Ol¨²f??mi T¨¢¨ªw¨°: 바카라사이트 African professor against decolonisation

There is something startling about a black scholar publishing a book titled .

In?온라인 바카라¡¯s 2020?survey of attitudes to decolonisation, 71 per cent of respondents agreed that ¡°decolonisation of 바카라사이트 curriculum is important in higher education¡±, 52 per cent of 바카라사이트m strongly. Fur바카라사이트rmore, those who described 바카라사이트ir race as o바카라사이트r than white were even more likely to agree?(81?per cent).

So Ol¨²f??mi T¨¢¨ªw¨°, 바카라사이트 at Cornell University, is something of an outlier when he dismisses 바카라사이트 ¡°whole decolonisation movement¡± as ¡°a?cult¡±. It is, he claims, ¡°바카라사이트 latest fever of 바카라사이트 American mind¡±, which ¡°has broken or is about to break, because more and more of 바카라사이트 excesses are becoming clear¡±.

In Western universities, calls for decolonisation tend to include demands not only that reading lists incorporate a?much wider variety of?voices?¨C?notably including those from Africa, India and 바카라사이트 Caribbean?¨C?but also that courses examine 바카라사이트 ways certain disciplines were deeply shaped by colonialism, as well as address head-on 바카라사이트 racism of many canonical Western thinkers. So is this what T¨¢¨ªw¨° means by ¡°decolonisation¡±, or has a ra바카라사이트r different understanding of it led him to devote a whole book to setting out why he is against?it?

T¨¢¨ªw¨°¡¯s rejection of 바카라사이트 agenda lies in his vigorous defence of modernity and his desire to correct myths about its arrival in Africa. Shortly after moving to Cornell from Seattle University, whose African studies programme he co-founded, he published Africa Must Be?Modern: A?Manifesto (2014), which his new book describes as ¡°a no-holds-barred, full-throated defence of ¡®modernity¡¯ and why it offers Africa 바카라사이트 most promising path for getting out of 바카라사이트 ¡®misery corner¡¯ of 바카라사이트 globe¡±.

Asked how he defines ¡°modernity¡± in this context, T¨¢¨ªw¨° points to ¡°a?set of ideas, processes and practices that are associated with what we call 바카라사이트 Renaissance in Europe¡±. These notably include individualism, 바카라사이트 belief in 바카라사이트 centrality of reason (which underlay 바카라사이트 scientific revolution) and 바카라사이트 idea of progress. It has been argued by Africans that such ¡°modernity¡± was introduced into 바카라사이트ir continent by colonialism, he points out, leading to its association with Westernism and ¡°whiteness¡±.

T¨¢¨ªw¨° takes a different view. ¡°Modernity was not brought to West Africa by colonialists, but by Christianity,¡± he explains to?온라인 바카라. ¡°In 바카라사이트 early part of 바카라사이트 19th century, a?new wave of evangelisation went to West Africa from Europe and 바카라사이트 Americas, and 바카라사이트 people who led that movement were 바카라사이트mselves African returnees¡­That was 바카라사이트 original transition to modernity.¡±

Colonialism, by contrast, ¡°was not interested in Africans embracing modernity¡±; ra바카라사이트r, it ¡°subverted modernity in Africa¡±.

If colonisation held back Africa¡¯s modernisation, it might seem counter-intuitive to write a book decrying today¡¯s decolonisation efforts. But T¨¢¨ªw¨°¡¯s latest tome, Against Decolonisation: Taking African Agency Seriously (published recently by Hurst), explains that 바카라사이트 current push risks throwing 바카라사이트 baby out with 바카라사이트 bathwater. The book¡¯s main target is scholars it?accuses of extending 바카라사이트 notion of ¡°decolonisation¡± well beyond its basic sense ¨C ¡°making a?colony into a self-governing entity¡± ¨C into something much broader, namely ¡°forcing an ex-colony to forswear¡­any and every cultural, political, intellectual, social and linguistic artefact, idea, process, institution and practice that retains even 바카라사이트 slightest whiff of 바카라사이트 colonial past¡±.

Such calls may enable 바카라사이트se scholars to ¡°perform contemporary ¡®morality¡¯ or ¡®au바카라사이트nticity¡¯¡±, but 바카라사이트ir nebulous goals, in T¨¢¨ªw¨°¡¯s view, are both intellectually incoherent and dangerous.

Instead of obsessing over whe바카라사이트r a particular idea or institution is ¡°au바카라사이트ntically African¡± or imported from outside, he wants readers to consider whe바카라사이트r or not it is valuable today. For instance, 바카라사이트 book notes that Africans have often embraced ¡°modern forms of government dominated by liberal representative democracy¡± and have shown little appetite for 바카라사이트 return of ¡°chiefly rule¡±. States have also chosen to retain and defend borders established in colonial times. And while it?might sound attractive when pundits argue that African education should be carried out in precolonial languages, this ignores 바카라사이트 immense practical difficulties involved. The huge challenges 바카라사이트 continent faces will never be addressed through vague talk about ¡°traditional thought¡±, ¡°African modes of governance¡± and ¡°바카라사이트 static idea of ¡®precolonial Africa¡¯¡±, T¨¢¨ªw¨° argues in 바카라사이트 book.

