The Next Generation: Student’s Work (4)

In 2021, I posted under the above heading three papers of students from my course Diversifying Philosophy. It is now already for the ninth year that I teach this course, while Academia, with varying success, undertakes diversification of its curriculum and its staff. The students attending our English Philosophy Bachelor program are already as diverse as possible (structural hindrances of studying abroad that are a sad reality aside)! This led, this year especially, to lively exchanges between the students, in class and in the breaks, as they shared the knowledge they possessed from their home countries, and thus enriched our ways to see the world. Next year the course will have a new title and focus: Intercultural Philosophy and Postcolonial Theory, and this year I already ran it with a selection of readings in that field as a pilot. I read many interesting papers from the students, and am proud of the work they did! It is time I share once again one of those, by Maira van Emden, who added to the course, by arguing that it should include more of the contributions to the field from Latin American thinkers. I wish you enjoy reading it as much as I did!

The invisibility of Latin American philosophy: Internal and engrained colonial echoes

Suburbio Azul by León Ricaurte – picture taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Introduction

A surge of desire to diversify the academic canon has pervaded the academic realm. Rather than merely upholding Western ideals, academia now strives to offer a well-rounded view of scientific inquiry. Courses like Diversifying Philosophy aim to underscore the underlying power structures and inherent biases within the philosophical world. Consequently, a more diverse and colorful philosophical canon has emerged. From amplifying the voice of people of color to learning about the wisdom of Asian philosophers, the canon is slowly but surely enriching. However, despite the interesting array of fields of thought, as a philosophy student, I have not once encountered a Latin American philosopher within the curriculum. The Latin American continent is a vast one with many Spanish or Portuguese-speaking scholars, so how come it is so under-exposed in philosophical education? There is philosophical education in Latin American universities, but Western thought, such as that of Hegel, Kant, and Marx, still holds a position of dominance. In addition, modern works by European scholars are overrepresented in Latin American universities, whereas works by Spanish and Portuguese-speaking authors are often overlooked.

This paper will dive into Latin American Philosophy’s complex historical, cultural, and internal challenges to come to a distinct and inclusive solution for the problem of identity and lack of representation in the global discourse. Furthermore, essential steps for decolonizing and liberating the philosophical narrative will be explored.

Latin America’s colonial history

To deconstruct this issue, the history of Latin America and its people should be examined. This history is inseparable from colonialism. Before Columbus found the Americas in the 15th century and turned Latin America into the continent we know today, indigenous peoples were the custodians of the land. As James Maffie, a prominent academic in the field of indigenous philosophy, articulates, these pre-Columbian peoples had a rich tradition of philosophical thinking preceding Western occupation. Fundamental questions, all too familiar to the European tradition, that inquire into the nature of being, ethics, and knowledge were pondered on by various Aztec and Andean thinkers. Nevertheless, Western, and pre-Columbian philosophies at the time proved hard to marry. While indigenous philosophy perceived humans as “a part of the world” and “of the world”, Western ideals positioned humanity at the center of the world with the God-given right to exploit the natural world. (Maffie, 2010) Western ideals at the time were grounded in the Christian religion, whereas pre-Columbian thought did not honor a deity as much as it honored the living world, including themselves as an integrated part. Thus, lacking in the Christian godly values, missionaries viewed indigenous philosophy as primitive and superstitious. Nowadays, amidst the climate crisis and the destruction of vital forests by Western ideals, this integrated view held by indigenous philosophy is often glorified and looked upon as a helpful alternative structure. Yet, at the time indigenous thought was deemed ungodly and banished, at which the colonial power was incredibly successful. In the end, Eurocentric and Christian ideology prevailed in Latin America, resulting in the eradication, dilution, or banishment of indigenous cultures by racist and Eurocentric ideals.

Philosophy with a Latin American character

It is evident that indigenous philosophy, although occasionally glorified by the West, does not dominate modern Latin American philosophy. However, the history of inequality and racism does play a crucial role in shaping modern Latin American philosophy. The Indigenous population in the Latin peninsula often experiences higher levels of poverty as a result of colonial ideology. Still, they are looked down on and negatively affected by biases. Latin America, in general, is plagued by inequality and poverty. This is frequently used as an excuse for the underdevelopment of the philosophical tradition in this area. It is thought that there is no room for philosophical inquiry in a society where simply surviving is the main priority. This would coincide with an attitude of ridicule towards a superfluous activity such as philosophy. Following this line of reasoning, short essays that are easy to read would be more suitable for such an underdeveloped society. This perspective, while seemingly plausible, implies that Latin American philosophers lack the capacity for independent thought. (Pereda, 2006) It is condescending to suggest that because of limited money and therefore limited time, people in Latin America have a limited capacity to think. Be that as it may, it is true that philosophy often takes up another form in the face of social issues. Rather than solely pondering ontological, epistemic, or metaphysical questions such as “What is being?” Or “What is truth?” it takes on a politically and socially engaged role.

In his work, “Canonizing the Critical Race Artifice, An Analysis of Philosophy’s Gentrification of Critical Race Theory” (2018 ), Curry emphasizes the importance of an engaged and realistic approach to the philosophy of race. The realist approach advocates for maintaining a connection to tangible social constructs when philosophizing. It calls for voicing the experience of actual people and fights against the over-abstract view on race and social inequality. The realistic view is both economically and politically engaged, resonating with the Latin American experience as the region continues to grapple with the harmful effects of colonialism. The socially engaged philosophical tradition, referred to as Liberation Philosophy, has been quite vast in Latin American countries. Liberation philosophy utilizes the tools of philosophy to dissect the reality of the Latin American people, providing a distinctly Latin American perspective to philosophy. Much like what Curry calls for, Liberation philosophy disregards idealism and focuses on the material conditions of Latin American people. It is based on the fact that human existence, that with which philosophy is most often concerned, is embedded within cultural identity, and should therefore be concerned with cultural and social issues. (Gandolfo, 2010) Philosophers like Arturo Andres Roig often shift the focus from a Heideggerian mode of being, towards materialism based on Marx and Hegel’s theory. Roig emphasizes this by stating that the only way in which humans have access to being is through the fact of being human. Therefore, these distinct aspects of being a human embedded within a social and historical context should be examined. (Roig, 2004; Gandolfo, 2010) Philosophy, thus, takes up a social responsibility. Ignacio Ellacuria deepens this idea by historically reconstructing the human tendency toward the realization of freedom. Humanity is effectively working towards a state of freedom at all times and because of this, philosophy must be engaged in seeking freedom for the people. (Gandolfo, 2010)

The “distinctivist” and “universalist” approaches

Although Liberation philosophy focuses on Latin American issues, it is still based on much of the ideas of Western philosophers like Hegel, Marx and Heidegger. This begs the question of how one goes about distinguishing Latin American philosophy and if such an endeavor even is possible. Philosopher Andrea Nuccetelli (2010) deconstructs this issue by offering a “universalist” and a “distinctivist” answer. According to the universalist view, there are at least some philosophical theories, methods, and topics that are universal, meaning that they apply to a Mondial philosophical tradition. Whereas strong Universalism would imply that all philosophical endeavors are universal, the weaker variant allows for the possibility of distinctively Latin American aspects to philosophy (2010). The weaker universalist view would classify Latin American philosophy as Ethnic philosophy, Nuccetelli contends, which means that it does not fit within the universal philosophical tradition, as well as not fitting into another ethnic philosophy. As follows, a Chilean Philosopher working from Hegelian ideas is not practicing Ethnic Latin American philosophy. This takes on a distinctly Eurocentric undertone when these European-based ideas are taken as universal. It could be said, however, that these ideas are so deeply engrained within philosophy due to having the upper hand in dialogue for so long, that it has become a universal thought framework. On the other hand, a distinctivist, would say that the Chilean philosopher is practicing Latin American philosophy when she uses theories, methods, or topics that are characteristically Latin American (Nutacelli, 2010). As to the nature of this distinct “Latin Americanism”, not much is clear. According to this view, however, the previously mentioned Liberation Philosophy would be distinctively Latin American as it regards a specific Latin American topic, namely Latin American social, cultural, and economic inequality. Howsoever one may look at this issue, being from a universalist standpoint or a distinctivist standpoint, it is evident that both leave room for ambiguity. While one regards the tradition in Latin America as “philosophy in Latin America”, the other one views it as “characteristically” Latin American (Nutacelli, 2010). Yet both views ought to determine what falls under the differently worded concepts.

Evidently, it is not easy to define Latin American philosophy. The lines of demarcation are vague and historically, a varied array of philosophical topics have been discussed by Latin thinkers. The opposing views on the universality of philosophy would lead to drastically different answers to the question of distinguishing Latin American philosophy. Whereas a universalist would find it only logical that Latin American philosophy is similar to European philosophy, distinctivists would be more inclined to view theories like Liberation philosophy as truly Latin American. Following this idealist Philosophy would call for liberation from Western ideas as they stem from a colonized past. From here it would follow that philosophy in Latin America would adhere to a characteristically Latin American framework applied to practical issues in society.

Problems of specification

In her paper, “Intercultural, Transcultural, Cross-cultural – Why We Need All Three Of Them” (2018), Roothaan addresses the vagueness of delineating between cultural philosophies, showing that culture is not as bounded as previously believed and that these ideas of boundedness are unhelpful for the goal of decolonization as well as for cross-cultural human understanding. Roothaan transforms the concept of culture into the idea of “thinking spaces”. Thinking spaces are the space from which people seek to understand reality. They unfold within a specific historical and geographical area, yet they are not bounded by such spatio-temporal borders. In this sense, “cultures” are inherently touched and shaped by other “cultures”, leading to new ideas within such cultures. Instead of the multicultural approach of recognizing other cultures, Roothaan advocates for a dialogue where ideas from different parts of the world touch each other and subsequently shape each other. It is only through his framework that true understanding can arise, and power structures can be abolished. Roothaans ideas are ever so applicable to the Latin American peninsula. Instead of defining Latin American philosophy as either Western-centered or something specifically Latin American, it is exactly the touching of viewpoints that represents Latin American philosophy. Stemming from colonization as well as globalization, Latin America is a melting pot of ideas, traditions, and philosophies. However, as explained in a previous paragraph, the hegemony of Eurocentric ideals has led to economic and social inequality as well as unequal power dynamics in the philosophical world. These unequal power dynamics are expressed in a lack of indigenous representation in the philosophical canon in Latin America, as well as the lack of Latin American authors in the Western philosophical canon.

A possible explanation for the underrepresentation of Latin American authors could be the ambiguity in the definition of Latin American philosophy. However, if Latin American philosophy is indeed the culmination of different “thinking spaces”, then firstly, it would indeed offer a unique view on the issues dealt with in philosophical thinking and therefore be a valuable addition to philosophical thought. Secondly, the ambiguity of the definition does not explain the fact that Latin American works regarding Western Philosophy are also underrepresented in the Western canon. This shows a racist tendency, as Western scholars are deemed more well-versed to write about topics stemming from their own continent. Following Roothaan’s ideas, merely defining what is Latin American will not abolish this power system but will uphold the differentiation of colonial thinking. Instead, as Roothaan emphasizes, an unbreaking awareness of the power system is vital to ensure that these are not unknowingly sustained (2018). In practice, this would mean that Latin American authors are represented in the canon just as much as authors from other “thinking spaces” and that investigating Indigenous philosophy, as well as any other philosophical tradition, would be held to the same esteem as investigating Kant or Hegel in Latin American universities, as well as European, African or Asian ones.

