my thoughts through a method that is familiar.

Week Eight: Mignolo: The Idea of Latin America pp. 115-128

1.     “knowledge is the key site of struggle” p. 115

2.     decolonial critical theory:   p. 115

3.     the paradigm of co-existence:   p. 116

4.     epistemic rights:  p. 117, 118

5.     land rights:  p. 117

6.     linguistic rights:  p. 117

7.     Delinking:  “Delinking means, among other things, that thinking other-wise is possible (and necessary) and that the best solutions are not necessarily found in the actual order of things under neo-liberal globalization, and it also means knowing that thinking otherwise is not only possible but very necessary.”   p. 117

8.     “interculturalidad”:  p. 117-118, 120

9.     “multicultural”:  p. 118

10.  “cultural rights”:  p.119

11.  the colonial wound:  p. 119-20

12.  paradigm of co-existence:  p. 120, 121, 122

13.  paradigm of newness:  p. 120

14.   Amawtay Wasi: p. 120-124  NB:  the updates on the blog video posted last week.  Think about what Amawtay Wasi offers, promises and the challenges it faces in light of other models of education (epistemic rights) and the colonial matrix of power (and interculturalidad, paradigms of coexistence, etc.,)

15.  Amawtay Wasi:  where is the philosophy of education?  What frameworks of knowledge determine and were put in place? Is this university marching toward progress and newness?  (see the top of p. 121)

16.  Other University Models:  corporate, Renaissance, and Enlightenment p. 122

17.  Amawtay Wasi:  “the frame of mind and the goals are no longer inscribed within the existing principles, values, and functions of knowledge.”  p. 122 (Can you name those? And the co-existing principles, values, functions?  Can you describe types of relationships possible?)

18.  “To do so would be to act under the same Western logic and to change only the content and not the terms in which knowledge is produced.”  P. 122

19.  “the philosophical principle is to imagine a pluri-national uni-versity.”  p. 123

20.  “Amawtay Wasi has both a historical and an epistemic repair to make.”  p. 123

21.  “not the direct opposite or contrary (the false construction of West vs. non-West) but just simply different!” p. 123

22.  “The question is not inclusion but inter-culturality, a shared project based on different ‘origins’ confronting the colonial would and overcoming the imperial/national pride and interests.”  p. 124

23.  “a world where many worlds co-exist.” p. 124

24.  The Zapatistas and “Los Caracoles” p. 124, 127

25.  How reduction to  “dogmatic binary opposition” misses several key points:  “the differential of power and origins is not just twofold—Spanish and Indian—but threefold—Spanish, Indian and African.”  “the Dutch, British and French colonizers joined the Spanish and the Portuguese.” And “the internal diversity among Indians, Europeans, and Africans also makes them multiple.”  p. 126  Be able to explain the significance of each of these statements! And How this relates to global designs and the question of Asia, and Lowe’s concept of herterogeneity and Asian American culture.

26.  Racism and the paradigm of newness:  p. 126  Recall the discovery thesis and the invention of “Indians” and “Blacks.”

27.  Against the idea of newness (or emptiness) in and on the invented Americas:  p. 127.  NB:  government, knowledge, People existed and were different.  “If they were not different, power would have changed hands easily within the same paradigm...”  If they were absent our class, and more than two thirds of us, would not exist—and we do.  This is part of Vizenor’s point about presence as an argument for survivance.

28.  “How these models of social organization interacted over five centuries is, of course, more than I can handle in this book.” p. 127 Or I, in this class, but I want you to know where we can head now, that we have some theoretical perspectives, sophisticated language, and analytical frameworks.  This is (or could be) your life’s work.

29.  NB:  these models interacted and mutually transformed each other!

30.  “It has taken a long time for scholars to come to terms with the fact that there is an Indigenous ethos…that has never vanished, although it was transformed [just as the Creole, Spanish and Portuguese ethos were also transformed], since colonial times.”  p. 128  How does this relate to Rabasa’s notion of elsewheres?

31.  “It is obvious today, all over the globe…that ‘memory’ is what imperial/colonial domination always failed to conquer.  The multiplicity of memories, languages, knowledges, ways of life, and wounded human dignities, resound in a cry like the Zapatista ‘Basta!’ (‘Enough’) or the ‘Nunca Mass!’ (“Nevermore!’).”  p. 128