ABSTRACT
The chapter presents a reflection on the relevance of global coloniality for theorizations of postsocialist precarity. Since 1989/1991 there has been growing concern for the loss and peripheralization brought about by the dismantling of state socialism. While such theorizations are vital to area specific knowledge production and political mobilizations against capitalist hierarchies and labour exploitation, it also is important to not re-centre and thus recuperate the colonial (and racial) logics of Eurocentrism in that work. First, aspects of postsocialist precarity are defined, particularly the role of borders and border-making in its production. The concept of global coloniality is then introduced and leveraged to give attention to the role of Eurocentrism in both obscuring racial epistemologies and constructing temporal plotlines that fix rather than destabilize power relations.