Internal issues

Regarding the invisibility of Latin American authors, Uruguayan Mexican philosopher Carlos Pereda offers some internal deficiencies that could explain the lack of representation. In his 2006 text Pereda emphasizes the remnants of colonial power dynamics by stating that even scholars from Latin America disregard the ideas of their Latinx¹ colleagues. Rarely are ideas stemming from one’s peers offered the same podium as those originating in Europe, even internally. Pereda (2006) broadens this invisibility to the realm of intercultural dialogue, comparable to Roothaan’s views. Even here, Pereda states, Latin American philosophers remain unnoticed. It should be mentioned that Roothaan’s ideas are more recent and that the scope has evolved somewhat. However, the underrepresentation of Latin American authors in the canon is proof that this evolution is not as far as one might hope.

Pereda (2006) explains the underrepresentation through three internal deficiencies. Firstly, the internally engrained belief that the center of ideas resides elsewhere than the Spanish-speaking continent limits scholars to the realm of reflection rather than that of innovative ideas. Secondly, Pereda discerns a certain degree of intellectual laziness within the philosophical tradition, where Latin American scholars seek sensational and trending ideas. This makes for superficial philosophical inquiry. To remedy these vices a philosophy with a national character emerges, which is a vice in itself according to Pereda. While striving towards an authentic philosophical tradition, the rhetoric is returned to topics that are authentically Latin American. Here, Pereda essentially describes the” distinctivist” categorization of Latin American philosophy. Although Pereda advocates for decolonization, this refocus on authentically Latin American philosophy does not help the status of Latin American works and is not a remedy for colonization. As Roothaan mentions in her text, Franz Fanon said, “The colonial world is a compartmentalized world”. By compartmentalizing between authentically Latin American and “Other”, colonial power dynamics are upheld. More practically, this attitude of exclusion does not make it appealing for scholars from different parts of the world to investigate Latin American works. Despite Pereda’s critical words regarding the philosophy in question, he also emphasizes that the tradition should not be simplified or reduced. He stresses that despite its shortcomings and even though the people in Latin America experience poverty, there is still a vast array of profound thought within the continent. Subsequently, he calls for Latin scholars to read the work of their Spanish and Portuguese-speaking peers. This combats internal invisibility as well as dismantling the system where Western thought is deemed leading.

Conclusion: toward a liberated dialogue in Latin American philosophy

Seeking to define Latin American philosophy reveals the multiple layers that contribute to its underrepresentation in academic discourse. The historical remnants of colonialism are ever so present, with indigenous philosophies marginalized and dismissed in favor of Eurocentric ideals. The power dynamics, rooted in the colonial past, persist in the modern academic landscape, overshadowing the richness of Latin American philosophical thought. Delineating a distinct Latin American philosophy proves problematic and the opposing universalist and distinctivist approaches don’t quite grasp its unique identity. Liberation philosophy is an example of a characteristically Latinx philosophy and offers a socially engaged philosophical lens for Latin philosophers. However, the question whether Latin American philosophy can truly break free from the persuasive influence of Western Thinkers remains open.

The concept of “thinking spaces” proposed by Roothaan provides a nuanced lens through which to view Latin American philosophy. The interplay of ideas and ideologies stemming from colonization as well as globalization is what defines Latin American philosophy. Embracing this fluidity challenges the notion of boundedness to culture and calls for a dialogue that transcends spatio-temporal borders. Yet, internal deficiencies further exacerbate the challenges faced by Latin American scholars. The remnants of colonial power dynamics are ever so persistent in the academic community. This perpetuates an intellectual hierarchy that favors ideas that originate outside of Latin America. Pereda’s critique highlights the need for Latinx scholars to overcome intellectual laziness and engage in an exploration of their own philosophical traditions.

Moving forward, it is important to recognize the intricacies of Latin American philosophy and address the systemic issues that perpetuate its invisibility. Roothaan’s call for an unbreaking awareness of power structure resonates, emphasizing the importance of dismantling distinctions between “Latin American’ and “other”. A liberated dialogue demands the inclusion of Latin American authors in the global canon and an equal assessment of their contribution alongside those from other “thinking spaces”.

Ultimately, the journey toward a more inclusive and diverse academic landscape requires a commitment to decolonization. This involves not only acknowledging Latin American philosophy’s unique perspective but also actively dismantling the hierarchal structures present in the philosophical discourse. In doing so, the academic canon can truly reflect the richness of human thought, transcending geographical boundaries and embracing the interconnectedness of diverse philosophical traditions,

References

Curry, T. J. (2017). Canonizing the critical race artifice. In Routledge eBooks (pp. 349–361). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315884424-25

Gandolfo, D. I, (2010) Liberation Philosophy. In Nuccetelli, S., Schutte, O., & Bueno, O. (Eds). A companion to Latin American philosophy. John Wiley & Sons.

Hurtado, G. (2006). Two models of Latin American philosophy. Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 20(3), 204–213. https://doi.org/10.1353/jsp.2007.0004

Maffie, J, (2010). pre-Columbian Philosophies. In Nuccetelli, S., Schutte, O., & Bueno, O. (Eds). A companion to Latin American philosophy. John Wiley & Sons.

Nuccetelli, S, (2010) Latin American Philosophy. In Nuccetelli, S., Schutte, O., & Bueno, O. (Eds). A companion to Latin American philosophy. John Wiley & Sons.

Pereda, C. (2006). Latin American Philosophy: Some vices. Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 20(3), 192–203. https://doi.org/10.1353/jsp.2007.0007

Roothaan, A. (2018). Interkulturell, transkulturell, cross-cultural – warum wir alle drei Begriffe brauchen. Polylog. Zeitschrift für interkulturelles Philosophieren, 40, 67-82. https://www.polylog.net/fileadmin/docs/polylog/40/40_thema_Roothaan.pdf

In four years

Some people may say that thinking about the future makes you not live in the moment. I beg to differ. Thoughts of the future as well as of the past always bleed into this ‘now’ and change it and form it and color it.

When I was young I always thought of the past, that is, my personal life’s past. I repeated what I experienced in my mind, and did so more or less always. I thought this was normal. Only when I entered student life and the many new acquaintances asked about my life, I noticed they were shocked that I could relate certain events always to a certain year and age and sometimes even a month of the year. I began to feel weird. I comforted myself with the thought that it must be because I am a writer at heart. I always write so to speak about everything that I encounter in my mind. But later I forgot these reflective thoughts again, when struggling to find a job and finance this life at all.

More years later, around forty, they call it midlife, I read two books that shifted my view again. Abyssinian Chronicles by Moses Isegawa, and Curriculum Vitae by Victor Klemperer. It was on a holiday and I read them on a blanket in the shade of a big tree that kept the hot summer sun from burning any thoughts out. Whereas the lastmentioned book is a true life memoir, the Isegawa book is fiction, but obviously based on a rich trove of life experiences and projected as a memoit. They gave me a new view of my childhood mental writing on my daily life. What if, as a child, I felt that I would write my memoires later, and had been unconsciously training for it? That even comforted me more.

Now I am gradually progressing in that senior stage of life, and I don’t know about all these explanations and self-descriptions anymore. Especially since after reading Klemperer and Isegawa, the mental writing slowly disappeared. I realised more and more that memorising is not that important. That a human life is only a small link in an endless web of millions of consciousnesses and intentions, not even only human ones; all life has its own aims and leaves its own traces. Especially digital life impresses on us that there may be even too many traces and we should be selecting and erasing them to a certain extent.

And now life has even made me turn the entire process around, now that an artificial boundary will affect me in four years: retirement. I realise how blessed I am to have been able to work for so many years, even if, as for many academics, it took so long before that tenured job came on my path. But now I have to think of the future: when all the automatic obligations of pressing student mails, grades and ever so many course manuals will not be there anymore, how will I make the transition to retired life as smooth and good as possible?

Luckily, in this profession, we do not have to abruptly leave working life. As many others, I think it will be nice to have more relaxed time to study and do the research I still find meaningful. I hope my network will still value my over a long time built experience and expertise on certain questions and how to approach them.

And suddenly I realised this one thing I often not even have time to think about: that presently I don’t have enough time to write my blog. After retirement, if possible, and if I like the idea still then, I may start reading the books I don’t have enough time for now and review them here. Or just reflect on them. I could write as often as I want.

And that thought made me go here and write, in the train, returning from a meeting. A time I often spend with digital distraction. So here is this new blog piece: on how thinking of the future made my train ride!

A Colonial Archive

When I was researching for my master’s thesis, I focused on forgotten European 17th century thinkers, and got hooked on the old prints reading room. The only things you were allowed to take inside were paper and a pencil. The pages of those old books were made of acid free pulp, and their covers of leather, so they were much stronger than newer ones, but still the reverence asked to keep them in shape for future centuries attracted me. Forgotten or not, heretical or not, the remains of that age were still treated like temple treasures. My research reached a dead end, back then, as the prints didn’t answer all my questions. And I had no clue how to find my way in old archives, if they even existed for the material I needed, and I left the historical track in philosophy.

Recently, this past month of May, I repaired my former cluelessness when I entered an archive for the first time, determined to just find some answers about Placide Tempels (1906 -1977) and his Bantu Philosophy that the literature didn’t provide. I was inspired by the work of a cultural historian I had met, which had shown me how historical data can give us an informed view on the complex ideological and intellectual struggles in the end days of colonialism and its aftermath – this type of work should fill the gaps on the book I was researching on.

I research Bantu Philosophy not however as part of colonial history, not from an interest in missiology or religious studies, but to understand its philosophical aim and impact. Among philosophers interested in African philosophy the book is contested – a classic, yes, the source of a long debate on the nature of African philosophy, that too, but ‘real’ philosophy (in itself a suspicious classification) – doubtful. Philosophers such as Paulin Hountondji and Eboussi-Boulaga classified it as ethnophilosophy, one of the many specialized ethnosciences, a part of cultural anthropology more or less, and no constructive philosophy in itself. Ethnophilosophy or not, postcolonial thinkers such as Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon criticized it as just another contribution to the colonial system, as it focused on the spiritual, not on the material conditions of the colonized. The most seriously argued positive interpretation of Bantu Philosophy has been given by Valentin Mudimbe, who read the work – even if ethnophilosophical – as opening our eyes for what philosophy can be, beyond its too narrow definition in the modern age.

One of the reasons why Tempels himself was never easily taken serious as a philosopher was because he was trained a priest, not an academic philosopher, and his attempt to articulate an African ontology, the ontology of vital force, was considered by many to remain stuck in describing a worldview among others, a cultural thing, not the ultimate logical structure of reality as disciplinary philosophy was supposed to do. I had supposed, after reading all those interpretations, that Tempels maybe was not too serious about the philosophical part of his endeavour, that he had only wanted to improve missionary activity in Africa, and to change the very negative view of African humanity to that end. How wrong I was.

