Abstract

While the coloniality of power underpins the continuity of colonial situations in postcolonial Africa, (neo)liberal thinking attempts to dismiss its place in Africa’s contemporary challenges, blaming instead anti-colonial struggles and the quest for complete decolonisation as the cause of these challenges. A focus on this neoliberal cum pro-colonial perspectives, at the expense of a corpus of post-, anti- and de-colonial writings that expose and challenge coloniality, however, inhibits our understanding of the consolidation, problematic place and impact of the coloniality of power in postcolonial Africa. Analysing the presence of colonial situations in policy choices and governance patterns, which link Africa’s postcolonial present to their colonial past, this paper claims that the coloniality of power retains its salience in postcolonial Africa. Illustrating with experiences from Nigeria, I show how this continues to structure the state of affairs in Africa even after formal colonialism has ended. This article contributes to the discourse on the legacies of colonialism in Africa.

摘要

虽然权力的殖民性巩固了后殖民非洲殖民局势的连续性，但（新）自由主义思想试图忽视其在非洲当代挑战中的地位，而是将反殖民斗争和对完全非殖民化的追求归咎于这些挑战的原因。然而，专注于这种新自由主义和亲殖民主义的观点，以牺牲一系列揭露和挑战殖民主义的后、反和反殖民主义作品为代价，阻碍了我们对殖民主义的巩固、有问题的地方和影响的理解后殖民非洲的权力。本文分析了在政策选择和治理模式中殖民状况的存在，将非洲的后殖民现状与其殖民历史联系起来，本文声称权力的殖民性在后殖民非洲仍然很突出。以尼日利亚的经验为例，我展示了即使在正式殖民主义结束之后，这种情况如何继续构成非洲的事态。本文有助于讨论非洲殖民主义的遗产。