Beyond the Critique of Eurocentrism: Decolonization and its Problems
Channel: Centro de Estudos Sociais da Universidade de Coimbra
Date: 04/07/2019

The effort to decolonise knowledge in the Asian context began in the nineteenth century with the thought of the Filipino thinker and activist, José Rizal (1861-1896). A tradition of counter-Eurocentric and anti-Orientalist thought subsequently developed in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and elsewhere in Asia. This lesson defines Eurocentric and counter-Eurocentric knowledge and also details some problems faced by efforts to produce non-Eurocentric, decolonised knowledge, namely nativism, impersonation and silencing. The paper concludes with a discussion on exemplars for alternative, decolonial discourses from fifteenth century Tunisia, nineteenth century Philippines and Ottoman Turkey, and twentieth century Brazil and Malaysia.