The unending stream of letters that rest in the archive – exchanged between him and befriended intellectuals on his ideas, as well as concerning the spread and publication of his work with more distant contacts (among them several influential phenomenologists of those days) show that Tempels was very much concerned about the philosophical implications of his work, and that contemporary philosophers were also interested in that aspect. His aim was not to present an African worldview, calling it a philosophy, as another culturally interesting object in the world of (colonial) knowledge. He was – on the contrary – convinced that European philosophy was on a dead end road, as it had forgotten a more fundamental understanding of reality as vital force, that appeared present to him in many non-European philosophical systems, among them Daoist philosophy, Native American philosophies, and Bantu philosophy.

Was he right in his view? Did he convince in his attempts to be taken seriously? Did he not overplay his hand by describing – as a foreigner – what indigenous Baluba people told him about their understanding of reality? Was his being part of the colonial system (even though he held a critical view of assimilationist ideas in missionary work) not a too heavy burden on his work all the same? Too many questions, and let me make it clear: it is not my aim to defend Bantu Philosophy or its author before the court of decolonial history. My aim is to dig through the mess that colonial history is, to see how someone followed a strong calling to articulate a new approach in philosophy, how he (mis)understood what he was doing, maybe, and how he was (mis)understood by his contemporaries. My motive: all of this is not finished, of that I am convinced. The past is not over, it is still at work, and we still have to work through it to have a future together, as humans on this earth.

Philosophy curricula rarely include non-European “great thinkers”, and even less take philosophy seriously that has never been owned by individuals with “great” names, but that often was not owned at all, but still practised as the all too human effort to understand life and our place in it, and to guide ourselves while living here, now – in all kinds of societies and ages. To create a fundamental discussion of the standard curricula and their blindness to most human reflection outside that of a few “great men”, can only be done by looking and listening in other places than the all too familiar instruction books of philosophy – in real conversations with real people, and partly also in forgotten letters in a colonial archive.

This Silent Year 2021, or was it 2020?

I have been rather silent here these past years. Just a few blog posts. Many in my mind, as always, conceived sometime during the day doing other things, a few as drafts in my invisible wordpress writing studio, but very little finished and published. Contrary to appearances however, this (two-year-long) year was a very productive year – not in publications, but in investments in projects and – above all – in people. Let me mention some of what excited me and consoled me, and how I hope to develop things from here.

Workshops / meetings

It seems I have been at home the whole time, in more or less severe lockdowns. As if the only outside events were ever so many walks around the block or further, in parks and lanes. Still there were some live events, and because of their rarity they were more exciting and pleasant even. Like that trip to Leuven, in the autumn of 2021 – first time abroad, since february 2020… A mini-conference of the Dutch-Belgian research network Theological Ethics in the inspiring silent buildings of the ETF – the former Jesuit training institute, now the Evangelical Theological Faculty. We discussed new developments in the field, and our views of where we want it to go. It was a good reason to catch up with one of the former students of the Winter Course, who had just returned from a long research trip in Kivu, DRC.

Another inspiring workshop was just this past week at the University of Amsterdam – all distanced and with facemasks – on Derrida. organized by Mary Aude Baronian. Six colleagues discussed how their work was influenced or inspired by Derrida. So no exegesis, but critical extensions or new intellectual appropriations. My talk was titled: ‘From Algeria to Apartheid. Derrida and the Ambiguities of Decolonization’ – for myself an appetizer for the elective course I will teach in spring on Derrida and Africa. So good to get to know new people there and make new connections for the future.

The PhD students

The most wonderful experience these years, however, was to work with a growing group of PhD students – who work on Continental Philosophy, African Philosophy and Philosophy of Race. I am so humbled that they chose me to help them along, give feedback and support. One of them, from Nigeria, came over in this past summer to get introduced to our department and to some research colleagues. I saw most of them online, though. They gave presentations in one the research networks I have been chairing (Theological Ethics and African Intercultural Philosophy), they wrote their proposals and first, second, third chapters, took part in the reading group Critical Philosophy which I organize since several years, and were present in some of the conferences I visited or presented in. This is my thank you for the pleasant and interesting work to them!

Lectures, defenses, conferences

And, strangely enough, this was a very busy time giving lectures. Once, twice, sometimes even three times a month, as the online world made switching continents without visa, airplanes, and tiring planning of trips possible. There were weeks where I was in a PhD defense committee in South Africa as well as in a conference in Nigeria, or where I gave keynotes in the Philippines and Brazil – combinations I would never have been able to do with analogous travel (travel is exciting but also tires me a lot). I got to know new networks of colleagues in all these worlds, I learned so much from being with them, even on ever so many zooms!

Research projects

I have been planning and organizing several research projects which I hope to do the best work for before retirement. I organized and edited two books on African Philosophy, with my colleagues Bolaji Bateye, Louise Müller and Mahmoud Masaeli – now they are under review and we are in a waiting phase, prolongued by the effects of covid on so many people and institutions.

In its active phase is now the Bantu Philosophy project. With all the teaching that goes on continuously, writing and translating (which is my main task) did not progress enough to my taste, but our network of academic collaborators grew, also with honors students, interdisciplinary insights, and several applications for funding.

A third project concerns Indigenous Knowledge Systems. That is still in a phase of exploration, a few colleagues get to read my first project descriptions, want to collaborate in an interview series to map the cleft between ‘colonized’ academia and indigenous knowledge (more to come here!). Writing will come later.

Last but not least – teaching…

There was a lot going on there, revisions of courses, the elective course on 20th century African Political Philosophy, several editions of Diversifying Philosophy – with a few new texts every time, and this year a much valued zoom visit by Tommy J. Curry when students had read his take on article on the Gentrification of CRT. There was more, but let me leave it here. You have an impression now. It was a year of many investments. I hope to reap and harvest with all my valued research partners for years to come!

Critical Revisions and Alternative Approaches of Intercultural Philosophy

Just last week the third edition of our VU graduate Wintercourse in (alternatingly) Intercultural and African Philosophy was held. Last year the topic was African Philosophy in Global Times, with guest lecturers from Senegal, Cameroon, South Africa, this year we returned to the initial topic – Intercultural Philosophy, and as the subtitle ‘Critical Revisions and Alternative Approaches’ made clear, we looked into possibilities to critize and decolonize this relatively new and dialogical approach in academic philosophy.

Intercultural Philosophy as a specific field with that name is known in Europe since the 1990s, when men such as Ram Adhar Mall, Heinz Kimmerle and Franz Wimmer – all working in the German language philosophical space – wrote their systematic articles and books on the topic. As a practice – to dialogue beyond and to think through cultural differences – it is of course not restricted to any philosophical place. In the course we started out with these ‘grand old men’, to further discuss critical revisions of their Gadamer/Derrida inspired reflections on meaning and truth and alternative approaches to the topic as well.

All teachers led a lecture session and an interactive session. We had students of education, of philosophy (different fields), criminology and development. In Renate Schepen’s lecture we learned how Kimmerle learned from a philosopher such as Mogobe Ramose. In Monika Kirloskar‘s interactive session the students were one by one invited to reflect on the connection between the texts read and their own field of study and research. Pius Mosima shared how the Intercultural approach is at work among African philosophers such as Kwasi Wiredu and Henry Odera Oruka.

Together and each for themselves we worked to make our research work more grounded and more informed by insights and events from this postcolonial (and neocolonial) age. The presentations by the students gave ever so many interesting takes and clear analyses of the many texts digested in a short time.

Intense, one week, in the coldest month of the year here in the Netherlands. Still on Zoom, on three different continents, from nine different birth countries – our screenshot photo says it all: rays of intellectual light, warmth of connectedness in collaboration, and the joys of understanding characterised another great week in the VU Winter School. Thanks to all teachers, to all students, and to the people from the VU Winter School team who made things roll smoothly. May the light spread through your work.

The colonial, culture, and the non-colonial

This last week I was necessitated to clarify some things for myself. They concerned concepts – colonial, cultural, communal – all in contexts of conversations with colleagues in the international networks of people who struggle to truly decolonize philosophy. The first two will be the topic of this blogpost. I may return to the other another time soon.

Note: decolonizing philosophy is not just an academic matter, to make a career on, as Tuck and Yang warned us scholars of (in their article “Decolonisation is not a Metaphor“). It is also not only about landrights, as they argue it should be. As central as the issue of land is, conceptual matters are also always, even in the struggle for land rights, crucial.

Concepts can heal and concepts can betray. What is nowadays called ‘gaslighting’ is exactly that: betraying people through deceitful use of words. Make them think something is ‘normal’ or is ‘a fact’ when it is not, and you overpowered them without the need for physical violence. The cheapest way to dominate. A domination that is so unvisible it needs long and hard work to be (partly) undone.

Artwork by the author, acrylic on canvas.

The first conversation was brief, but went on in my mind – when a respected scholar from a formerly colonized part of the world said (without further explanation) that the very concept of ‘culture’ was suspicious. Ok. I can see it played a malignant role in colonial discourses of early ethnography – saying that non-white peoples had culture, whereas white ones had civilization. The first was then characterized by myth and folklore, the latter by science and reason. Of course. Later, much later, there were the times of multiculturalism, the 1990s, when thinkers and politicians from the oppressed and discriminated groups tried to let the very concept work for them, saying: ok, if you say we have culture, then we have a right to our culture, you have to respect its limits. It was an understandable move, but of course it didn’t solve oppression, as it left the oppresive conceptual hierarchy intact.

Then, in my reflections, an article passed by – from anthropologist-turned-sangoma-philosopher Wim van Binsbergen, on African contributions to world cultural history. He makes a claim for Afrocentrism, as an invitation to radically de-racialize scholarly understanding of humanity and its shared adventures. One of the important things he says in the article is that continents are a misleading (‘gaslighting’?) way to categorize and understand cultural groups. Cultural historical exchange is the effect of migrations, trading routes, climate changes, that run in divergent directions, on and across continents. Some things ‘African’ for instance may have developed in an exchange with ‘Asian’ societies in the times of the East-West trading routes of old, and vice versa. Some others may be answers to influences from the North, from ‘Europe’ (is Europe even a continent, a cartographer asked recently on Twitter), just as some things ‘European’ may have developed as answers to cultural developments from the South, from ‘Africa’. Van Binsbergen makes an important point there. If we want to do history truthfully, scientifically, the idea of ‘civilization’ may be the one to drop, instead of the one of culture.

To my view, culture is a world that roots in neolithical experience – it indicates working the earth to create crops that make sedentary life for humans possible. And as water always seeks the lowest possible place, humans have sought the least travel and discovery intensive life: that of the agri-cultural being. As a metaphor (the concept of culture is a metaphor) it indicates that human animals transform their world, and themselves, adorn it and sing about it and reflect on it and build ‘institutions’ in it. They all do, that is their way. European Enlightenment talk of civilization is gaslighting and should be abolished.

