In different parts of the world a new decolonial movement is growing that challenges long time narratives in knowledge production and social struggle and transforms activism and social movements. It is driven by key factors such as the fall of the west and the rise of the rest, the collapse of the socialist bloc and in general the crisis of Western civilization. This book develops a comprehensive, coherent and integral theoretical framework that draws on different contributions in the decolonial movement. It also deals with the practical implication of decolonial theory for decolonial activism.
Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, Mexico, spoke of the sun that has gone down with the arrival of the European invader and an era of darkness his people now entered. This contrasts with the idea of an era of Enlightenment, which is fundamental to the European view of world history. He also predicted that a time will come when the sun will rise again, when the colonial world civilization is replaced by a new world civilization based on decolonizing the mind.
The basic argument of this book is that colonialism has created a word civilization in the past 500 years that is based on mental slavery. The cultural basis of this civilization is the European Enlightenment. It produced two comprehensive, coherent and integral theoretical framework: Liberalism and Marxism.
They are comprehensive because they have produced concepts of how to look at the most important dimensions of a society: epistemology (theory of knowledge), a view on world history, economics, social relations including relations with nature (ecology), politics and culture. They are coherent their concepts don't contradict each other. They are consistent and logical. They are integral because the concepts of the different dimensions are not just lumped together but are related to each other from a basic concept. In Liberalism it is "individual freedom" and in Marxism "class struggle".
With Decolonizing The Mind (DTM) Hira presents a different comprehensive, coherent and integral theoretical framework. It is based on an epistemology the acknowledges more sources of knowledge besides observation and reasoning (social knowledge, common sense, innate knowledge, creativity and imagination). It argues that there is major distinction between the epistemology of social sciences and natural sciences. It has a view of world history based on the concept of pluriversity: world history develops from several civilizations in different directions and there is no end of history. Capitalis is part of colonialism and not vice versa. Its economic theory is based on the concept of social justice that includes a combination of state guidance, markets and private ownership of means of production, which should ensure welfare, prosperity and social justice. Its social theory is based on the concept of human being with complex and seemingly contradictory characteristics; it is not a social object. Its social theory includes notions of community, identity formation and civilization. Its cultural theory is based on the concept of mental slavery and the colonization of the mind. Its political theory is based on the concept of pluriversity. There is no universal political system. It should be based on the history of a nation and the specific civilizational background of that nation.
We are currently living at the end of the decline of the old colonial world civilization and the transition to a new pluriversal world civilization.
