Though I had thought I could define these words prior to reading Breny Mendoza’s, “Coloniality of Gender and Power: From Postcoloniality to Decoloniality,” this piece definitely helped sharpen those definitions. I will go on to outline each of these terms; ‘colonial, ‘anticolonial’, ‘decolonial’ and ‘postcolonial’; using my own words, but with the help of Mendoza’s. With respect to colonialism around the world, in this context, I understand ‘colonial’ as a descriptive word for the power held over western concepts of gender(as well as other things; race, class, ethnicity, ability, etc). Essentially, ‘colonial’ implies power relations between and control of certain peoples and bodies; usually one ‘category’ of people other other ‘categories’ of people, whether systematically(which it always is), or individually(which it usually is). Here, the word ‘anticolonial,’ is used to counter and challenge the ‘colonial’. Though she arguably compares most of these words with ‘intersectional,’ she first compares ‘anticolonial,’ with the perspective of ‘intersectional.’ She writes that to be ‘anticolonial,’ is to take intersectionality’s, “critiques of state-based legal practices,” and go further into the understanding of, “mutually constituting systems of power that exist in and through contradictory and conflicting relations,” focusing particularly on gender, if I’m correct. (2016) Moving on to ‘decolonial’ and ‘postcolonial,’ I struggled to separate the two. From what Mendoza says on page 15, I understand ‘decolonial’ as the understanding that colonialism not only created/allowed for capitalism, but “…decolonial theorists argue that colonialism is what made capitalism possible.” (2016) Therefore, capitalism has always thrives and continues to live on the shoulders of colonialism. As for ‘postcolonial,’ my definition mirrors much of how I described ‘anticolonial’ and ‘decolonial,’ however with the focus on race, the construction of race and how racial relations benefit both colonialism and capitalism. These concepts are all intertwined, and defined similarly, but are not interchangeable.

Hi! My name is Kayla and this is my understanding of the following terms I’ve learned so far in Feminist Perspectives on Decolonization 🙂

Colonial:

• Imposition of an imperial force on foreign land that prevents self determination of a region or group of people
• Allows the colonizers to thrive off of the oppression of the colonized
• Not there to benefit the people, only the mother country
• History of using genocide and assimilation to erase the original culture and people
• Intends on keeping those colonized powerless and seen as inferior when compared to colonizers and settlers

Anticolonial:

• Against coloniality and in favor of self determination
• When I think of this word, characteristics opposite of the colonial come to mind (people of color, non binary dichotomies, other cosmologies, non monogamy, queerness, religions other than christianity, etc)
• Highlights the resistance to coloniality

Decolonial:

• Process of deconstructing colonial epistemologies that are assumed to be natural, universal, and superior
• Both physical and mental
• Process of giving reparations to those oppressed under coloniality
• Returning of land and the power of self governance
• Destruction of borders as a means of separating people

Postcolonial:

• Time period after the process of decolonization
• No ongoing or new colonial imposition
• Reparations are made and other ways of living are made known and validated
• Needs of those who were formerly under coloniality are met

Though I had thought I could define these words prior to reading Breny Mendoza’s, “Coloniality of Gender and Power: From Postcoloniality to Decoloniality,” this piece definitely helped sharpen those definitions. I will go on to outline each of these terms; ‘colonial, ‘anticolonial’, ‘decolonial’ and ‘postcolonial’; using my own words, but with the help of Mendoza’s. With respect to colonialism around the world, in this context, I understand ‘colonial’ as a descriptive word for the power held over western concepts of gender(as well as other things; race, class, ethnicity, ability, etc). Essentially, ‘colonial’ implies power relations between and control of certain peoples and bodies; usually one ‘category’ of people other other ‘categories’ of people, whether systematically(which it always is), or individually(which it usually is). Here, the word ‘anticolonial,’ is used to counter and challenge the ‘colonial’. Though she arguably compares most of these words with ‘intersectional,’ she first compares ‘anticolonial,’ with the perspective of ‘intersectional.’ She writes that to be ‘anticolonial,’ is to take intersectionality’s, “critiques of state-based legal practices,” and go further into the understanding of, “mutually constituting systems of power that exist in and through contradictory and conflicting relations,” focusing particularly on gender, if I’m correct. (2016) Moving on to ‘decolonial’ and ‘postcolonial,’ I struggled to separate the two. From what Mendoza says on page 15, I understand ‘decolonial’ as the understanding that colonialism not only created/allowed for capitalism, but “…decolonial theorists argue that colonialism is what made capitalism possible.” (2016) Therefore, capitalism has always thrives and continues to live on the shoulders of colonialism. As for ‘postcolonial,’ my definition mirrors much of how I described ‘anticolonial’ and ‘decolonial,’ however with the focus on race, the construction of race and how racial relations benefit both colonialism and capitalism. These concepts are all intertwined, and defined similarly, but are not interchangeable.