The second was in answer to a potential PhD candidate, who approached me some time ago with an interesting proposal. I was writing comments to the first version, and thought her goal – to repair a society damaged by colonialism by articulating its ontology – needed some finer articulation. I wrote her that next to colonial (to describe the life of those oppressed during that age) we needed another concept to repair history, ‘non-colonial’. I wrote: “this term I make up while writing, to indicate that colonized peoples will always have a level in their being where they resist their colonization and live their own ontology – although it may have gone underground because of repression”. Of course this is so. It is apparent, a no-brainer. When colonial ‘civilizers’ claimed they could take the ancient culture out of the people they were doing their work on, they were gaslighting those peoples, and themselves as accomplices of the violent system of inhumanity. They could not succeed in destroying the other’s way to live. Never. Damage yes. But on so many levels of resistance free realities live always on: in creolized languages, in ways to dress, in emotional economies, in secret signs to warn for danger from the enemy. It needs a word to articulate this reality in decolonizing work.

The non-colonial is the denial of the colony – a strong strategy of survival and of protecting truthfulness over gaslighting.

Rights and Duties

On June 14th, 1996, I saw this scene – the cortege of professors, with the university janitor in front, walking solemnly to their designed seats to interrogate me on my PhD thesis. I was lucky to be able to publish the thesis too, and the day of the promotion was the official day of its release. Following tradition of the University of Amsterdam, the city university, copies were already displayed in the reception room where we would go after the ceremony, in its solemn solid wood book cases, behind glass doors.

I was lucky in many respects. I had fulfilled my childhood desire to write and publish a book. A wide selection of old and new friends had come to support me on this day. Many family members were there. Several colleagues from my new university, the Vrije Universiteit, the ‘other Amsterdam university’, where I had acquired a postdoc position, were present. Good friends had helped to organize an afterparty at my home.

However, next to all the positives a cloud also hung over the event. A cloud reflecting the anxieties I had suffered during the eight years of struggle that was the way to the PhD. Anxieties resulting from hurdles that had almost let me quit the work several times. The competition between universities where I had sought guidance. Financial issues between them over my case, after my first supervisor had died and I had to find a successor for her. A conflict, after promising work before, with my second supervisor. My own financial issues, following bad advice and my stubbornness to not want to ask for an extension of my fellowship.

All these things maybe resulted from a lack of understanding of academic culture on my part. Nowadays people term someone like me a first generation PhD. My father had finished university studies up to the Masters level. In my mother’s family (I later learned) an architect grand uncle had acquired a professorship, but through the merit of his work and without a PhD. For me it often felt as a route through a minefield of expectations of the professors in power of those days, that I had to venture on my own. Not to mention going this road as a young woman in a country where almost no women were professors, and female students were seen as not more than accessories.

Still, somehow, through the cloud, I managed to be aware of what happened. I managed to enjoy every second of my achievement and academic survival. I even changed some rules, having asked to be able to sit during the ceremony, as I suffered problems with standing, being four months pregnant of my second child. The committee members put their questions forward, I replied to them, the cortege left again, they came back, and finally I was awarded the title of Doctor of Philosophy.

Now during the actual promotion, when my third and final supervisor spoke the official formula and thus performatively changed my academic status for the rest of my life, the final sentences impressed themselves on my mind – let me translate them from the Dutch:

“Value the acquired dignity as an honorable distinction and an important privilege, and therefore also never forget the duties that it imposes on you, over against science and society!”

Later I found that different universities have different formulas – and I have always been particularly happy that this one marked my transition to a doctor.

Why? Because it not only speaks of the rights the status entails, but also of the duties. The rights have been a blessing: I was able to stay in academia, an organisation like many others with its pros and cons, but for me the place to be. I was able to progress to postdoc and later assistant professor. It even has allowed me to supervise PhD students myself which is really a privilege!

The duties have never been out of my mind: to give back to society, by disseminating knowledge and insights acquired; but even more: to foster critical reflection – in a never ending process to check accepted ideas and outcomes of research. In an age of mistrust of science (and in my first language, Dutch, this means all systematic research: humanities, natural sciences as well as social sciences) to dedicate oneself to work in its garden – always weeding out prejudice and tending to the conditions for good research, makes for a wonderful never-ending adventure.

The Next Generation: Students’ Work (3)

This is the third and last (for now) of this little series of students’ papers from my course Diversifying Philosophy, the 2nd edition. This time you can read the work of Jasmine Campbell, who took the original (and relevant) approach to read the work of Fanon from an eco-philosophical perspective. Postcolonial critique and ecological philosophy are understood more and more in connection with each other, and this paper is a way in which this is practiced. I hope you will find this a fascinating piece. Here it is:

Postcolonial Sustainable Development. An Ecocritical Reading of The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

Introduction

The way in which countries are categorised or ranked is very often in terms of their level of development. Development is seen as the most important factor determining how well a country is doing, this often being with a very economic focus. We speak of developing and developed countries, or the third world and the first world, although these are often coined outdated and offensive.

Sometimes too the phrases less developed and more developed countries, or LEDCs (less economically developed countries) and MEDCs (more economically developed countries), are used. This distinction very much divides the world into what people perceive as better and worse countries. Better in this sense is almost synonymous to richer and worse to poorer. This division was once made by colonisers between the colonial powers and the colonies, and this division is still very much one that the West imposes on the rest of the world. Of course development is important, but why should all countries have to live up to this very economically focussed definition of development?

Further, what has in more recent times become of more and more importance is sustainable development. With global climate change a development that can be sustained for generations to come and that is more environmentally friendly is deemed to be of utmost importance. We can see this in the change from the UN’s Millennium Development Goals to their Sustainable Development Goals1 and the introduction and many signatories of the Paris Climate Agreement in 20162. However, many ask whether all countries should have to develop as sustainably as possible. For one, it is argued that only few countries, such as China, the United States who are the biggest polluters and together generate 44% of worldwide emissions3, so arguably contributing most to global climate change. It is also argued that the West got the opportunity to develop it’s industries unsustainable without caring for how much they were polluting to get to the point at which they are now and, therefore, developing countries should have this same opportunity. So, this view suggests that only the biggest polluters should be more sustainable as they are the cause of the problems and that developing countries should have the right to emit carbon without restriction to ‘catch up’. But this again reinforces that developing countries should ‘catch up’ with the West and that they would want to use the ‘western method’ in the process.

In this paper I would, thus, like to explore sustainable development and environmentalism in postcolonial thought. I have chosen to look at Frantz Fanon’s ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ and take an ecocritical reading of his work. I will be looking at how this ecocritical reading of Fanon fits into the broader field of ecocritical postcolonial thought. Frantz Fanon (1925-1961) was a psychiatrist and philosopher from Martinique. He wrote particularly influential works in the field of postcolonial studies, such as ‘Black Skin White Masks’ (1952) and ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ (1963)4. Fanon’s work was more human centred than environmental and focused on the way in which history can be seen in terms of oppression of colonisers and struggle of colonies5.

Fanon on Development and the Environment

In the conclusion of ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ Fanon seems to express his views on development and how decolonised countries should approach developing. The central idea of the conclusion is to avoid ‘the European way’, in all senses, to avoid their violent manner, genocide, slavery and exploitation. Fanon writes that they must “Leave this Europe”6 and “Shake off their heavy darkness”7. More importantly, he writes to abandon the ‘European method’, writing “We today can do everything so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe.”8. He advocates the creation of a new method of growth and development. This development can also be said of Europe’s treatment of the land. Fanon does not explicitly write this but it does in a sense point towards this. The ‘western mentality’ or “European spirit”9, as Fanon puts it, being focussed on rapid growth no matter the consequences has led to exploitation of people but also very much of land in the process. Therefore, when Fanon says to abandon the European way, this can also be said of the treatment of land and the environment when developing, as well as of people.

Fanon, further describes how Europe, in their need for continuous growth, power and wealth, are “running headlong into the abyss”10. This can be seen by the damages and pollution the West’s economic growth has caused. In their growth they have caused for global warming, mass extinction, rising sea levels, and many more disastrous effects11. If they keep going at this rate this will quite literally lead to a fall “into the abyss”, as scientists have warned us about the negative effects and the American Association for Advanced Science also has said that climate change is “is a growing threat to society”12. Fanon then writes that it is the task of the ‘third world’ to do better, to solve the problems Europe has created by not following this same mentality and extreme focus on economic growth. He writes “to resolve the problem to which Europe has not been able to find the answers […] what matters is to stop talking about output, and intensification, and the rhythm of work.”13. This can be said of the way the West is keen on mass production, over consumption, the living of very materialistic lifestyles, and in general the capitalist system, that in only being focussed on money exploits people and land.

Photo by Angela Roothaan

Fanon, in the chapter ‘On Violence’ in his The Wretched of the Earth, also describes a trait of the Europeans, or the West, that in decolonisation is discovered to not apply to the previous colonies. He describes a trend in the change of mentality from very individualistic to community oriented. He writes about how the ‘colonised intellectual’ follows the ‘coloniser bourgeois’ in their individualism, but then “witnesses the destruction of all his idols: egoism, arrogant, recrimination, and the idiotic, childish need to have the last word”14. He will see the strength of community, of village assemblies and caring for one another. Fanon describes how he will move away from the ‘every man for himself’ thinking and the economic growth oriented thinking. Fanon writes about a movement from “personal interests [becoming] the collective interest”15. This difference in mentality can also be regarded in terms of a relation with the environment. The ‘western individualism’ Fanon describes, or the ‘every man for himself’ concept, focuses on personal growth regardless of others and regardless of the land. This individualism can also be said to be a cause for capitalism. The ‘Westerner’ is much more prone to exploiting the land in his quest for wealth, which has led to the global climate change we see today. This focus on personal growth also does not consider the future generations and is not sustainable.

The importance the ‘third world’ places on community that Fanon describes shows a respect for others and for the land. It respects the homes of others and the environment. This community oriented thinking may also be much more prone to considering future communities or generations and their lives, and is this way much more sustainable. Coming back to the conclusion of Fanon’s work, this difference in mentality also would very much affect how these decolonised nations may go about their development and points at a much more sustainable development.

Postcolonial Ecocriticism and Sustainable Development

Coming back to more current thought on development and environmentalism, as was mentioned in the introduction, there seems to be a discussion going on on how non-western countries should ‘catch up’ in terms of development with the west. In 1986 the UN introduced the Right to Development to its Universal Declaration of Human Rights16. The UN describes how this right applies to people, it should be human centred but state led17. They do recognise that historically development has very much been considered a “primarily economic process measured by growth in gross national product”, and that this understanding still very much persists among many18. The UN considers the Right to Development to be closely linked to the fundamental right to self-determination and the right to sovereignty over natural wealth and resources19. The Right to Development, the UN writes, is also included in the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention [No. 169], in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indegiounous Peoples and in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights20. It can thus be seen this right, and, therefore, also the importance of development in general, is widely recognised, not only by the west. But, of course, not necessarily in its focus on economies but the human centred notion of development, which is also described by Fanon in his ‘The Wretched of the Earth’. The UN does note that development should be sustainable and highlights the importance of sustainability in their Sustainable Development Goals, in particular when it comes to development in goal 11: ‘Sustainable Cities and Communities’21. However, the question still goes to what extent sustainable development is required from, or in other words a duty of, developing countries.

