ABSTRACT

This special issue of Social Dynamics assembles several new articles, essays, and book reviews voicing critical perspectives on intellectual decolonisation. Theoretical approaches to intellectual decolonisation articulate different positions on what it takes for inculcation of ideas to count as colonisation. For some, it is because these ideas’ acceptance enables a harmful political or economic regime that their inculcation amounts to colonisation. For others, it is the ideas’ foreignness by itself alone which makes their promotion colonial. Yet others do not count any peaceful proselytisation as colonisation. Some approaches to intellectual decolonisation embrace relativism; others are objectivist and universalist. Since the various approaches to this topic contradict each other about what intellectual decolonisation is, and how it is to be achieved, it is impossible to be in favour of all versions of intellectual decolonisation. The contributions to this issue argue that certain theoretical approaches to intellectual decolonisation have important drawbacks. Several point out theoretical incoherences and deeply troubling political implications in the “Decoloniality” theory of Grupo Modernidad/Colonialidad. Though the contributions to the special issue highlight flaws in specific approaches to this topic, they do so in order the better to motivate for more defensible approaches to intellectual decolonisation.

摘要

本期《社会动力》特刊汇集了多篇新文章、论文和书评，表达了对知识非殖民化的批判性观点。知识非殖民化的理论方法阐明了关于如何将思想灌输算作殖民的不同立场。对于一些人来说，正是因为这些思想的接受导致了有害的政治或经济政权的产生，因此它们的灌输就相当于殖民化。对另一些人来说，正是这些思想本身的陌生性才使得它们的推广具有殖民性。然而其他人并不认为有任何和平传教即殖民。一些思想去殖民化的方法拥抱相对主义。其他人是客观主义者和普遍主义者。由于关于什么是知识非殖民化以及如何实现这一主题的各种方法相互矛盾，因此不可能赞成所有版本的知识非殖民化。对这个问题的贡献认为，某些知识非殖民化的理论方法存在重大缺陷。一些人指出了Grupo Modernidad/Colonialidad的“非殖民性”理论中的理论不一致和令人深感不安的政治含义。尽管对特刊的贡献强调了该主题的具体方法的缺陷，但它们这样做是为了更好地激励采取更站得住脚的知识非殖民化方法。