#rhodesmustfall

[cleanskies]

Sethembile Msezane

[missdivalicious]

Zimbabwe|  Matopo National Park| Cecil John Rhodes grave In #SouthAfrica there were protests calling for the stature of #CecilJohnRhodes on the steps the University of Cape Town to be taken down.Students were calling for its removal with hashtag #RhodesMustFall trending. On 9 April 2015 the Rhodes statue was removed. In the UK, The #Oxford statue was also the target of the Rhodes Must Fall protest that argued that Rhodes is a symbol of colonialism and the violence that accompanies Following the protest the University had agreed to remove the statue but angered campaigners and were accused of backtracking on its previous decision to remove it and ignoring the views of an independent commission. Instead of removing the statue the University, added an explanatory plaque on the statue  that says Rhodes was a “committed British colonialist” who “obtained his fortune through exploitation of minerals, land and peoples of southern Africa. Some of his activities led to great loss of life and attracted criticism in his day and ever since.” Rhodes was born in Hertfordshire in 1853, he was weak of ill health as a child, his parents feared he had  tuberculosis, a disease several of the family showed symptoms of.. At 17 His father decided to send him to a better climate in South Africa in the hope it would help with his health. He joined his brother Herbert on his cotton farm in Natal but the land was unsuitable for cotton, and the venture failed. They moved into diamond mining in the diamond fields of Kimberley in Northern Cape Province. After making some money #Rhodes went back to England and studied at Oriel College Oxford where he graduated at the age of 28.  he then went back to South Africa where he got into the Cape Parliament and was a Prime minister of the Cape colony from 1890 to 1896.  He founded the De Beers diamond firm with Rudd & Beit which until recently controlled the global diamond trade. Rhodes dream was to colonise all of Africa under British rule. A plan which was cemented by the Rudd Concession in 1888 between Rhodes King Lobengula and Rudd. This gave Rhodes all mining rights in the the country. Rhodes died in 1902 in Muizenburg near Cape town. He chose Matopo hills as his final resting place so his body was ferried from my Cape Town to Matopo, a journey that took 2 months Rhodes' critics see him as a racist, and one of the people who helped prepare the way for apartheid by working to alter laws on voting and land ownership. In #Zimbabwe, there are still calls to have Rhodes's remains moved to the UK, where he was born. Cecil John Rhodes named this place The Worlds view because it shows a  panoramic view of Matopo national park. Locals that’s lived here called this place Malindidzimu which means the place of benevolent spirits.he #Matopo hills have sacred hills where some tribes go to consult with ancestral spirits . Last year the current present Emanson Mnangawas was calling for the remains to be sent back to England. He told traditional elders that the remains had no importance to the county. He suggested that in return for returning the remains Zimbabwe should get back the remains for the 1st liberation war heroes remains which are believed to be in the British Museum. This includes the remains of Mbuya Nehanda who was a spirit medium and an influential fighter during the liberation struggle. the #Britishmuseum has admitted that there maybe remains that belong to Zimbabwe and apparently there are 20 000 human remains in the museum some of which are currently exhibited. The protest is called #bringbackourbones which is calling for there tun of the 1st Chimurenga liberation war heroes bones to be returned. #Matopos #bulawayo #zimbabwevlog #bulawayo

[folukeifejola]

What is the Role of Law Schools in the Project of Decolonisation? Some Reflections on Power and Possibility

Introduction Since 2015 and the #RhodesMustFall movement in Cape Town, South Africa, as well as its counterpart student movement at Oxford University in the UK, the question of the relevance of decolonisation to higher education has become quite prominent across Global North universities. Before this upsurge of interest, my academic work had been majorly concerned with the effects of incomplete…

[linguistlist-blog]

Calls, 67th Annual Conference of the International Linguistic Association

2nd Call for Papers: Renewed calls for the decolonisation of education from the #RhodesMustFall movement of 2015 and beyond have re-directed the attention of scholars and public commentators to the often-problematic roles of dominant European languages such as English in formal education, especially in formerly colonised countries. The debates, and contestations which that movement has animated over the past few years have invited closer scrutiny of what Pennycook and Makoni (2020) identify as http://dlvr.it/SkcPqQ

