ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on post- and decolonial studies that have put under question the Western-centric epistemic monopoly of theoretical thought. While the denunciation of Eurocentrism and Occidentalism is a constant goal of post- and decolonial studies, they add to the already existing critique of modernity the critical gaze coming from the experience of dehumanization typical of colonialism. The chapter analyses the heterogeneity of post- and decolonial studies, reconstructing different perspectives: (a) the focus on the construction of the colonized as inferior Other – inspired by the work of Fanon, Said, Bhabha, Gilroy, Hall who reinterpret and translate Du Bois, Gramsci, Foucault and Derrida; (b) the Latin American decolonial studies and their focus on power/knowledge rooted in the link between race and class – that is, in a ‘racial axis’ of capitalism characteristic of colonial culture – Quijano, Mignolo, de Sousa Santos; (c) the subaltern studies and their focus on how colonialism has silenced the voice and erased the experience of the colonized – Guha, Spivak, Chakrabarty. The chapter shows that the interest in post-/decolonial approaches lies in their subversive potential to renew the theoretical apparatus of notions that originated in Western modernity. While the critique of Eurocentrism can be considered acquired, a stimulating and regenerating set of theoretical inspirations could come from the discussion and inclusion of non-Western analytical notions and from the contamination of analyses coming from different historical experiences of globalization.
