Jonathan Chimakonam - The Logic of Decoloniality (22/3/2021)
Channel: Dominic Berry
Date: 2021-03-24

This seminar was given as part of the What is Epistemic Decolonization? 2021 seminar series. For more about the series, and to register for future seminars, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-is-epistemic-decolonization-online-seminar-series-tickets-127446105733

To learn more about Dr Chimakonam's research please visit:
https://www.up.ac.za/philosophy/article/42830/staff

The chair was Dr Michael Diamond-Hunter:
https://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/people/faculty/

Abstract: The Logic of Decoloniality
Mainstream decolonial thinkers, especially those from the global south, tend to conceive coloniality as a repudiation of autoethnography. This lopsided conception is undergirded by the classical two-valued logic, which dichotomises and polarises reality. Following the same logical structure, most formulate decoloniality as a repudiation of metanarrative. But the deployment of such a divisive either-or logic presents both programmes as displacement narratives. I contend that applying the same logic that underlies coloniality in constructing a decolonial programme can only yield new coloniality. But can we not rethink decoloniality in a way that will unfold a veritable programme free from the entrapments of the logic of coloniality? I will explore the potential to alter the theorisation of decoloniality as ‘repudiation of metanarrative’ that responds to the ‘repudiation of autoethnography.’ My aim will be to reformulate decoloniality as the ‘authentication of autoethnography towards the complementarity of seemingly opposed variables.’ I will clarify the logic of coloniality, make a case for a new logic of decoloniality and present the Ezumezu system as a model. In so doing, I will orchestrate a shift from binary contradiction that results from the logic of coloniality to binary complementarity, which characterises a truth-glut and trivalent system, as a better, progressive logic for decolonial thinking.

Dr Chimakonam has kindly provided this extensive bibliography to accompany the talk:

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Asouzu, I.I. 2004. The Method and principles of Complementary Reflection in and beyond African Philosophy,  Calabar: University of Calabar Press.

Bhabha, H. 1994. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.

Cesaire, A. 1956/2010. “Letter to Maurice Thorez.” Trans. Chike Jeffers. Social Text, 103(28): 2145–2152. https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-2009-072.
 
Chimakonam, J.O. 2019. Ezumezu: A System of Logic for African Philosophy and Studies. Cham: Springer.

Chimakonam, J.O.  2018. ‘The Philosophy of African Logic: A Consideration of Ezumezu Paradigm.” Philosophical perceptions on Logic and Order, ed. Jeremy Horne, 96-121. Hershey PA: IGI Global.

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Chimakonam, J.O.  2017. ‘The question of African logic: Beyond apologia and polemics.” The Palgrave Handbook of African Philosophy, eds. Adeshina. Afolayan and Toyin. Falola, 106-128. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Wilson, A. 1993. The falsification of Afrikan consciousness: Eurocentric history, psychiatry, and the politics of white supremacy. New York: Afrikan World InfoSystems.