[urbanunkindness]

Viva! It’s here. The book whose cover features my art. From the co-editor @jon_earle_ogugu ; “A new book! I am excited to announce the forthcoming publication of Decolonising State and Society in Uganda, whose cover features the remarkable work of @crumanzi. BLURB: Decolonization of knowledge has become a major issue in African Studies, brought to the fore by social movements from #RhodesMustFall to #BlackLivesMatter. This timely book explores the politics and disputed character of knowledge production in colonial and postcolonial Uganda, where efforts to generate forms of knowledge and solidarity that transcend colonial epistemologies draw on long histories of resistance and refusal. Bringing together scholars from Africa, Europe and North America, the contributors in this volume analyse how knowledge has been created, mobilized, and contested across a wide range of Ugandan contexts. In so doing, they reveal how Ugandans have built, disputed, and reimagined institutions of authority and knowledge production in ways that disrupt the colonial frames that continue to shape scholarly analyses and state structures. From the politics of language and gender in Bakiga naming practices to ways of knowing among the Acholi, the hampering of critical scholarship by militarism and authoritarianism, and debates over the names of streets, lakes, mountains, and other public spaces, this book shows how scholars and a wide range activists are reimagining the politics of knowledge in Ugandan public life (Oxford: James Currey, 2022).” ♾🛡💚 (at Kampala, Uganda) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca4kdyWr7cf/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[digitalworld-love-blog]

Students must fall???

[premimtimes]

Durban conference on racism and intolerance: 20 years after, By Adeoye O. Akinola

Durban conference on racism and intolerance: 20 years after, By Adeoye O. Akinola

The commemoration of the Durban Conference comes at an important moment in the struggle for racial justice at the national and global levels, as manifested in the 2015 #RhodesMustFall and the 2020 #BlackLivesMatter movements. South African Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor noted that the victory of the anti-apartheid movement between 1948 and 1994, demonstrated that triumph over the scourge of…

[digitaldion]

My latest article has been published by Counterpoint Knowledge @CounterpointBer It is entitled: ‘Born Free?’ - A deceptive and dangerous story about South Africa’s youth. You can read it here: My latest article has been published https://www.counterpointknowledge.org/born-free-a-deceptive-and-dangerous-story-about-south-africas-youth/ It may be interesting as we prepare to celebrate Youth Day on the 16th of June. Language matters! Let’s not deny the experiences and misrepresent the identities of our young people. #youth #youthday #soweto #feesmustfall #rhodesmustfall #theology #publictheology https://www.instagram.com/p/CPVUo8EJEWN/?utm_medium=tumblr

[flyingfreeworld]

People: Rhodes must fall!

Fire: I have been summoned.

[lizparkcr]

Look at this turn out for #RhodesMustFall today in Oxford holy shit

[crisis-mx]

Agua de colonia

Hoy, en la Ciudad de México a las 6 AM, tomo una ducha como acostumbraba antes de ir a trabajar: cinco minutos de agua fría; me seco con toalla de algodón, me peino con las manos y uso Agua de Colonia; se lee en la etiqueta blanca “Eau de Cologne” con letras negras. Todos los días rocío mi cuerpo con agua de colonia, de sensación fresca y aroma inigualable.

Continúo con mi ritual, aunque no salga de casa ya que el COVID-19 ya ronda todas las esquinas, así que repaso un texto que leí hace tiempo y me tiene con muchas dudas por lo problemático que me resulta. Buen tiempo es este para tomarlo como retiro espiritual: de lecturas, de descanso, de ocio, de reconexión… de situaciones en las que posiblemente también tu puedes darte el lujo. Ya que podemos no salir a la calle para trabajar pero tenemos casa y para comer o (al menos hasta hoy) afortunadamente aún podemos.

Cristobal Colon en el video Te Coloniso, de Beauty Brain.