Some would rather say that in order to ‘catch up’ with Europe, as Fanon strongly rejects the need for, European methods would have to be adopted and so developing countries should be exempt from reducing carbon emissions as western countries are being obliged to to respond to the threats that climate change brings for our future. Professor Zewei Yang adopts this view, writes about how reducing carbon emissions may inhibited China’s ability to further develop and describes “the right to carbon emission as a new right to development”22. Another such thinker, that Professor Yang also quotes in his paper, is Professor Albert Mumma of Nairobi University in Kenya, who states “the emission entitlements, in effect, are a proxy for the right to develop and meet the needs of one’s nation and the well-being of its people.”23. Yang goes on to describe how this right to carbon emissions represents the right to use the Earth’s resources in order to develop and that this should particularly be the case for developing countries24. Further, Yang describes how in the second article of the Copenhagen Accord also states that “. bearing in mind that social and economic development are the first and overriding priorities of developing countries”25.

Photo by Angela Roothaan

This view seems to require carbon emissions for the development of a country. It would seem that this is then also following the ‘European method’ of development, and opposes Fanon’s view.

This obsession ‘to catch up with Europe’26 Fanon writes of, is somewhat present in the idea that developing countries ought to have the right to carbon emissions to reach the same level of development as Europe and before they should consider environmentally friendly or sustainable development. Fanon, on the other hand, insists that it is the aim of developing countries to come up with new solutions to European problems, these problems here being pollution levels from carbon emissions, and can be said to thus recommend sustainable development in developing countries. This would also avoid the ‘running headlong into the abyss’27 that Fanon describes Europe’s method of development.

Many postcolonial thinkers would, like Fanon, disagree with Yang and Mumma’s stance. In the field of postcolonial ecocriticism the central task, as described by Helen Tiffin and Graham Huggin, is to contest and provide alternatives to western conceptions or ideologies of development28. Some thus hold that development as a whole is a European construct that is imposed on the rest of the world in order to keep Europe first. Sustainable development, in this view, is just a new version of this imposing development with a ‘pretty cover’, so to speak. It is made to look more attractive and good for the earth, but is just used to keep Europe ahead and in charge. German sociologist Wolfgang Sachs also states “what development means depends on how the rich nations feel” and that development is “at best a form of strategic altruism”, it is used as a reason for countries to give other countries aid to make these self-describe developed (and in their views thus also better) countries look good and is aimed at their concerns of their own politics and economies29. Development has also been described as adapting to the “needs of those who use it” and being used to self-congratulate and condescend, being based on Western presuppositions30. Graham Huggan and Helen Tiffin also describe in their ‘Postcolonial Ecocriticism’ (2006) the perhaps more extreme view held by Oswaldo De Rivero of

how “the myth of development, taking false support from ideas promiscuously linked to the Enlightenment ideology of progress and the Darwnian survival of the fittest” urging the ‘developing’ Southern countries to catch up with ‘developed’ Northern countries and so aso implementing a capitalist growth model that is damaging to the environment and unequal31. These views often extend to sustainable development. Wolfgang Sachs describes sustainable development as giving new life to development and covering up the criticism of development and its “destructive tendencies”32.

Sustainable development being said to be an effort to save the planet Sachs sees as “little more than a political alibi” to justify state intervention because the West wants to implement their methods of environmental management which very much concentrate on the survival of the industrial system33.

The rejection of the idea of catching up with Europe here by implementing its method of growth, being capitalism, can be very closely compared to what Fanon writes in his conclusion of ‘The Wretched of The Earth’ (1963). As stated before, Fanon very much rejects the need to ‘catch up’ with Europe and Europe’s methods, and would agree with this. Fanon also does not explicitly write about development, this is the term I chose for what he describes. Fanon describes “moving forward… in the company of all men” and of wanting to advance humanity34, which I would call development, not in the economic-centred sense of the term but rather a very human-centred development. However, Fanon may well have agreed with De Rivero’s notion of development as being a myth made up by the West, as it would be in line with his rejection of any inspiration from Europe. However, if we look at development as simply describing growth and increased well-being, this is very much what Fanon describes in his text. Sustainable development, in Fanon’s view may well be very important as previously described, but Sachs’ view here introduces the element of the Western notion of sustainable development versus other versions of sustainable development. It can thus be said that Fanon would rather advocate a sustainable development that does not follow or take inspiration from the western model of sustainable development.

Another postcolonial ecocriticism is also very present in criticism of neocolonialism. This can be seen all over the world where multinational companies can be said to replace colonial power by taking control of a country’s resources and industries and exploiting people for cheap labour. An example of this would be oil companies in Nigeria. Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1995), was a Nigerian environmental activist and writer35, who stood up against these oil countries and wanted them to be held accountable for the destruction of his home36. The oil company was stealing their natural resources and prohibiting the inhabitants of the land from benefiting themselves from the resources and building their own industries and economies around them and was also exploiting the land. Ken Saro-Wiwa’s advocacy and writing on this subject makes him an important figure not just as an environmental activist but also very much in postcolonial ecocritical thinking. Although, he is often left out of the field as ecocriticism, according to Rob Nixon, often focuses much on American-based writers and postcolonial criticism has concentrated “on a handful of ‘representative’ writers”37.

Similar are development projects in India that are introduced inspired by the West and a need to catch up. An example would be the Narmada Valley Development Project, which was a project to build dams in the Narmada river in order to provide electricity and safe drinking water to people in India38. The project is described by Arundhati Roy (1961-present), an Indian author and political and environmental activist39, as being “India’s Greatest Planned Environmental Disaster”40. The project caused mass protests and was found to use more energy than it produced41. The project caused for hundreds of thousands of local people to be displaced with a complete change to their daily lives, culture and economic self-sufficiency42. It can be seen that this western idea of development is being implemented but it does not contribute positively to the well-being of people, it is not human-centred development and focuses only on economic growth. The costs of the project were for a large part funded by the World Bank, which has also caused for India into an “economic bondage” which overcoming seems impossible43. It further contributes towards the increasing privatisation of natural resources and of energy sources, all in an effort to catch up with the West.

Conclusion

In conclusion, many links can be found between Fanon’s work and postcolonial ecocriticism. Taking an ecocritical reading of Fanon shows many similarities with ecocritical postcolonial thinkers and brings an interesting addition to discussions on environmentalism and sustainable development and critiquing western ideologies of sustainable development and development in general. We can clearly see Fanon’s disregard of the European method and the need to catch up with Europe are very present in postcolonial ecocritical writing such as that of Sachs, De Rivero, Saro-Wiwa and Roy. The aim of developing countries that Fanon describes as being finding new and better solutions for the problems Europe has created is very much in line with the project of postcolonial ecocriticism, being to contest and provide alternatives to the western ideologies of development. These problems Fanon describes can be seen as being, at least partly, to do with the environmental consequences of western development and so alternatives to this would be the solutions Fanon calls for developing countries to find. Fanon’s thinking would, thus, still also be very applicable in response to and as critique of neocolonialism as when it comes to multinational companies taking on the role of colonial powers this is very closely tied to a western notion of development and the imposing of this development on other countries.

Endnotes

1 Background of the Sustainable Development Goals. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/background/

2 The Paris Agreement. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the- paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement

3 Which countries are the world’s biggest carbon polluters? (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.climatetrade.com/which-countries-are-the-worlds-biggest-carbon-polluters/

4 Drabinski, J. (2020). Frantz Fanon. Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frantz- fanon/

5 ibid

6 Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of The Earth (p. 311). New York: Grove Press.

7 ibid

8 Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of The Earth (p.312). New York: Grove Press.

9 Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of The Earth (p. 313). New York: Grove Press.

10 Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of The Earth (p. 312). New York: Grove Press.

11 Global Warming Effects. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-effects/

12 AAAS Reaffirms Statements on Climate Change and Integrity. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-reaffirms-statements-climate-change-and-integrity

13 Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of The Earth (p. 314). New York: Grove Press.

14 Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of The Earth (p. 11). New York: Grove Press.

15 Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of The Earth (pp. 11,12). New York: Grove Press.

16Fact Sheet No. 37: Frequently Asked Questions on the Right to Development. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FSheet37_RtD_EN.pdf

17 ibid

18 ibid

19 ibid

20 ibid

21 Sustainable Development Goals. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html

22 Yang, Z. (2012). The Right to Carbon Emission: A New Right to Development. American Journal Of Climate Change, 01(02), 108-116. doi: 10.4236/ajcc.2012.12009

23 ibid

24 ibid

25 ibid

26 Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of The Earth. New York: Grove Press.

27 ibid

28Huggan, G., & Tiffin, H. (2010). Postcolonial Ecocriticism (pp. 27-46). New York: Routledge.

29 ibid

30 ibid

31 ibid

32 Huggan, G., & Tiffin, H. (2010). Postcolonial Ecocriticism (pp. 27-46). New York: Routledge.

33 ibid

34 Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of The Earth (p. 315). New York: Grove Press.

35 Ken Saro-Wiwa. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ken- Saro-Wiwa

36 Huggan, G., & Tiffin, H. (2010). Postcolonial Ecocriticism (pp. 27-46). New York: Routledge.

37 ibid

38 ibid

39 Arundhati Roy. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arundhati-Roy

40 Huggan, G., & Tiffin, H. (2010). Postcolonial Ecocriticism (pp. 27-46). New York: Routledge. 41Huggan, G., & Tiffin, H. (2010). Postcolonial Ecocriticism (pp. 27-46). New York: Routledge. 42 ibid

43 ibid

Bibliography

AAAS Reaffirms Statements on Climate Change and Integrity. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-reaffirms-statements-climate-change-and- integrity

Arundhati Roy. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arundhati-Roy

Background of the Sustainable Development Goals. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/background/

Drabinski, J. (2020). Frantz Fanon. Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frantz-fanon/

Fact Sheet No. 37: Frequently Asked Questions on the Right to Development. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FSheet37_RtD_EN.pdf

Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of The Earth. New York: Grove Press.

Global Warming Effects. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-effects/

Huggan, G., & Tiffin, H. (2010). Postcolonial Ecocriticism (pp. 27-46). New York: Routledge.

Ken Saro-Wiwa. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ken-Saro-Wiwa

Sustainable Development Goals. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html

The Paris Agreement. (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://unfccc.int/process-and- meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement

Which countries are the world’s biggest carbon polluters? (2020). Retrieved 20 December 2020, from https://www.climatetrade.com/which-countries-are-the-worlds-biggest-carbon- polluters/

Yang, Z. (2012). The Right to Carbon Emission: A New Right to Development. American Journal Of Climate Change, 01(02), 108-116. doi: 10.4236/ajcc.2012.12009

The Next Generation: Students’ Work (2)

In my latest blog post, I announced the publication of a few selected papers from my course Diversifying Philosophy. The second piece is by Aaron Mattias Cardona. The sources from the course Aaron linked to are The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon and the documentary Lumières Noirs by Bob Swaim. He linked the questions raised there on postcolonial identity of peoples to the case of the Zapatista movement in Mexico. The paper gives philosophical food for thought on culture, history and identity. It may be remarked that the picture painted of the Zapatista movement is very rosy, that it is unlikely that it contains no flaws as any liberation movement. All the same taking this case as the outline of a utopian political model for decolonisation, the essay provides a compelling read. Here it is:

Postcolonial Identity and the Zapatista Experience

“Admitting, on one side or the other, or on one of the thousand sides, that I can change by exchanging with the ‘other’ without losing my own identity… until we can manage this, all the social solutions, or political solutions and so on, will be fragile and stop-gap. The old demon of the exclusion of the other will always come back and lead to genocide, massacre, and holocaust” (Swaim, 49:20-50:02).

