colonialism~decolonialism

  • colonialism as a global system of domination driven by European conquest, trade and empire
  • occupation, extraction, cultural suppression
  • ‘justified’ through racial hierarchies, white saviour narrative, missionary work
  • orientalism, East vs West, North vs South, etc
  • not just the ‘legacy’ of colonialism, the structures still surround us
  • decolonising research
  • hierarchies of race, culture, bodies, religion
  • making land, resources and social systems ‘legible’ to colonisers, by erasing identity
  • less ‘developed’ nations supposedly in need of guidance
  • institutions that still dominate often directly profited (and still exist due to the ongoing effects of) colonialism
  • museums, collections, ‘primitive’ objects and knowledge systems, ripped from context