Delusory Decolonization in a Syrian-American's Mind
Keywords:
Postcolonialism, Decolonization, SyriaAbstract
If decolonization is “the replacing of a certain ‘species’ of men by another ‘species’ of men," what then is the difference between the natures of colonization and decolonization? Beyond nomenclature, there is no essential difference. Fanon describes decolonization as an unintelligible process in history: "Decolonization is the meeting of two forces, opposed to each other by their very nature, which in fact owe their originality to that sort of substantification which results from and is nourished by the situation in the colonies." The key to understanding the implicit duality in Fanon’s remark is the subtle use of the possessive pronoun “their.” Before, during, and after de-/colonization, the opposing parties gain identity and strength by setting themselves off against the other, which implies identity is not the cause, but the effect following this binarised interaction. All identities, discourses, and procedures of power are too easily produced, fortified, and applied for the cost of the antithetical identity.References
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