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.

In using the word colonial in this context, it encompass one nation’s dominance and rule and authority over another through the use of brutal violence and exploitation, and essentially tactics of dehumanization to create subordination and subjugation. I found it particularly helpful when  “colonialism” and “coloniality” were defined separately in Mendoza’s paper. In referring to “coloniality” Mendoza states that it refers to “long standing patterns of power that emerge in the context of colonialism, which redefine culture, labor, intersubjective relations, aspirations of the self, common sense, and knowledge production in ways that accredit the superiority of the colonizer.” By this explanation, I define colonial as not only the subjugation of one nation over another but the lasting power dynamic that stays permeated within the colonized nation, it may be matters of race, gender, sexuality, region, theory and concepts, as well as the power structures that have remained and continue to shape colonized nations.

Anticolonial theories and concepts and projects works to question the structures imposed and implemented by colonization and strives to challenge its practices. Two schools of thought emerge out this- postcolonial and decolonial theory and feminisms.  From my understanding, postcolonial theory aims to understand colonization through the eyes of the colonized, it seeks to examine the effects of colonialism and coloniality to challenge what is known from what it is only Western history and perspectives. Postcolonial thinkers want to address the racism and Euro centrism within colonized nations and analyze their effects in socioeconomic and political policy as well as society and culture as a whole. It is a study of colonial history usually in reference to India and other parts of South Asia . I could not exactly pinpoint as to why that is, but I believe that while India’s overall cultural and societal culture was not exactly colonized in the same sense as Latin American and Caribbean areas, but rather it was more of a economical and political imposition which is why the reading heavily focused on political freedom, capitalism and class structure.

Decolonial theory and feminism however, is one that primarily revolves around the analyses in the Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas.  I believe it is different from postcolonial in the sense that it provides or presents ways in which to overcome or dismantle the practices of coloniality that has spread and formed Latin America after the conquest. According to Mendoza, it also argues that “colonialism is what made capitalism happen,” contrast to the thought that capitalism existed in Europe prior to colonization. Furthermore, although colonialism itself is not apparent in the ways it once was, coloniality of power is still maintained. Decolonial theory and feminism acknowledges the European implementation of racialization, gender construction, and sexual exploitation that has rendered people of color as non human and barbaric. Decolonial feminism wishes to recuperate the history of colonized peoples and dismantle the current coloniality of power that still holds to this day through intersectionality.

Before reading Breny Mendoza’s essays, I definitely would have had a different way of defining these four terms… and that’s ok! I feel like now I am better equipped to define them and have more solid, fine -tuned answers.

My understanding of colonial has both a literal and metaphorical meaning. It’s literal meaning emphasizes countries under colonial rule through colonialism, through which a nation imposes their sovereignty unto another. Apart from colonialism, a colonial mindset may form under the context of colonialism, where one feels they can exert their power/dominance over another.

     Anticolonial thinking  originated in 1492  and its premise “primarily analyze[s] and challenge[s] imperialistic and colonizing impulses”. It rejects and actively works against colonial structures and thinking. Anticolonial thinking encompasses several theories, including both decolonial and postcolonial theories.

