ABSTRACT

Africa in general and South Africa in particular remain entangled in colonial power matrices which some decolonial writers have described as “coloniality.” Coloniality refers to the perpetuation of quasi-colonial relations between the West and former colonized territories long after the official end of colonialism. Decoloniality is a theoretical paradigm that seeks to identify and critique legacies of colonialism that continue to influence the lived experiences of those who were formerly colonized. The production of knowledge and systems of knowing in former colonized territories remain trapped in erstwhile-colonial power structures in the same way that neocolonial global relations continue to influence postcolonial economies and livelihoods. Thus, coloniality encompasses the continued marginalization of non-Western peoples, cultures and knowledge systems. In this article, we read Kopano Matlwa’s debut novel Coconut, as a decolonial text that highlights the persistence of colonial matrices of power in the day to day lives of black South Africans. The novel deploys the metaphor of “coconut” to interrogate coloniality of being among young South Africans. We are particularly interested in the complexities and contradictions of negotiating new cultural identities in the context of a post-apartheid society that “breathes” coloniality.

摘要

整个非洲，尤其是南非，仍然纠缠在殖民权力矩阵中，一些非殖民主义作家将其描述为“殖民性”。殖民性是指在殖民主义正式结束很久之后，西方与前殖民领土之间的准殖民关系长期存在。非殖民主义是一种理论范式，旨在识别和批评殖民主义的遗产，这些遗产继续影响着以前被殖民者的生活经历。在前殖民领土上的知识生产和知识系统仍然被困在昔日的殖民权力结构中，就像新殖民主义的全球关系继续影响后殖民经济和生计一样。因此，殖民性包括非西方人民的持续边缘化，文化和知识体系。在这篇文章中，我们阅读了 Kopano Matlwa 的处女作小说椰子，作为非殖民主义文本，强调了殖民权力矩阵在南非黑人日常生活中的持久性。这部小说使用“椰子”的隐喻来质疑南非年轻人的殖民性。我们对在“呼吸”殖民主义的后种族隔离社会背景下谈判新文化身份的复杂性和矛盾特别感兴趣。