<<En el 2015  un grupo de estudiantes de la Universidad de Ciudad del Cabo en Sudáfrica, demandaron remover la estatua del colono británico y mercader de diamantes Cecil Rhodes de su campus, ellos iniciaron lo que tornó en una llamada global a ´decolonizar la universidad´>>. Así comienza el texto Decolonizing Art History -Decolonizando la Historia del Arte-, de Catherine Grant and Dorothy Price, publicado por Association for Art History -Asociación para la Historia del Arte- de Reino Unido con base en Londres. LINK DEL TEXTO.

La primera duda que debemos plantearnos es ¿por qué son los colonos quienes nos hablan con el discurso de decolonización? ¿en qué momento asumieron esta postura a su favor a tal grado que lo leemos en todo proyecto cultural y particularmente artístico? ¿este concepto ahora invita a deshacerse de sus conquistadores de la mano y a modo de sus colonos?

Hoy, con mi poderosa agua de colonia protectora, analizaré algunas cuestiones de esta índole, sacando una hipótesis de la razón de esta táctica, ya eficaz al finalizar esta década.

Estatua de Rhodes intervenida en 2015.

Primero pensemos ¿de dónde surge esta nomenclatura derivada de los episodios colonizadores en África y Suramérica, así como el Sur-este Asiático y Oceanía, para lo que nos concentremos en los casos latinoamericanos en el siglo XV y la discusión imparable de sus consecuencias?. El Movimiento Anticolonial surge con el Post-Modernismo (después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial cuando los vencedores se reparten el mundo) y se teoriza y practica hasta 1978, donde años antes se inician los Estudios Subalternos desde la Historiografía, comenzando a complejizar, desde las universidades, la crítica al virus huésped de nuestro entorno: al virus Colono.

En 1989 se habla de las voces multidisciplinares en el mundo post-colonial, donde el término de Post Colonia se usa para enfatizar las problemáticas desarrolladas luego de las conquistas, nombrado por intelectuales de diversas áreas y alejándose cada vez más de autorías masculinas de la supremacía blanca. 

¿Por qué tiene fin? 

A los movimientos suscitados en el mundo, a raíz de derribar la estatua de Rhodes, poniendo en crisis a los discursos teóricos desarrollados hasta entonces y llevándolos a la reacción le titulamos Giro Decolonial donde, además de llamar atención mundial por desestabilizar las estructuras básicas de resistencia y llevar a la acción eventos (algunos violentos y radicales) se acompañan de escritos teóricos que sustentan la legitimidad de esta ola de pensadorxs que buscan ir a la raíz del problema, mayoritariamente entre el siglo XV y XVIII u hoy.

El tema de cómo se enuncia y clasifica, importa al detectar las causas que llevan a nombrarle de tal forma. En la última fase de 2015-2020, el discurso anti colonia se enuncia y promueve por lxs mismxs opresorxs, haciendo consciencia de su postura, actitud y posición como colonxs. Lo que nos ha llevado a considerar a todxs en absoluto, lo conquistadorxs en potencia que somos. Si bien directa e indirectamente somxs afectadxs y benficiadxs por las conquista y dominaciones, somos todxs posibles colonxs y colonizadxs, conquistadores y conquistadxs, flecha y herida, veneno y antídoto, virus y vacuna.

Particularmente observamos que algunos círculos de la supremacía blanca, han auto cuestionado su rol y privilegios en pos de criticarlos e incluso cederlos.

En la otra cara de esta moneda, son estos entes quienes, al ver lo potentes que son lxs movimientos entre 2015 y 2016, deciden apropiarse del discurso y teorizar con ello.

Me apropio del discurso 2.0.

Así es como la hegemonía e imperios conquistadores añaden a sus recursos el uso legítimo del discurso anti colonia vestido de Decolonización y dado que, si bien es cierto que muy necesario es que todxs realicemxs el proceso de quitar la colonia mental (entre otras), se hace pertinente una llamada urgente a diseñar el cómo se hará, pues, siguiendo con la vía realizada hasta este 2020 lo que hay es una repercusión de este ejercicio de poder donde, cortan la evolución del pensamiento anti colonia al ser emitido por los colonos y, al hacerlo, continúan colonizando.