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE BACKGROUND OF THE RISE OF THE DECOLONIAL MOVEMENT AND THEORY
2.1 The ghost of Cecil Rhodes
2.2 A global movement
2.3 The fall of the West and the rise of the rest
2.4 The collapse of the socialist bloc and the demise of Marxism
2.4.1 The rise and fall of socialism
2.4.2 The story of Aimé Césaire
2.5 The crisis of Western civilization
3. TWO EUROCENTRIC PHILOSOPHIES OF LIBERATION
3.1 The White Enlightenment
3.2 Liberalism as a philosophy of liberation
3.2.1 The view on world history
3.2.2 Economic theory
3.2.3 Political theory
3.2.3.1 The concept of parliamentary democracy
3.2.3.2 The concept of the separation of church and state
3.2.3.3 The concept of the nation-state
3.2.3.4 The concept of the separation of powers
3.2.4 Social theory
3.2.5 Cultural theory
3.2.6 Liberalism in the colonial world
3.3 Marxism as a philosophy of liberation
3.3.1 The view on world history
3.3.2 Economic theory
3.3.3 Political theory
3.3.4 Social theory
3.3.5 Cultural theory
3.3.6 Marxism in the colonial world
3.4 The rise of decolonial theory
3.4.1 Decolonial concepts in the struggle against colonialism
3.4.2 The role of academia
4. MENTAL SLAVERY AND THE COLONIZATION OF THE MIND
4.1 What is colonialism?
4.1.1 Definition
4.1.2 Colonialism, Liberalism and Marxism
4.1.3 The colonial world civilization
4.1.3.1 Empires and civilization
4.1.3.2 The institutional approach
4.2 What is mental slavery?
4.3 The process of the colonization of the mind
4.3.1 The mechanisms of the colonization of the mind
4.3.1.1 The method of case studies
4.3.1.2 The method of studying handbooks for the colonization of the mind
4.3.1.3 The method of studying the institutions of knowledge transfer
4.4 Decolonization of the mind
4.4.1 Decolonial concepts expressed in deeds
4.4.2 The global articulation of the concept of mental slavery
4.4.3 The theoretical approach to decolonizing the mind
4.5 A preliminary list of mechanism to colonize the mind
4.5.1 Introduction
4.5.2 Producing and spreading lies
4.5.3 Divide and rule
4.5.4 The use of hypocrisy and double standards
4.5.5 The organization of amnesia (lost of memory)
4.5.6 Use intimidation to silence voices of critique
4.5.7 The promotion of the idea that politics is a struggle between good and evil
4.5.8 Use the instrument of demonization to prevent conflict resolution
4.5.9 Humanizing the criminal and dehumanizing the victim
4.5.10 Shift the focus from the message to the messenger
4.5.11 Shut down the outlets that provides answers to Western propaganda
4.5.12 Present a white minority as an international majority
4.5.13 Using good grade scales for bad phenomena
4.5.14 Blaming the victim for the crime
4.5.15 Present ethics as facts
4.5.16 Use the house negro to assure the colonizer that they are loved by the colonized
4.5.17 Make simple matters complex to sow confusion
4.5.18 Replace empirical method by axiomatic approach
4.5.19 Thanking colonialism for things they have not done
4.5.20 Promoting self-humiliation and breaking self confidence and identity
4.5.21 Installing taboos in order to prevent a challenge to dominant narratives
4.5.22 Use white savior to block the development of capacity of people of color
4.5.23 Present Eurocentric arguments as rational and non-Eurocentric arguments as emotional
4.5.24 Creating the illusion for joint responsibilities for historic crimes
4.5.25 Using historic names and labels to colonize the mind
4.5.26 Make a crime personal when the perpetrator is white and make it ethnic or racial when the perpetrator is a person of color
