Commentary about “On Decolonization and its Correlates”, by Wilson Trajano Filho

Writing a critique of the concept of decolonization and its uses across history is not an easy task, and yet, it feels almost overdue considering the trendiness of the topic in academic circles and the number of publications it generates. Decolonization has become a ‘buzz’ word that thrives in the contradictions of neoliberal academia – mainly as an avenue to mitigate power relations and relieve some of the ‘settler guilt’ associated with the creation and the management of Western universities (Tuck and Yang 2012). It has become obvious that the decolonization radical rhetoric has an unfortunate tendency to serve the interest of universities, often situated in the Global North, and that discourses are rarely followed up by concrete political actions to shift the cards in favor of indigenous groups and to redistribute (academic, wealth, territorial) assets accordingly. This type of ‘conservative nonconformism’, the author argues, is one of the pitfalls of decolonization (and decoloniality) as framed mainly as an epistemological issue. This new environment, in my view, also produces an ethically disturbing race as to which institution will prove ‘more decolonial’ or set ‘more proactive decolonial policies’ than the other.