Against Decolonization

Taking African Agency Seriously

By: Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Narrated by: Amir Abdullah

Decolonization has lost its way. Originally a struggle to escape the West's direct political and economic control, it has become a catch-all idea, often for performing "morality" or "authenticity;" it suffocates African thought and denies African agency.

Olúfemi Táiwò fiercely rejects the indiscriminate application of 'decolonization' to everything from literature, language and philosophy to sociology, psychology and medicine. He argues that the decolonization industry, obsessed with cataloguing wrongs, is seriously harming scholarship on and in Africa. He finds 'decolonization' of culture intellectually unsound and wholly unrealistic, conflating modernity with coloniality, and groundlessly advocating an open-ended undoing of global society's foundations. Worst of all, today's movement attacks its own cause: "decolorizers" themselves are disregarding, infantilizing and imposing values on contemporary African thinkers.

This powerful, much-needed intervention questions whether today's 'decolonization' truly serves African empowerment. Táiwò's is a bold challenge to respect African intellectuals as innovative adaptors, appropriators and synthesizers of ideas they have always seen as universally relevant.

©2022 Olúfemi Táíwò (P)2023 Tantor

A critical text

With a deep understanding of past historical events and common cultural attitudes within and about Africa, the author brilliantly outlines the consequences of expanding on conventional wisdom without challenging traditional mainstream approaches while inspiring alternative ways of thinking and moving forward. The nuance that is both demonstrated and encouraged reflects a significant commitment to progressive scholarship that will benefit the reader, whether they are within the realm of academia or non-scholars who wish to understand better the world in which we all inhabit. I entirely enjoyed this book, but the ending felt like the first sip of morning coffee in the form of a conclusion.

Fresh insights

I very much recommend this book to everyone looking forward to a fresh understanding on decolonisation theory.

Best Book

This is one of the great book I have read in awhile. Taiwo explain correctly that people who are obsessed with decolonization confuses modernity with colonialism.