Por otra parte este método separatista de dividir la supremacía blanca y los imperios hegemónicos de “lxs otrxs”, debilita lo que podría ser un diálogo más o menos pasivo en pos de hacer acuerdos y resolver preguntas juntxs hasta llegar a consensos sensatos y más justos para sanar las heridas de las conquistas, así como eliminar los rastros del esclavismo de las cadenas y el esclavismo de la psique, eliminar la servidumbre postmoderna y cultivarnos.

Todavía no tocamos el texto del que les quiero hablar.

Antes de ello, Norimitsu Onishi escribe para el New York Times el 11 de Septiembre de 2015, la nota “Estudiantes negros en Sudáfrica alzan la voz y piden una verdadera transformación”.

Cautela de quien dice lo que dice y por qué lo dice:

<<Desde hace años se venía gestando el descontento entre los estudiantes negros en la Universidad de Ciudad del Cabo, considerada la mejor institución de educación superior del continente. Pero las protestas recientes, así como en otras ciudades del país, estallaron por un episodio insólito y desafiante.

En marzo, un estudiante lanzó excrementos a una estatua de Cecil Rhodes, el imperialista británico que donó terrenos para la universidad. Aquí y en otras ciudades, los estudiantes llamaron a su movimiento “Rhodes debe caer”.

La estatua, en el centro de las instalaciones, había sido objeto de protestas estudiantiles desde siempre, pero ésta fue diferente.

El Dr. Max Price, vice canciller de la universidad, afirmó que estaba sorprendido por la reacción sostenida en contra de la estatua, pues las manifestaciones anteriores habían sido efímeras.

“Se conectó con la alienación que sienten los estudiantes negros; y una estatua es la forma perfecta de articularla”, explicó. “La cultura del lugar se siente blanca. La arquitectura, inspirada en Oxford y Cambridge, es europea. Obviamente, el idioma de enseñanza es el inglés. Lo que emulamos y a lo que aspiramos a ser, son las universidades de élite de Estados Unidos y Europa.”>>

Si bien esto podría suceder en cualquier universidad en México o Latinoamérica, llamó la atención particular de los ingleses, sus ex-colonos, quienes dieron muy cercano seguimientos a estos hechos y son expresados en este texto del que les hablaré, publicado desde UK (Reino Unido) con una lógica muy simple: Catherine Grant y Dorothee Price realizan 4 preguntas a diversas personalidades y las respuestas son el contenido del texto.

Las cuestiones a desarrollar son:

What is the historical specificity of current calls to decolonize art history? How are they different from previous challenges to the discipline (such as postcolonialism, feminism, queer studies, Marxism)?

Cuál es la especificidad histórica de los llamados actuales a decolonizar la historia del arte? En qué se diferencían de los desafíos previos a la disciplina (tales como postcolonialismo, feminismo, estudios queer, Marxismo)?

What is your understanding of decolonizing art history now?What does a decolonized art history look like? How should it be written/practised?

Cuál es tu entendimiento de descolonizar la historia del arte ahora? Cómo se ve una historia del arte descolonizada? Cómo debe ésta ser escrita/practicada?     

How might the decolonization of art history impact upon your own area of research/ practice? What would be produced from it? Might anything have to be jettisoned?

Cómo podría afectar la descolonización de la historia del arte en su propia área de investigación / práctica? Qué se produciría de esto? Puede que algo deba abandonarse?

Where should decolonization in relation to art history happen? What strategies might different spaces for decolonization demand?

Dónde debe ocurrir la descolonización en relación con la historia del arte? Qué estrategias pueden exigir los diferentes espacios para la descolonización?

Convocaron a 30 personalidades, de quienes compilaron sus respuestas. No busco hacer un análisis de las respuestas en particular aunque aconsejo darse el tiempo de leerlas ya que, son lxs pensadorxs que están definiendo el curso de esta decolonialidad, desde la palabra. Ya anotaré algunas opiniones y estudios muy interesantes que se inscriben. Antes, vamos a releer las cuatro cuestiones sugeridas ya que, las respuestas dependen integralmente de las preguntas de este cuestionario, al parecer enviado vía e-mail.   

