This tweet deserved to go viral. The gentrification of decolonisation was inevitable. Northern scholars, determined to secure funding from it, had to change the parameters to do so. To paraphrase others, decolonisation, which has many decades of theoretical, practice & ... https://twitter.com/victoria_okoye/status/1263449606362456065

...methodological scholarship, is simply too difficult to implement in the modern Western institution b/cuz it demands a concession of power. So the “lite” version that is being offered is one that emphasises “diversity & inclusion” which is an easier sell than “dismantling...

...oppressive power structure rooted in white supremacy”. Decolonisation won’t go away, but we do have to contend with the parallel lite version. the only way to deal with it is to confront it, to demand authors to not to use the term “decolonisation” when...

... they are at a base level advocating for “diversity/inclusion/representation”. And we must also confront global north scholars who are offering partnerships with global south scholars under the guise of decolonisation but with the same colonial structures in place.

Personally, I think it’s more important to strengthen systems on the ground before delving into unequal partnerships. It is not a partnership if GN scholars control the funding, the knowledge production, first authorship and hegemonic construction of the Western academy.

GN scholars need to do better in acknowledging their complacency in upholding these structures. The “I wish someone browner than me could have done this” trope is an incredibly dishonest stance. You’re simply admitting that you’re complicit in maintaining the unequal system.

The labour of Decolonisation was largely initiated by Asian, indigenous, black, latinx etc scholars who have unpacked the various legacies of colonialism across disciplines. This “lite” version of decolonialism strips it of its objectives is simply not decolonisation.

We cannot give it that agency. Scholars decolonisation can start by demanding this new version is called by another name. That’s probably the only way we can begin to reclaim this field.