Chapter 6: Historical, Hermeneutical Awareness - Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial Mentalities

Question 1

Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Steve Biko focused on which mentality

Answer 1

The colonial mentality

Question 2

Explain the colonial mentality

Answer 2

This is a mindset where the colonizer delegitimises the culture of the colonised, whereby suppressing them by creating a sense of inferiority within them.

1. Colonialism is not just a theft of resources but also cultural domination.
2. And that the cultural domination was it deliberate act performed by the colonizer justifying their actions by “bringing civilization to Africa”.
3. This mindset becomes ingrained in the colonized to the point where they begin to perpetuate this mindset even if they do so without knowing it

Question 3

Frantz Fanon and Achille Mbembe focused on which mentality

Answer 3

The postcolonial mentality

Question 4

Explain the postcolonial mentality

Answer 4

A transitional mindset where a now liberated colonised people perpetuate the authoritarian logic that was used to create the Colonial mentality

Question 5

Kwasi Wiredu and Tsenay Serequeberhan focused on which mentality

Answer 5

The decolonial mentality

Question 6

Explain the decolonial mentality

Answer 6

A mindset where one as best as they can, becomes aware of the colonial and postcolonial legacies that have shaped their historical & cultural context

Question 7

What is a cultural bomb

Answer 7

Wiping out one’s culture and creating an ‘inferior’ group of persons who then seek to become a part of their colonisers culture to regain self-ligitimacy.

The impact of the cultural bomb completely changes a people to the point where they cannot return back to their prior cultural practices, no retrieval could proximate or rebuild what was lost