4.5.27 Linking divinity to white color
4.5.28 Blurring the distinction between form and essence
4.5.29 Portraying courtesy as submission and assertiveness as aggression
4.5.30 Use two-value logic to corner an opponent
4.5.31 Remove ethics from logic: freedom of expression and insult versus civilized behavior
4.5.32 Personalizing the evil enemy
4.5.33 Flipping the narrative of oppression
4.5.34 Use a ridiculous argument to ban serious arguments
4.5.35 Use an appealing argument to cover a ridiculous argument
4.6 How to move forward with DTM
5. EPISTEMOLOGY: THE MANIPULATION OF THE MIND THROUGH KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION
5.1 What is epistemology?
5.2 The canon of Eurocentric epistemology
5.2.1 Science, religion and the authority of knowledge
5.2.2 How ethics was removed from science in the European Enlightenment
5.2.3 The canon of Eurocentric epistemology
5.3 A framework for a DTM epistemology: conceptual thinking
5.3.1 The concept
5.3.2 The producers of decolonial knowledge
5.4 The production of lies
5.4.1 Truth, lies and the colonization of the mind
5.4.2 An example of the construction of lies presented as knowledge
5.4.2.1 The terminology
5.4.2.2 The selection of the observations
5.4.2.3 The analysis
5.4.2.4 The theory
5.4.2.5 The ethics
5.5 Research methods
5.5.1 Natural and social laws
5.5.2 The sources of knowledge about the social world
5.5.2.1 Innate knowledge
5.5.2.2 Common sense
5.5.2.3 Social interaction
5.5.2.4 Creativity and imagination
5.5.2.5 Cosmology
5.5.2.6 The particular location of observations
5.5.3 Ethics and knowledge
5.5.4 Knowledge, nature and human beings
5.6 The limitations of Eurocentric logic
5.7 Epistemology of the future
5.8 Other issues in DTM epistemology
5.8.1 The problem of universalism and multiple truths
5.8.2 Knowledge production and power
5.8.3 Decolonizing science
6. A DTM THEORY OF RACISM
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Theological racism
6.2.1 Introduction
6.2.2 The authority of knowledge at the start of colonialism
6.2.3 Religion and colonization
6.2.4 The debate of Valladolid
6.2.4.1 The background
6.2.4.2 The organization of the debate
6.2.4.3 The questions
6.2.4.4 The propositions of Sepúlveda
6.2.4.5 The response of Las Casas
6.2.5 The aftermath of the debate
6.2.5.1 The policy
6.2.5.2 The Indigenous response
6.2.5.3 The significance of the Valladolid debate
6.3 Biological racism
6.3.1 The white Enlightenment
6.3.2 The relationship of biological racism with European enslavement
6.4 Cultural racism
6.4.1 The abolition of legal enslavement
6.4.2 The geographical shift
6.4.3 The rise of the social sciences
6.4.4 Racism and Islamophobia
6.4.5 Superior and inferior civilizations
6.5 Superiority and inferiority before Western colonialism
6.6 Liberal theories of racism
6.6.1 Liberal theories
6.6.2 The psychological approach
6.6.3 The personality approach
6.6.4 The theory of white privilege
6.6.5 The theory of everyday racism
6.6.6 The theory of intersectionality
6.6.7 Critical Race Theory (CRT)
6.7 Marxist theories of racism
6.8 Racism and anti-semitism
7. DECOLONIZING MATHEMATICS AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES
7.1 Introduction
7.2 A critique of the Western historiography of mathematics
7.3 A critique of the foundations of Euromathematics
7.3.1 Mathematics, empirical proof, invalid knowledge and fantasies
7.3.1.1 Proof that 1+1=2
7.3.1.2 The Ramanujan summation
7.3.2 The role of authority of mathematicians
7.4 A critique of the use of Euromathematics
7.4.1 Mathematics and natural laws
7.4.2 Mathematics and social sciences
7.5 The concept of reverse engineering in mathematics and technology
7.6 A new educational system for mathematics
7.7 Decolonizing the natural sciences
7.7.1 A critique of the Western historiography of natural sciences
7.7.2 A critique of the Western concept of the relationship between humans and nature
7.7.3 A critique of the Western concept of the role ethics in natural sciences
7.7.4 A critique of the limits of natural sciences
8. DECOLONIZING WORLD HISTORY
8.1 A decolonial view of world history
8.1.1 The importance of a view on world history
8.1.2 The concept of civilization
8.1.3 The development of civilizations and empires
8.1.4 World history and the colonization of the mind
8.2 The African roots of Western civilization
8.3 The role of Nazism and the Jewish Holocaust in Western civilization
8.3.1 Nazism
8.3.2 Denazification