Thus spoke French writer Édouard Glissant on the topic of black liberation. This is the lens through which we have chosen to observe bygone anti-colonialist struggles. Famous movements of the 20^th century, such as the Front de Libération Nationale in Algeria, the Việt Minh in Vietnam, the Mouvement National Congolais in the Congo – all these subverted the colonial power-structures amidst chants of national liberation. Precisely this national-ness was left unsubverted, as a trace of the metropolis. This colonial spore was enough for the power-structures’ continued perpetuation. How have the emancipated peoples indigenous to their liberated regions followed the European path to neoliberalization? The schism of society was not abolished, it was merely transformed – and even today, in the backstage of civilization, the light of rebellion and unrest flickers, decades after the colonizers’ expulsion.

In this essay, rather than looking to respond to the above question, we would like to pose an alternative path to liberation, one we believe to be more fruitful; that of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional). For this, we will begin by sketching out the contour of the Chiapas conflict (1994-present) and its determining factors – as well as major events – in order to understand the EZLN’s political structure and ideology, and the manner in which these are pregnant with indigenous traditions. Therefore, this essay deals with the question of (national) identity in general and with the Zapatista experience in particular, hoping to etch out a way forward for future emancipation in the postcolonial era.

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/theklan/5312620093

Historical Context¹

Chiapas from the 16^th Century to the early 20^th Century. Ever since Spanish conquistadors established colonial towns and encomiendas in the Lacandon jungles, the indigenous peoples of Chiapas – not unlike elsewhere – experienced tremendous hardships. Although Mexico officially ceased to be a colony after the War of Independence in 1821, indigenous communities’ hankering for freedom was crushed by the new regime’s neglect. Only during the Mexican Revolution of 1910 did this horizon re-open. The Liberation Army of the South (Ejército Libertador del Sur) led by Emiliano Zapata rallied for land reform in the name of the peasantry – largely constituted by natives –, a call heretofore unanswered. Although the insurgents eventually were forced to enter into peace-negotiations with the Mexican government after Zapata’s assassination, the seeds for the EZLN had been sown.

The Chiapas Conflict. Founded a decade after Zapata’s assassination, the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) had emerged victorious from every presidential election in Mexico. Its dominant regime had been characterized as authoritarian by many a disillusioned citizen, but its continuous perpetuation caused many to lose faith in electoral reform. Amidst such concerns, the FLN (Fuerzas de Liberación Nacional) – a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist guerrilla – emerged in the late 1960s. In subsequent years, the FLN existed tumultuously as the haunting specter of communism in Mexico; which was duly responded to with military reaction by the army. A handful of the FLN’s members grew increasingly pessimistic of successful nation-wide insurgency, and founded the EZLN in 1984. This new organization, mostly consisting of non-indigenous (i.e. mestizo) members, went underground for the next decade, engaging in base-building and recruitment processes in indigenous communities in Chiapas (see “Collectivity and Spirit” below).

Meanwhile, in the presidential elections of 1988, the PRI candidate – Gonzalo Salinas de Gortari – won in highly controversial (and later demonstrably fraudulent²) manner. Thus began a period of stricter economic liberalization, culminating in 1992, when de Gortari’s government amended the constitution; reforming Article 27 to enable the privatization of not only communal land – on which campesino indigenous communities’ lives depended –, but also state-owned enterprises and institutions. Furthermore, on the 1^st of January 1994, the NAFTA trade-deal was enforced. The EZLN shook off its decade-long slumber of underground recruitment, and awakened its military wing as they took advantage of New Years’ celebrations to take over key towns and buildings in Chiapas – liberating prisoners and vandalizing police headquarters. The insurgents’ demands were clear; constitutional recognition of and autonomy for the indigenous peoples of Mexico. The demands were, in practice, a declaration of war.

The consequences were to be observed immediately. The economy slumped. De Gortari’s government defaulted on IMF-loans, and the peso’s value plummeted. The crisis was, in part, due to drastic reforms to the country’s political economy – but nonetheless, the insurgents played their part; foreign investors pre-emptively evaded Mexico due to the instability of encroaching civil war. Through a ceasefire orchestrated by the liberation theologian Samuel Ruiz, the EZLN was granted control over a small region in Chiapas – a peace-treaty which ended shortly after, in 1995, due to a military offensive by the army. A prime example of this conflict’s violence is the 1997 Acteal Massacre, where a paramilitary³ took the lives of 45 members of the pacifist organization Las Abejas for their support for the Zapatistas’ cause.

Only in 2001 did the tides seemingly begin to turn. The PRI for the first time lost their presidential elections to Vicente Fox from the conservative PAN (Partido Acción Nacional). The new government proceeded with Zapatista peace-negotiations – and the long sought-after inclusion of the indigenous in the constitution was materialized. Autonomy and self- determination within the framework of a united nation has ever since been recognized. This autonomy – autonomy of the indigenous – marks the emergence of new “indigenous ideology” as the internal re-affirmation of cultural self-esteem. Henceforth a new “self” has been in the books. But this self – what is it?

Zapatista Political Organization and Ideology

The Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle. In 2005, from the depths of the rainforest, the Zapatistas published the most important document they have released up to date; outlining their political mission and their Weltanschauung.

Reiterated multiple times is the key concept of horizontalism (as opposed to democratic centralism). The EZLN breaks from previous insurgencies in Latin America by adopting an autonomist strategy – rather than Marxist-Leninist (M-26-7, Cuba) or Marxist- Leninist-Maoist (Shining Path, Chile) approaches. The Zapatistas see themselves as a political movement not by a revolutionary vanguard, but from and of the people. By appealing to and grounding themselves explicitly in civil society, they “have been able to build that feeling that they [civil society] are participating with, and not behind [the movement]” (Monsivais and Bellinghausen 13).

In practice, this translates into the MAREZ (Municipalidades Autónomas Rebeldes Zapatistas). These municipalities are self-governed by the communities which inhabit them, and are mostly ruled according to traditional indigenous precepts. The municipalities therefore decide, by consensus, which person – from the same municipality – is to govern, and have the power to recall them at any moment. An important element of this is that the EZLN practically dissolves itself, instead of taking over previously-existing political structures.

In this manner, the EZLN successfully separates its politico-military influence from autonomous MAREZ by gradually transferring all executive powers to the municipal authorities (Juntas de Buen Gobierno). Members of the community are appointed to take over all tasks previously taken up by the rebels – including security – in rotating manner, in order to ensure the municipality’s autonomy from the EZLN, by teaching each of its members all necessary tasks. “We believe that a community which fails to keep an eye on its government is condemned to become a slave – and we fight to be free, not to change master every six years.” (“Sexta Declaración de la Selva Lacandona”).

The Zapatistas therefore clearly see themselves as the revolutionary face of civil society. Who belongs in the society they represent? Here a mixture of class solidarity and collaborationism is noticeable, as La Sexta⁴ calls for an alliance of all individuals in all social classes whose interests are opposed to those of neoliberalism. Case-in-point, the Zapatistas consider all people to be included in this premise. Subcomandante Galeano (“III. ¿El individuo contra el colectivo?”), de facto spokesman of the EZLN, in correspondence with Mexican philosopher Luis Villoro, describes that fundamental humanity is only achievable in collectivity – a collectivity of solidarity, of collaboration; of co-existence. Citing Bertolt Brecht (vv. 69-75),

Ach, wir

Die wir den Boden bereiten wollten für Freundlichkeit Konnten selber nicht freundlich sein.

Ihr Aber, wenn es soweit sein wird

Dass der Mensch dem Menschen ein Helfer ist Gedenkt unsrer

Mit Nachsicht.⁵

we may ask, how does such collectivity emerge, and why has it hitherto failed to do so? As posed, the Zapatistas appeal to traditional indigenous practices – hence, a particular MAREZ’s social ontology corresponds to e.g. Tzotzil social ontology.

Collectivity and Spirit

The Heart (o’on) and its Potentialities (ch’ulel). For Tzotzil people, thoughts and feelings (synthesized in ‘thoughts-feelings’) reside in the heart (o’on). As a metaphor, this is not hard to conceptualize for us, since we also use the heart as the physical location of our emotions (e.g. love/pain in my heart, etc.). But what is novel for us is the conception of these thoughts- feelings as realizations of inherent potentialities (ch’ulel) of the heart. The closest equivalent in western philosophy is a Bergsonian/Deleuzian “virtual” reality – thus we could say that ch’ulel exists “virtually” in the heart. This ch’ulel is immanent in every interaction (which are all inherently relational) any entity has with another – living or non-living – and determines the relationship of the two. For example, a sheep’s potentiality to produce wool determines its relationship to humans who need clothing to keep themselves warm, which in turn determines the relationship of the human to the sheep. Collectivity emerges in the form of a community- traversing ch’ulel, which creates the “collective heart”, binding the members together into the “shared space of a single heart” (Fitzwater 34). This process is named ichbail ta muk’.

In a word, Tzotzil collectivity is the reciprocal interaction by which a “collective heart” is created through an encompassing potentiality. This potential is what determines the relationship of a particular heart to another – creating a larger (ergo collective) heart – and thus could be said to be the relationship itself, in its virtual form within the heart. According to EZLN educators, concepts such as dignity, autonomy, democracy, etc. can only be the result of a particular people’s creation as a collective – through ichbail ta muk’.

The Postcolonial Realm

The Colony is Dead, Long Live the Colony! 20^th century anticolonial struggles were nationalist movements – seeking liberation/emancipation for people ascribing to a national identity (a shared history, culture, ethnicity, religion, etc.). Nation-building, according to Eric Hobsbawm, is the construction of a political artifact along this idea (110). Simultaneously, this construction is an inherently western pursuit, and, as Franz Fanon declares, the colonial power-structure must not only be overtaken, but destroyed altogether (6). The failure to do so is key to understanding the postcolonial nations of the 20^th century, for their postcolonial-ness is merely nominal in the sense that colonial rationality itself has not been peeled off. A nation which identifies itself through colonial categories – the colonizer and the Other (e.g. the native, the negro, the indian, etc.) – finds itself entrapped within the colonial paradigm.

Slavoj Žižek describes this colonial paradigm as a rupture which creates the possibility for an entirely novel one (Žižek, “The Hegelian Wound”). The people indigenous to a region which become colonized thus become an ontologically new community, precisely bound by their colonial experience. But is the movement to extricate oneself from the fetters of colonialism a movement identifiable with an identity? Is the dovetailing of indigenous identities a colonial mindset, or a radically anticolonial one?

The Zapatistas and the Re-Enchantment of the World. Michael Löwy stated in reference to the Zapatista movement that,

“ . . . we must grant them one tremendous virtue: in these gloomy closing years of the century, in this time of triumphant neoliberalism, of rampant commercialism, of galloping cynicism, of a politics of politicians, they have succeeded in making people dream – in Chiapas, in Mexico, and in places all over the planet. They are re-enchanters of the world.” (Löwy 1)

Taking the notion of “re-enchanters” quite literally, we may approach the answer to our inquiry.