     Decolonial thinking largely focuses on Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas. Decolonial theorists often use the term decolonization as a metaphor to dismantle colonial thinking. Decolonial theory insists that capitalism accompanies colonialism rather than believe that capitalism integrated to the Americas on its own, separate accord.  I was confused when reading the essay because at one point, it says how decolonial theory “mute[s] intersectionality” and instead replaces it with “heterarchies” that address multiple global hierarchies by considering “the entanglements of social processes at different structural levels” (I’m also not really sure how that is different from intersectionality; sounds like the definition of intersectionality to me) and then states how decolonial feminist Maria Lugones wrote about how she combines intersectionality and “Quijano’s coloniality of power to further develop her own conception of the coloniality of gender.”

On the other hand, post colonialism and intersectionality goes hand and hand. Post colonial thinkers sought to provide alternative narratives that go against stereotypical Western theories. For example, they have deconstructed binaries of first and third world women and analyze the Eurocentric bias in pop culture, film and media. Subalternists, a core group within post colonial theorists, argue that capitalism formed differently in Europe than in the colonial world in a way that is beneficial to the West.

To me, the word colonial denotes the imperial paradigm as it is centered around white, privileged bodies. Coloniality is, in terms of a global Earth history, eurocentric. It reflects more than a history of stolen land and erasure and genocide. Coloniality even shows up, for example, in the clothes worn and the languages defaulted to in international discourse. It shows up in the names we give to places and non-human creatures, particularly those encountered on stolen land.

Anticolonial seems like a broad term to describe theory and knowledge that criticizes colonialism and is generated by scholars from colonized groups or echoes, while following the lead of, scholars from colonized groups. The word “anticolonial” itself feels like an umbrella encompassing within it all theory that is oppositional in relation to colonialism, especially that which we might call “decolonial” and “postcolonial.”

The word decolonial reads (to me) more like a verb than either anti- or postcolonial does. It seems to have more to do with the action and work that is called for in anticolonial feminist discourse. The decolonial demands restorative justice and will do what it takes to achieve it. Decolonialism’s status as an action word makes it the natural birthplace for coalition.

We don’t live in a postcolonial world yet, but I see postcolonialism as the end goal of anti- and decolonialism, and I think what is important to remember about all of these terms but especially “postcolonial” is that it might validly mean something slightly different to each person. To me, postcoloniality is a utopian concept. What seems to me like the most universal definition I can give is that in a postcolonial society, the horrors of the past will no longer be hidden, but openly acknowledged. Genocide, slavery, land theft, capitalism and the prison industrial complex, racism, and all that is uncomfortable but necessary to talk about will no longer be erased, though they won’t happen anymore. A postcolonial world is a world without these evils. We have to fight to get there, even if we never do quite get there, because imagining that world causes us to work to improve this one. For instance, environmental justice will be the law of this stolen, ravaged continent. A postcolonial world would be another step toward a world that doesn’t privilege one group over another.  There wouldn’t be eurocentrism because all spaces would exist for everyone.

Environmental Justice Button Design by Ricardo Levins Morales

The term colonial is used to define the effects in an area and time that has been colonized or is currently being colonized. The mindset of America today can be described as colonial because it features practices and social structures that uphold an oppressive settler colonial mindset. Anticolonial is used to describe the rejection of a colonial mindset, colonial practices and there are more ways to apply this that I am not completely sure. Anticolonial stands against all that has upheld traditional mindsets that have continued to oppressed marginalized groups in the form of a power dynamic. Decolonial is a unique term because I feel as if I have a better understanding of the verb decolonizing instead of decolonial. In my best effort I believe that decolonial is a way to challenge practices, mindsets, and procedures with a critical eye. A decolonial point of view is aware of intersecting oppression such as race, class, and gender and how practices contribute to non-inclusive views. I associate the term Postcolonial in the field of feminism. Postcolonial feminism is one that came about similarly to the way black feminism separated from white feminism for the group not acknowledging the lived experience of women of color. Postcolonial feminism differs from western feminism which in the past has attempted to universalize women’s oppression. Postcolonial feminism rejects a euro-centric mindset by utilizing a decolonial point of view. Im not sure if Postcolonial is a more simple broad term that defines a time after colonization.

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