Decolonisation: language, power and historical consciousness

Abstract

In 2012 Eve Tuck and K. WayneYang wrote the influential article, “Decolonization is not a Metaphor” which deconstructed the idea of decolonization as a term which can be applied to all inequalities and social injustice. Decolonization, as the authors argue, refers solely to indigenous peoples experience of colonialism and the process through which what was stolen from them is restituted. Taking this premise as a starting point, this essay explores the vocabulary and grammar of colonialism and postcolonialism with the aim of clarifying terms and their usage as a basis for a consciousness of what decolonization is and what it can be.