The EZLN’s anticolonialism is not a secular undertaking. We must remember that it is the realization of the collective heart’s potentiality which forms the movement per se. As such, this movement, by being pregnant with indigenous- ness, is in and of itself anticolonial, by virtue of these traditions’ pre- and non- coloniality. By a lack of adherence to colonial conjuncture the latter is contradicted and conflicted. This movement – in the form of the EZLN – is at once the antecedent and consequent of the emerging collectivity (for it sparks it, and is the materialization thereof).

It is not a radical-democratic revolution, it is an indigenous rebellion. The Zapatistas are civil society, and how the latter is organized is up to itself – not a politico-military hegemon in the form of EZLN commanders. Colonialism punctures indigenousness, leaving an unfulfilled and unfulfillable lack in the hearts of its victims⁶. But nonetheless, as long as there is a lack, there is a trace of the forlorn – to rebel is not to resuscitate it. Ichbail ta muk’ is the foreclosure of a no longer existing identity, a creation of a new collectivity, a new self – a negation of the negation. To obtain what never obtained, a return to a future identity. But what does this mean?

As mentioned above, the fundamental failure of the global postcolony is the appropriation of colonialism by those who overthrew it – consequentially, a perpetuation of the status quo. Returning to Glissant (see introduction above), the event-horizon of colonialism is the exchange without change. Insofar as the Algerian nationalists failed to permanently revolt against ontological colonialism, they failed, even if they achieved independence. The Zapatistas do not take the reins after the overthrow, they are passed on to the Being which allowed the moment (in the form of Zapatista rebellion) to occur; civil society, now comprised of pure collectivity, governed by itself. The difference therefore is essentially this: Unlike anticolonialists, the Zapatistas are not a movement, but a moment in the realization of civil society’s collective hearts. Rather than an army for national liberation, the Zapatistas are thus the object and subject of the liberatory process, they are from and for civil society, they are indigenous, they are the megaphone for the communities of Chiapas. They emerge to fight, and they disappear to govern; the conflict is not a flip of the power-relation, the conflict is a rupture which precedes the rule of postcolonial identity over the postcolony. Whereas the past was liberation for the Other (relative to the colonizer’s Self), the Zapatistas do not acknowledge the distinction.

As Chinua Achebe describes the process in terms of writing (343), decolonization is practically unachievable, because the concepts used therefor are intrinsically European (e.g. political boundaries, state apparatuses, modes of production/distribution, military doctrines, etc.). This is precisely what kneecapped past anticolonialism. Neozapatismo evades these problems (e.g. lack of political boundaries; municipal self-governance along indigenous consensus-building; communal land and distribution; dissolution of EZLN’s politico-military apparatus at municipal level; etc.). Essentially, a transgression from without, rather than an interior development.

Actually-Postcolonial Identity. To finally reach the point of this asymptotic explanation, we may summarize the distinction between the Zapatistas and the rest. The identity (or perhaps post-identity?) of the Zapatistas sublates the colonial paradigm (e.g. prevalence of feminist theory). The colonial identity-categories impose themselves onto traditional forms of self-acknowledgment and engrave them forever⁷. The postcolonial gaze is not reverted, it is abolished through a respective abolition of the postcolonial nation. The Zapatistas are not ‘in-power’, the regions under their control are free indigenous municipalities, and their objective is an eventual liberation of the entire postcolonial realm – not by means of a universal ideology, but through each collective’s own heart.

Thus, on the one hand, the Zapatistas de-secularize the social at the level of the collective, and secularize the political at the level of governance. This suspension of the liberal and the traditional allows for a new type of identity, that of a truly rooted collective, rather than a national, individual, or political identity.

Conclusion

To return to the thread proposed in our introduction – in what way is the ELZN’s liberatory program preferable in lieu of other 20^th century “nationalist” movements? Our argument has been one of stability, perpetuity, and emancipation. By losing the chains of colonial concepts, by immersing itself into “civil society”, by de- and re- appropriating aspects of democratic radicalism, the Zapatista movement ensures its autopoiesis whilst retaining its roots in its base. Evading authoritarianism, economic liberalization, and exclusion, the Zapatistas distinguish themselves from national- liberation programs such as Nicaragua’s, China’s, or Algeria’s.

Therefore, in a final word, we believe the ELZN has taken the first steps down a road of future liberation for the colonized, creating a collective identity not based on any creed, ethnicity, or milieu, other than the belonging to the same collectivity which emerges from itself.

Footnotes:

¹ The historical account is, understandably, abbreviated and summarized – arguably even vulgarized – for the purpose of the essay.

² In 2005, Miguel de la Madrid (president from 1982-1988) admitted that the elections of 1988 had been rigged in favor of de Gortari.

³ In September 2020, the Mexican government confirmed its participation in and responsibility for the 1997 Acteal Massacre.

⁴ The Sixth Declaration is conventionally known as “La Sexta”.

⁵ Oh, we / Who wanted to prepare the ground for friendliness / Could not be friendly ourselves / But you, when the time comes / That man may befriend man / Think of us / With indulgence.

⁶ Prior to being colonized, a collective has no identity in the western sense. After imposing the colonial categories of identification, a “missing” identity emerges. Previously unidentified, now a self-identification with the Other (in the Colonizer-Other dichotomy) occurs. As the non-colonizer, characterized by the colonizer through a non-existent mythological prior identity (as the indigenous). This lack is an appropriation of this non- identity and a yearning for it (which tends to spark anticolonial movements) – causing a rallying behind a “self” which never existed, and is posited in the act of rallying itself. Thus, only through the colony can the colonized overthrow it, and the rope used to hang the former is a past-self emerging in the present; in the same act of overthrow.

⁷ The colony imposes its mode of identification (self-other, colonizer-colonized). The anticolonialists, in order to fight the dichotomy, tendentially immerse themselves into it – through a self-identification with the other (see footnote 6). But due to being of and from the same dualism, this movement fails to break out of the colonial paradigm. A negation of the negation is achieved through a third term – an outside abolition/dissolution of the dichotomy. By not identifying themselves as the other, Zapatistas do not participate in this duality.

Sources

Swaim, Bob, director. Lumières Noires. 2006.

Monsivais, Carlos, and Hermann Bellinghausen. “A New Direction – Marcos Outlines the Zapatista Change of Strategy in 2001.” La Jornada, 8 Jan. 2001.

“Sexta Declaración De La Selva Lacandona.” Enlace Zapatista, 19 Feb. 2019, enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/sdsl-es/.

Galeano, Subcomandante Insurgente. “SCI Marcos: DE LA REFLEXIÓN CRÍTICA, INDIVIDU@S Y COLECTIV@S. Carta Segunda a Luis Villoro En El Intercambio Espistolar Sobre Ética y Política.” Enlace Zapatista, 5 Apr. 2015, enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2011/04/11/sci-marcos-de-la-reflexion-critica-individus-y- colectivs-carta-segunda-a-luis-villoro-en-el-intercambio-espistolar-sobre-etica-y- politica/.

An Die Nachgeborenen, by Bertolt Brecht, 1939, vv. 69–75.

Fitzwater, D. E. (2019). Autonomy is in our hearts: Zapatista autonomous government through the lens of the Tsotsil language (p. 34). PM Press.

The Age of Capital (1848-1875), by Eric Hobsbawm, Abacus, 1997, p. 110.

Fanon, Franz. The Wretched of the Earth, p. 6.

Žižek, Slavoj. The Hegelian Wound, 8 Oct. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRsrYi- wXro&ab_channel=DeutschesHaus.

Löwy, Michael. “Sources and resources of Zapatism.” Monthly Review, vol. 49, no. 10, Mar. 1998, p. 1+. Gale Academic OneFile. Accessed Nov. 2020.

Achebe, Chinua. “English and the African Writer.” Transition, no. 75/76, 1997, pp. 342–349. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2935429. Accessed 23 Nov. 2020.

Further reading

Reyes Godelmann, Iker. “The Zapatista Movement: The Fight for Indigenous Rights in Mexico.” Australian Institute of International Affairs, 30 July 2014, www.internationalaffairs.org.au/news-item/the-zapatista-movement-the-fight-for- indigenous-rights-in-mexico/.

Zapatista Timeline. 28 Oct. 2015, schoolsforchiapas.org/teach-chiapas/zapatista-timeline/. Bellinghausen, Hermann. “Zapatistas, Una Transformación De 25 Años.” Revista De La Universidad De México, Apr. 2019, pp. 39–45.

“Chapter Two: The Zapatista Clandestine Organization: The Creation of a Collective Heart (O’on) and Collective Potentiality (Ch’ulel).” Autonomy Is in Our Hearts: Zapatista Autonomous Government through the Lens of the Tsotsil Language, by Dylan Eldredge Fitzwater, PM Press, 2019, pp. 30–47.

The Next Generation: Students’ Work (1)

Last year, long before covid happened, for the first time I taught the bachelor course designed to ‘diversify’ Philosophy. I posted about the experience here. This year the first group (we have two language programs in Philosophy at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) had its classes in November and December. Its format, with presentations, self study assignments and paper writing, seemed to balance some of the loss of direct contact, and it was amazing how most students remained active during the long sessions with discussions. But maybe it was not my course design, but just their passion for learning, or their talent, that made this course so wonderful to teach.

The end papers generally were of a very high quality too. A few of them stood out by the fact that they were not only well-written, showed independent research in combination with a good grasp of the study material, but also an original focus. I asked these students if I could give their paper a bit more exposure on my blog, and all agreed. So the coming weeks you will find their papers here, a longer read than my usual blog post, but I think worthwhile.

The first piece is by Anastasia Khairova. The minimal requirements were for the students to refer to one or two of the texts read in the course and add their own questions and further readings and combine them to an essay of max. 3000 words. The course texts here mentioned were of Charles Mills and Frantz Fanon. Anastasia focused however mainly on the recent, French language work of Norman Ajari, thus introducing its content to an English language audience. Here is her essay:

Conceptualising a Black Ontology (by Anastasia Khairova)

But African, or more precisely, Blackness, refers to an individual who is by definition always already void of relationality. Thus modernity marks the emergence of a new ontology because it is an era in which an entire race appears, people who, a priori, that is prior to the contingency of the ‘transgressive act’ … stand as socially dead in relation to the rest of the world. — Frank B. Wilderson, 2010

            Racism and anti-blackness shape the dominant Western culture on such profound levels that it would be impossible to discuss in just one essay. Instead, this essay will attempt to focus on the most dire consequences of white supremacy on the inner condition of black people, and discuss how white supremacy through its three prongs — the political, moral and epistemological hegemony perpetually stunts self-actualisation of non-white people and limits the understanding of oneself as a relational being, both inside black communities and in relation to white people. A black ontology would then serve as a unified body of philosophical thought aimed at decolonising the current understanding of being, analyse the impacts of white supremacy on self-development of non-white people and encourage self-actualisation in a white supremacist system, ultimately leading to its overthrow. Such an ontology is in need of constant reworking and supplementation, as it would rely on deconstruction of the false epistemology of white supremacy and therefore be heavily based on revising history as well as unlearning the effects of racism. A project by francophone philosopher Norman Ajari undertakes a similar, although not nearly as extensive task of decolonising philosophy in order to understand the problem of recognition, which he sees as central for a black ontology; he draws upon African philosophy to create a political and ethical system of black thought as a counterbalance to white supremacy.