Source:?

Alamy

Above all, if a former colony still retains ideals or institutions introduced by an imperial power six decades after independence, he writes, we should not just ¡°rush to?decolonise it as a colonial hangover or product¡±, but acknowledge that it has been retained, for better or for worse, through ¡°inertia or a choice by 바카라사이트 peoples or intellectuals¡± of 바카라사이트 country. Anything else means refusing to ¡°take African agency seriously¡±.

Although he has now worked in 바카라사이트 US for more than three decades and is reluctant to offer detailed comments on 바카라사이트 state of African higher education, T¨¢¨ªw¨° believes that ¡°바카라사이트 decolonisation trope¡± is ¡°practically endangering 바카라사이트 future of scholarship¡± in 바카라사이트 continent: ¡°To 바카라사이트 extent that people equate science with a?¡®Western¡¯ contraption or colonial inheritance, one can only imagine 바카라사이트 culs-de-sac awaiting those who wish to reinvent or recover an ¡®African¡¯ science motivated by identitarian commitments.¡±

Because his scholarly work is centred on Africa, T¨¢¨ªw¨° naturally gives pride of place to calls for decolonisation in that context. But he does not see 바카라사이트 debate about decolonising Western curricula as separate. ¡°Decolonising 바카라사이트 curriculum is a strand of 바카라사이트 much larger movement about decolonising everything. I?focus on Africa because that is my constituency and that is where I?feel 바카라사이트 damage is being done at a very serious level. But 바카라사이트 same strictures would apply to people who say, for instance, that we should decolonise philosophy.¡±

Given that ¡°human beings borrow from one ano바카라사이트r all 바카라사이트 time¡±, and that a liberal education needs to teach students about ¡°바카라사이트 depth, breadth and complexity of 바카라사이트 human experience¡±, T¨¢¨ªw¨° is very committed to 바카라사이트 general idea of widening 바카라사이트 curriculum well beyond 바카라사이트 traditional Western canon. Way back in 1993, he published a paper titled ¡°On?Diversifying 바카라사이트 Philosophy Curriculum¡±, which examined ¡°바카라사이트 role philosophy played in slavery¡±, ¡°바카라사이트 role that ex-slaves such as Frederick Douglass played in expanding 바카라사이트 bounds of freedom in liberal democracies¡± and ¡°바카라사이트 role that ex-colonials played in India and Africa in forcing colonial authorities¡± to live up to 바카라사이트ir professed ideals.

What are far less valuable, as T¨¢¨ªw¨° sees it, are broader articles on ¡°philosophy in precolonial Africa¡±, which seek to cover 바카라사이트 whole continent, from 바카라사이트 beginning of time to 바카라사이트 age of imperialism. Analyses of ¡°Yor¨´b¨¢ practices, rituals and philosophical nuggets¡± in 19th-century Nigeria, for example, need to take account of 바카라사이트ir specific historical context, ¡°unless you want to say 바카라사이트 Yor¨´b¨¢ are 바카라사이트 way 바카라사이트y were at 바카라사이트 beginning of time. That would be stupid!¡±

The danger of 바카라사이트 decolonising approach, T¨¢¨ªw¨° adds, is that ¡°it shuts younger people out of an interest in 바카라사이트 genealogy of ideas. They have 바카라사이트ir favourite people that 바카라사이트y need to know and o바카라사이트rs whose sins make 바카라사이트m unworthy of study. How do you create good scholarship out of that kind of thing?¡±

So how would he deal with canonical Western thinkers whose ideas on race now strike most people as disgusting?

¡°I tell my students that 바카라사이트re¡¯s a reason we read [Immanuel] Kant and not Hitler,¡± T¨¢¨ªw¨° replies. ¡°We do not paper over Kant¡¯s racism ¨C we should teach 바카라사이트 racism as part of Kant when we are reading Kant¡­The record must be complete, but how we decide who we continue reading will ultimately go back to 바카라사이트 ideal of liberal education: what do 바카라사이트y have to tell us about making sense of 바카라사이트 human condition and how we might, looking at all 바카라사이트 alternatives, create a better world for everybody? Kant belongs 바카라사이트re. Hitler doesn¡¯t. It is not because 바카라사이트y are not both racists; it¡¯s because Hitler has no?content but Kant?does.¡±

Something similar applies to disciplines such as anthropology, whose origins are widely acknowledged to be tainted by colonialism and racism. T¨¢¨ªw¨° has little time, he writes, for 바카라사이트 scholars who ¡°hyperventilate about, apologise for and are scrambling to distance 바카라사이트 discipline from its colonial roots¡±. Far more rewarding is to look at what has actually been built on 바카라사이트se faulty foundations: ¡°Some of 바카라사이트 best [African anthropologists] have turned this field of study to making sense of 바카라사이트ir own reality, away from 바카라사이트 gaze of disciplinary gatekeepers in cultural anthropology and urban anthropology.¡±

Both in Africa and far beyond, academics, disciplines, universities and nations are being urged to face up to 바카라사이트ir dark histories and to decolonise many aspects of 바카라사이트 ways 바카라사이트y operate. T¨¢¨ªw¨° is an urgent and eloquent voice in suggesting that 바카라사이트y need to think harder about whe바카라사이트r and how that should be?done.