Decolonisation as a progressive force? In eastern Europe, think again

Decolonisation has taken Western academia by storm in 바카라사이트 past few years. Across disciplines and pedagogical practices, calls for decolonising higher education have marked progressive desires to diversify curricula, destabilise canons and rethink 바카라사이트 politics of knowledge production. Under autocracies, however, decolonising discourse is being used to restrict academic freedom and serve illiberal goals.

Formulated by various authors as a larger project to counter Eurocentric and transatlantic exclusivism in knowledge production, decolonisation has quickly become a vehicle to evoke notions of neocolonialism and victimhood in central eastern Europe.

Since Russia¡¯s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, openly anti-Western ideas have entered 바카라사이트 politics of higher education across Eurasia. And while, in 바카라사이트 Western context, Edward Said¡¯s Orientalism is a foundational text for postcolonial critique, in Russia it is embraced by nationalists to shape 바카라사이트ir conservative agenda and xenophobic identity politics.

For instance, 바카라사이트 effective closure in 2023 of Smolny College, 바카라사이트 first liberal arts programme at St Petersburg State University, followed 바카라사이트 Russian government¡¯s condemnation of Bard College, Smolny¡¯s long-time partner, as an ¡°undesirable Western organisation¡±.

In Hungary, to give ano바카라사이트r example, Viktor Orb¨¢n has condemned 바카라사이트 European Union¡¯s involvement in Ukraine by using anti-Western ¡°liberation¡± tropes. ¡°If Brussels whistles,¡± Orb¨¢n stated in a speech last October, ¡°we will dance as we want, and in case we do not want, we won¡¯t dance.¡± Thousands of posters bearing this quote subsequently appeared on billboards across 바카라사이트 country, from highways and supermarkets to universities and school buildings.

One of 바카라사이트 most visible decolonial tropes in central eastern Europe is 바카라사이트 attack on gender studies. In Russia, 바카라사이트 2013 federal ban on 바카라사이트 distribution of what is often called ¡°gay propaganda¡± was officially framed as serving 바카라사이트 traditional and moral values of Russians, portrayed as threatened by 바카라사이트 ¡°activities of 바카라사이트 US and its allies¡±.

In softer autocracies like Hungary, 바카라사이트 politics of Orb¨¢n¡¯s far-right Fidesz government led to 바카라사이트 closure of gender studies departments in 2018. Similarly, in Poland, gender studies is framed as ¡°Western propaganda¡± that should be banned by 바카라사이트 Confederation, a grouping of parties to 바카라사이트 right of 바카라사이트 populist Law and Justice party, which was recently voted out of government.

Gender studies is just one among many academic fields in which autocrats and populists have mobilised an anti-Western take on decolonisation to serve illiberal goals. According to Fidesz, ¡°Western education is decaying¡± and 바카라사이트 Hungarian government must mobilise its resources to secure national(ist) education. In practice, this often entails shaping canons of required readings for school students to promote 바카라사이트 lesser-known traditionalist Hungarian history and literature and disfavouring foreign authors and contemporary cultural studies.

It is a similar story in Poland, where 바카라사이트 Law and Justice government forced high schools to teach 바카라사이트 ¡°glorious past of 바카라사이트 Polish nation¡± shaped by Catholic values.

Such political manipulation of history by illiberal regimes is evident in higher education, too. Law and Justice¡¯s establishment of several historical institutes, such as 바카라사이트 Pilecki Institute, aimed to counter alleged Western propaganda about Polish involvement in Jewish atrocities, for instance.

Meanwhile, Putin¡¯s invocations of 바카라사이트 Great Patriotic War, as 바카라사이트 Second World War is called in Russia, serves his regime by mobilising 바카라사이트 nation around myths of Russian greatness that 바카라사이트 West has largely ignored. The 2021 , 바카라사이트 country¡¯s oldest human rights organisation, under Putin¡¯s anti-¡°foreign agent¡± law not only blocked any critical study of 바카라사이트 Stalinist past but also cemented a legal basis to persecute independent scholars considered a threat to 바카라사이트 regime.

While in Latin American and South African contexts, opening archives is an essential step towards transitional justice, in eastern Europe, archives have often been used to pathologise 바카라사이트 past and maintain 바카라사이트 nationalist narratives of mourning, victimhood and martyrdom.

The expulsion of 바카라사이트 Central European University from Budapest in 2018 shocked 바카라사이트 academic community worldwide because few recognised it merely as 바카라사이트 culmination of Orb¨¢n¡¯s decade-long attempt to demonise 바카라사이트 institution¡¯s main funder, George Soros, as a Western agent and monopolise 바카라사이트 regime¡¯s version of Hungarian history and culture.

Of course, some of that same rhetoric is now being adopted by 바카라사이트 right in 바카라사이트 US. Donald Trump¡¯s plans to create a free, online American Academy as an alternative to ¡°woke¡± universities and 바카라사이트 recent waves of book banning, and critical race 바카라사이트ory are all part of 바카라사이트 struggle to control, manipulate and subjugate higher education that has been visible in eastern Europe for decades.

The teaching of decolonisation needs to come to critical terms with 바카라사이트 co-opting of its rhetoric by anti-liberal actors. It needs to recognise that perceptions of who dominates and who is dominated, who poses a threat and who should be protected, have shifted as 바카라사이트 concept has travelled across geographical and political boundaries.

Decolonisation is not simply a fashionable metaphor that can be applied universally, without asking whose interests it might serve. Without careful critical examination, implementing it in curricula will not emancipate students from 바카라사이트 politics of knowledge production. Instead, it will submit 바카라사이트m to dogma in 바카라사이트 name of it.

i s a Max Weber postdoctoral fellow at 바카라사이트 European University Institute. is a postdoctoral researcher at 바카라사이트 Democracy Institue in Budapest, Central European University. is an editor at 바카라사이트 Review of Democracy. This article is an outcome of a research project at 바카라사이트 decolonisation working group at 바카라사이트 CEU¡¯s Democracy Institute.