            The system responsible for the need for a black ontology in the first place is that of white supremacy. Charles Mills discusses the composition of the system of white supremacy in depth, describing how the white race came to dominate and impose a political, moral and epistemological hegemony which not only subjugated and dehumanised non-white people, but also stunted the growth of their culture and prevented self-actualisation in a way that was allowed for whites (Mills 16). Mills introduces a philosophical concept of a social contract between whites, titled the Racial Contract, which encompasses different ways of white supremacy operating in a society. The political aspect of the contract concerns itself with the origins of government and the political obligations of citizens (Mills 9). The moral contract is a foundation of the moral code established for a society, and the epistemological aspect of the contract prescribes an inverted epistemology characterised by ignorance and cognitive dysfunctions (Mills 10). Mills writes that white misunderstanding and self-deceptions on the matters of race is a pervasive mental phenomena that tries to hold together the system of white supremacy. To conceive of a black ontology, there needs to be a new outlook on the political, moral and epistemological aspects of white supremacist reality as to challenge the established view created by the Racial Contract.

            Norman Ajari, in his work La dignité ou la mort: Ethique et politique de la race aims at adopting an afro-decolonial perspective in order to “make it the starting point of a new ethical approach inspired by the Africana philosophy” (Ajari 20). At the heart of Africana philosophy and the decolonial project is the reality of struggle for recognition of black people — Ajari identifies the struggle for or in dignity as the central issue to address. He chooses to discuss three notions of dignity that marked their times — Giovanni Pico della Mirandola of the Renaissance, Immanuel Kant who shaped the German Enlightenment and contemporary Jürgen Habermas. Ajari sees dignity as the image that Europe wanted to give itself, and therefore finds it essential to study how the concept of dignity developed.

            While in the classical era, dignitas referred to the social standing of an individual, the Renaissance presented a new humanist outlook on dignity as self actualisation in autonomy and ontological solitude. The Romans viewed dignitas as a societal function — although the word does not have a direct English translation, it referred to the amount of influence and reputation a Roman citizen acquired throughout his life. Humanism radically transformed the concept of dignity, encouraging individuals to pursue the goal of enlightenment, and the Church reappropriated the Latin dignitas to be associated with Christian celestial hierarchy found in Heaven. Mirandola in his book Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486) draws a distinction between the concept of dignity and the Latin notion of dignitas —  Ajari believes that through discussing dignity, Mirandola radicalised the hierarchy entailed in dignitas, thus enforcing the opposition between the human and the inhuman. Through this division, Mirandola unknowingly introduced anthropological foundations of colonisation through making a distinction between divine humans and animal beings. Ajari gives an example of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, in which the face of humanism, the mage Prospero, is contrasted with his slave Caliban, a savage monster. The distinction between human and non-human resulting from Mirandola’s analysis will give power to the white man over others in a colonial context.

            Deification of European humans allowed thinkers like Kant to introduce philosophical systems which discussed dignity without including Africans in his idea of personhood. Although Kant did not have a Manichean view of opposition between the demonic and the divine, he instead thought of a minority, characterised by laziness and cowardice opposed to a majority characterised by reason. This is a harsh juxtaposition with Kantian ethics, which aim to protect the inherent worth of every human and are against using anyone as a means instead of an end in itself. And yet, it is in the name of the dignity that Europe judged the black existence abject, desired the disappearance of their lifestyles and insisted on a civilizing mission (Ajari 54).

            Habermas takes a less abstract position on dignity and advocates for regaining an ethical dimension of dignity in addition of a legal one in the framework of a state. He argues that contemporary liberal democracies should guarantee dignity through norms and institutions of European nations, and ensure dignity for all members of said state through constitutionally enshrined rights. Ajari identifies a tension here between those who see European liberalism as the right arena to express that dignity and those who are threatened by that framework — state monopolisation of dignity cannot protect those on the margins or stifle human suffering.

            Ajari rounds off by discussing the dark side of modernity that has been glazed over by Western philosophers — although philosophers such as Horkheimer and Adorno wrote extensively on the negative consequences of the Enlightenment, they did not reflect on the consequences of colonisation or slavery. Ajari also uses the example of Italian philosopher Adriana Cavarero who studied the subject of contemporary violence and, inspired by Arendt, developed the concept of ‘horrorism’ as a negation of human dignity. In her work, the example of Auschwitz is used as the epitome of the crimes of Europe and as the main paradigm of horrorism. The use of Auschwitz as the culmination of radical political violence is common, and Ajari highlights how the massacres of Native Americans or the transatlantic slave trade are hidden from the public eye and hardly discussed.

            After addressing the ethical and historical aspects of white supremacy through the notion of dignity, Ajari addresses the political side of the system. As asserted by several black thinkers, most notably Fanon, life without dignity leads to a necessary politicisation of being. In his work Black Skin, White Masks, Fanon analyses the life of black people in a system of white supremacy, a colonised world — a life confined to a system that has through generations shaped the mode of thinking in black people. For the most ardent racists, the mere existence of a black person is a provocation: it follows then that in such a world, all of black existence is politicised. Ajari echoed Fanon’s statements: “Unworthy is black life, in the form of death, imposed by a world founded on white supremacy; the Negro philosopher himself can only appear as a learned monkey” (Ajari 100). Ajari highlights with this quote how his work as a contemporary philosopher is undervalued and ignored. He understands that only the decolonial approach can showcase the variety of experiences and political constructions of the marginalised, which is why he engages with many primary sources of slaves and black revolutionaries in European colonies of the 19th century. Drawing inspiration from many forgotten texts of historical figures, Ajari showcases his commitment to the complex process of decolonisation.

            Ajari elaborates on the space between life and death which he sees as characterising the black experience — he uses the term ‘forme-de-mort’ which could best be translated as a form-in-death, an existence on the borderline.  This parallels the thinking of American philosopher Jared Sexton, who asserts that ‘black life is lived in social death’ (Sexton 24). Walcott sees black social death as a necessary criterion for European project of modernity — humanness has been consistently defined against black people, excluding them from the category of ‘a life’ and creating an existence marked by social death (Walcott 93). Only through what Walcott calls a pure decolonial project can black existence leave the liminal space between life and death and bring an end to European rule (Walcott 104). Ajari asserts that through politicisation of suffering that the struggle for dignity was first established: the next step is the implementation of an ethics of dignity.

            Ajari discusses black theology and music as an external politicisation of the struggle for dignity — black Christianity and black churches have provided gathering spaces, information, and a space to express desire for emancipation. Fanon chastises the missionaries who went on pilgrimages in Africa and affirms them as (cultural) colonisers, but in many places in Africa or later, in the United States, Christian churches have been a privileged place for the affirmation of black dignity (Fanon 7). Christianity was the religion of the masters, legitimising the ‘civilizing mission’ of Europe, but it also became the religion of the oppressed, that which called for revolt and independence. Ajari shows how a black theology was built in order to “awaken the dignity of Afro-descendants, to restore their confidence in their individual being in their collective struggle against oppression”. Another instance of external politicisation is seen in black musical practices of jazz, blues and more recently, genres such as hip-hop. Musical expression helped testify to the racial oppression and struggle while the blues and soul music became inseparable from the Church, as it combined self expression with prayer.

            After analysing the historical and political aspects of white supremacy, Ajari finally turns to introduce a new moral outlook and an ethical philosophy crucial for the establishment of a black ontology. He aims to revive African philosophical theories to introduce a new concept of dignity, separate from Western thought, which would allow for the liberation of the black race. Ajari draws from Fabien Eboussi Boulaga, a Cameroonian philosopher who worked on the hermeneutics of Muntu, and from Desmond Tutu, a South African theologian who popularised Ubuntu philosophy. The concept of Muntu, meaning ‘human being’ in Bantu languages, highlights the relationality of the individual. This relationality of humanness is seen in the term Ubuntu, also a Bantu concept meaning ‘humanity’, which could alternatively be translated as ‘I am because we are’. For Ajari, this undermines Kant’s conception of dignity — dignity is not found in an individual, it is not a sovereign subject without external relations. Dignity of Ubuntu is not abstract, and instead is found in relationships between individuals and their histories. The ethics that Ajari is proposing is based on community and respect, as well as understanding the deeper connectedness of all individuals. Ajari writes: “to restore the dignity of a human being, to reestablish it in Ubuntu, to allow him to regain his quality of Muntu, is to allow him to deploy and weave again all the reports that terrible violence suffered or committed made impossible.” (Ajari 227).

            After carefully considering three prongs of the system of white supremacy, Ajari can turn to the creation of a black political ontology, which he sees as the exit of the black being from the non-being zone in which he is confined. Fanon spoke how every ontology is made unattainable in a colonised society — the colonised are seen as a flaw that does not have an ontological explanation. Ontology does not permit the understanding of a black man; he can only be black in relation to the white (Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, 110). This creates the life suspended in death that Ajari has referenced throughout his work, and now turns to reform. He returns to the question of recognition and applies it to the current treatment of migrants in Europe, which he sees to be enduring comparable treatment to the postcolonial migrants from the former Caribbean colonies. The migrant is stripped of all dignity, their life is seen as ‘disposable’ — Ajari believes that European treatment of migrants stems from a racialised conception of nationality. Negrophobia has become the universal language of racism, and thus black struggle can become a universal refuge for all victims of xenophobia (Ajari 281).

            A black political ontology needs to show the opposition between being and non-being, between life and death, between White and Black. To think of a black political ontology is to conceive of a subject originally constituted by violence, born in dehumanisation and inscribed in a history of exclusion. In colonialism, the black being was perceived as a slave, devoid of freedom and dignity — it was an experience of negation. The phrase ‘black dignity’ marks an exit to defy this negation. “Black dignity is not the rejection of death, but the power of survival which springs from the very bottom of death, and the power of the dead which affects life” (Ajari 304). The importance of Ajari’s philosophical work lies in the fact that the sees the black condition, as a form of unworthiness, not only through purely theoretical elements, but incorporates lived experiences as well. Dignity cannot be purely theoretical. Through the relational understanding of Ubuntu, the newly created black ontology can surpass the dichotomy of Black and White and move towards a world of shared dignity.

            In trying to find a way to the creation of a new ontology that is egalitarian and anti-racist, this essay has retraced the necessary steps of decolonisation of the most important aspects of white supremacy, namely its historical, ethical, epistemological and political hegemony which has perpetually stunted the growth and development of black cultures and communities. Through the lens of dignity, philosopher Norman Ajari analysed the false epistemology and history of white supremacy, the impacts of its political dominion and the generational changes to the inner lifeworld of black people. By creating a basic framework of what a black ontology should contain, Ajari opens up the path to self-actualisation and breaking away from the chains of white supremacy, as well as a fresh vision of what a post-racist world should strive towards.

Works cited

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