theme 2: Institutonalisation of Colonial Logics in Postcolonial Governance Flashcards
(21 cards)
What is the focus of the analysis in Theme 2?
Having established the epistemological foundations of racial hierarchies and colonial modernity, the analysis explores how those epistemic logics were institutionalised and consolidated into postcolonial governance.
According to Fanon, what role does the national bourgeoisie play in postcolonial states?
The national bourgeoisie often assumes the “role of intermediary,” inheriting the coloniser’s logic and wielding inherited structures to secure its own authority.
How do Butler and Foucault contribute to the understanding of postcolonial governance?
They argue that by ascribing qualities to actors, narratives construct the identities of postcolonial actors and their interests.
State identity formation becomes a performance - states must perform modernity in order to be seen as legitimate
How does Gandhi’s critique in Hind Swaraj relate to the persistence of colonial structures?
Gandhi argues that merely changing personnel without dismantling colonial structures is akin to “retaining the tiger’s nature but not the tiger.”
What caution does Nayar provide regarding postcolonial analysis?
Nayar warns that postcolonialism risks anchoring itself too rigidly in the past, neglecting the agency of contemporary actors.
What is the primary argument against Nayar’s critique in this theme?
The challenge is not the absence of agency but that the field in which agency is exercised is shaped by colonial sediment, reactivated through postcolonial governance.
How did Belgian colonial authorities alter governance structures in Rwanda in 1926?
They abolished the tripartite chiefdom structure and centralised power in a single chief, typically a Tutsi, thereby embedding ethnic hierarchy into governance.
How did this restructuring impact Hutu power dynamics?
It concentrated authority and rendered the Hutu majority vulnerable to unilateral decisions, shifting power from negotiated authority to despotism.
What ideology underpinned the Belgian restructuring of Rwandan governance?
The Hamitic hypothesis, which racialised Tutsis as “black Caucasians” and positioned them as naturally superior rulers.
How was the Hamitic hypothesis institutionalised in Rwanda?
Through exclusive schooling for Tutsis, church patronage, and administrative appointments that reinforced ethnic stratification.
How did post-independence Burundi reproduce colonial racial narratives?
The Tutsi elite maintained control by framing Hutu resistance as a threat, culminating in the 1972 genocide against Hutu civilians.
How does Fanon’s critique of mimicry manifest in Burundi’s postcolonial governance?
The Tutsi elite mimicked colonial strategies of domination, using ethnic distinctions to justify state violence and consolidate power.
How did Italian colonial authorities enforce spatial apartheid in Mogadishu?
By creating separate zones for Italians and indigenous Somalis, asserting racial hierarchy through urban planning and architecture.
How did Somalia’s Barre regime handle colonial infrastructures after independence?
Rather than dismantling them, Barre’s regime repurposed colonial structures as symbols of modernisation, reinforcing existing spatial hierarchies.
What does Fuller mean by “colonial inertia” in the context of postcolonial governance?
Colonial structures persist not merely as residues but as political choices to govern within inherited logics.
How does the Dominican Republic continue to consolidate colonial racial ideologies in the 21st century?
Through anti-Haitian deportation campaigns, racial profiling, and legal revocation of citizenship from Dominicans of Haitian descent.
How does Walker characterise anti-Haitianism in the Dominican Republic?
As a state ideology rather than a private prejudice, structuring national identity through exclusionary practices.
How does the Rwandan government handle ethnic identity in the post-genocide era?
By enforcing ethnic amnesia, outlawing public discussion of ethnicity while promoting a singular national identity.
How does Vandeginste critique Rwanda’s ethnic amnesia policy?
He argues that it enforces silence rather than dismantling hierarchy, using national unity as a justification for authoritarian control.
What overarching theme does Fanon highlight in postcolonial governance?
Governance becomes a form of racialised continuity, where legitimacy is secured through order and control, perpetuating colonial logics under the guise of sovereignty.
What do post-structuralist theorists argue?
Foucault and Butler say that ascribing qualities to actoes means that narratives construct the identities of post-colonial actors as well as their interests
