ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the emergence of the phrase “decolonization” and how its usage reflected European assumptions about freedom being a gift bestowed by reforming empires and taking the form of national independence. Tying cultural decolonization to the larger project of liberation acknowledged the realities of economic domination set out by Kwame Nkrumah, but sought to tackle this by—to paraphrase Robbie Shilliam—drawing up new blueprints for the architecture of the African people. The chapter seeks to probe different contexts in which decolonization can be understood as intersecting with themes of Pan-Africanism, showing how the term has shifted in usage and meaning around the end of formal empires. Finally, it looks at how the term decolonization has come to be discussed in contemporary society following the nominative end of empire and the reality of formal independence, with debates often focused on diasporic cultural relationships and the need to reconsider the physical and mental legacies of empire.
