From my previous understanding, colonial refers to either extractive colonialism or settler colonialism. Extractive colonialism refers to extracting or appropriating resources from people and their land in order to support empires elsewhere. Settler colonialism refers to the claiming of resources for the purpose of establishing a settlement or building an empire on another people’s land. In Coloniality of Gender and Power: From Postcoloniality to Decoloniality, Breny Mendoza describes colonialism as one nation imposing its sovereignty on another (17). Mendoza explains that coloniality is different from colonialism. Coloniality refers to “long-standing patterns of power that emerge in the context of colonialism” (17). It redefines all aspects of life and understanding in a manner in which reinforces the “superiority of the colonizer” (17). In addition, Mendoza emphasizes that coloniality continues to influence consciousness and social relations even after colonialism is imposed.

Anticolonial is a relatively new term for me. From my understanding, anticolonial is “a reaction against the violent history of Western colonialism” (2). Anticolonial theories challenge imperialist and colonizing practices, focusing on power relations between the colonizer and the colonized.

Mendoza notes Tuck and Yang’s “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor,” a text I read for a previous class. The title of the text refers to the ways in which the term decolonization has been trivialized. As Mendoza explains, it has been reduced into a vague concept for “social transformation” (5). However, decolonization refers specifically to acts of colonialism. Mendoza also explains that decolonial theory incorporates Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas, not just focusing on British or French colonialism (14).

According to Mendoza, postcolonial theory offers “sophisticated critiques of capitalism, modernity, and Western colonialism” (9). It provides a new framework for understanding colonial history. Moreover, postcolonial theory considers the consequences of colonial impositions in order to expand its critics.