8.3.3 The lessons from the Jewish Holocaust
8.4 The meaning of colonial genocides
8.4.1 The genocides of modernity
8.4.2 How to deal with historical injustice
9 DECOLONIZING ECONOMIC THEORY
9.1 The critique of basic concepts of Euro-economics
9.1.1 Introduction
9.1.2 A critique of Liberal economics
9.1.3 A critique of Marxist economics
9.2 Non-Western economic theories
9.2.1 Economic critique
9.2.2 Economic theories from other civilizations
9.2.2.1 General observations
9.2.2.2 Buddhist economics
9.2.2.3 Islamic economics
9.2.2.4 Indian economics
9.2.2.5 Chinese economics
9.2.2.6 Learning from other civilizations
9.3 Economic lessons from modern revolutions
9.3.1 The Haitian Revolution
9.3.2 Socialist revolutions
9.3.2.1 The theoretical dilemmas
9.3.2.2 The experience of the Soviet Union
9.3.2.3 The experience of China
9.3.2.4 The experience of Cuba
9.3.2.5 The experience of Bolivia
9.4 Principles of decolonial economic theory
9.4.1 Definition of economics
9.4.2 The economic order
9.4.3 The state, markets and entrepreneurs
9.4.4 International economics
9.4.5 Political economy
9.4.6 A decolonial economic world order
10 DECOLONIZING SOCIAL THEORY
10.1 Introduction
10.2 The relationship between social theory and sources of knowledge
10.2.1 Innate knowledge
10.2.2 Common sense
10.2.3 Social interaction
10.2.4 Creativity and imagination
10.2.5 Cosmology
10.3 The methodology of social research
10.4 Basic concepts of social relations
10.4.1 Moral categories
10.4.2 A DTM perspective on social relations
10.4.3 Gender
10.4.4 Ethnicity
11 DECOLONIZING CULTURAL THEORY
11.1 A critique of cultural theory
11.1.1 What is culture?
11.1.2 A critique of Liberal theories of culture
11.1.2.1 Cultural anthropology
11.1.2.2 Psychology
11.1.3 A critique of Marxist theories of culture
11.2 A DTM theory of culture
11.2.1 Topics in DTM cultural theory
11.2.2 Identity formation
11.2.2.1 What is identity?
11.2.2.2 Individual identity and group identity
11.2.2.3 Identity formation and politics
11.2.3 Decolonizing the university
11.2.4 Decolonizing the media
11.2.4.1 Stuart Hall and encoding/decoding
11.2.4.2 The colonization of communication
11.2.5 Decolonizing art
12 DECOLONIZING POLITICAL THEORY
12.1 The nature of political theory
12.2 The nature of the national political order of a society
12.2.1 A critique of Liberalism
12.2.1.1 Critique of the concept of parliamentary democracy
12.2.1.2 Critique of the concept of the separation of church and state
12.2.1.3 Critique of the concept of the nation-state
12.2.1.4 Critique of the concept of the separation of powers
12.2.2 A critique of Marxism
12.2.2.1 Critique of the theory of the state
12.2.2.2 Critique of the concept of the nation-state
12.3 Decolonizing law
12.3.1 Human rights
12.3.2 Criminal law
12.4 Political theory and social struggle
12.4.1 Liberation ideologies in the 21st century
12.4.2 Decolonizing Marxism and socialism
12.4.3 Decolonizing social movements
12.4.4 The narratives on civilization
12.4.4.1 The Chinese narrative
12.4.4.2 The Iranian narrative
12.4.4.3 The Russian narrative
12.4.4.4 The African narrative
12.4.4.5 The Indian narrative
12.4.4.6 The Latin Abya Yala narrative
12.4.4.7 Initiatives for a new world civilization
13. IMAGINING A NEW WORLD CIVILIZATION
13.1 Views about a better world
13.1.1 Non-Western concepts of a better world
13.1.2 Western concepts of a better world
13.1.2.1 The liberal view
13.1.2.2 The Marxist view
13.1.3 Imperial conceptions of the future
13.2 How to imagine a better destiny for humankind?
13.3 Exercises in reverse engineering
13.3.1 An example from the past
13.3.2 An example from the current generation
13.4 Imagining a horrible future
13.4.1 New pandemics
13.4.2 Ecological disasters
13.4.3 World War III
13.4.3.1 Previous World Wars
13.4.3.2 World War III will be a nuclear war
13.4.3.3 USA has the motive to start World War III
13.4.3.4 The US’ stance towards Russia
13.4.3.5 The US’ stance towards China
13.4.3.6 The US’ stance towards Iran and Palestine
13.4.3.7 The US’ stance towards North Korea
13.4.3.8 Colonizing the mind in order to prepare for World War III
13.4.3.9 The historical significance of the 2022 war in Ukraine
13.5 Another, better world, is possible
13.5.1 The possibilities to create a better world
13.5.2 A decolonial view of a better world: the concept of a new world
civilization
13.5.3 The sun will rise again ... and probably in less than fifty years?
REFERENCES
NOTES
INDEX
POSTCRIPT