Primero, buscan un hito para referenciar una conglomeración de eventos heterogéneos esparcidos en todo el planeta nacidos de distintos contextos que, tienen el objetivo de sacarse la colonia de encima. Pretender particularizar un evento como el fundamento primero del cual desprenden el resto, el cual, ellas mismas proponen sea el de los estudiantes en Sudáfrica en 2015. Además de que veremos cómo algunas opiniones disciernen de esto, lo que debe apuntarse como nota a lxs historiadorxs fuera del tiempo establecido, es que las múltiples temporalidades en el mundo difícilmente se sincronizan, y mientras en Inglaterra se re-plantean cómo manejar sus mancomunidades, en Puerto Rico el movimiento independentista sigue siendo hoy débil. Es decir, el tiempo es otra dimensión espacial, ambos son inseparables, no estáticos y co-producibles.

Mencionan como desafíos previos al post-colonialismo, es cual es sólo una versión anterior de la decolonialidad diferente por no haber incluido al colono como ente a decolonizar; al feminismo, del cual yo ampliaría a feminismos por no ser unidireccionales; a estudios queer y el Marxismo… estos cuatro descritos como desafíos o retos anteriores. Preguntémonos, realmente ya han pasado? No, continúan siendo un reto hoy, cuando a pesar de tantas respuestas y teorías se sigue problematizando escalonadamente? Además de ser vigentes problemáticas sociales actuales, son peculiarmente estos cuatro tema de hashtag, leídas por doquier en revistas de arte contemporáneo, galerías, currículums, becas, statements, portadas de libros, etc., normalmente tratados de manera superficial en el arte contemporáneo, tan reproducido que en lugar de fortalecer la discusión, complejizarla al grado de clarificarla y practicarlas, parece ser tornan en trending topics, en temas de los que hay que hablar para estar al día.

Espero equivocarme respecto a ello. Sin embargo las respuestas de estxs 30 personajes nos guían a una aproximada conclusión similar: no son temas para discutir desde las universidades sino desde las casas. En el primer círculo social, el más cercano, es donde debe comenzar esta revolución anti colonia, feminista, marxista si se quiere… debatirse con un prójimo, consigo mismx, cultivar estas ideas hasta transformarse y con ello poder incidir externamente. Entonces podremos no solamente derribar una estatua y graffitear un monumento, sino rediseñar las sociedades, cambiar nuestra casa, nuestra escuela, rehacer la planta docente, crear otros planes de estudio, modificar nuestros lenguajes… Tirar el agua de colonia por el drenaje, limpiarse con agua pura y sanar estas heridas causadas por nuestrxs antepasadxs, heredadas por ellxs y ampliadas por nosotrxs. 

Que quede explícito que esto, únicamente y sin otra consideración, se podrá lograr sólo por vía pacífica: la historia nos advierte, sabemos las consecuencias de la violencia.

Segunda cuestión. El entendimiento o comprensión de descolonizar la historia del arte de cada uno, debe antes que nombrarse, ser plural, o sea, hacer explícita la condición de la historia del arte de ser mutable, dirigida conscientemente por quien ejerce el poder de hacerlo y que es de carácter plural, no es “la historia” pero sí las percepciones e interpretaciones de la historia, que darán vida a la búsqueda de la verdad. 

Que cómo se ve esta historia del arte deconolonizada? No luce de ningún modo peculiar, si la intención de esta pregunta es la de arrojar descripciones o detalles de cómo aparece con intención de definirla, sepan que mejor será dejarla mutable, aforme e indescriptible.

Imperio Británico en 1886.

Tercera cuestión expuesta. Esta decolonización de la historia del arte afectará a todxs en todo rubro. Se trata de lucha de clases. La pregunta en inglés, se formula con el término *impact* al referirse a “Cómo impactarán estas prácticas en las áreas de investigación o práctica” de los encuestados. Esta palabra de origen Latín fácilmente podemos entenderla en el español pero añado, que no sólo implica un choque; su etimología nos dice, in -hacia el interior, y pactum -clavar, fijar o ensamblar. La raíz de pactum genera otras palabras como pacto o paz.  Un gran acierto para desarrollar lo que es y será el impacto de la consolidación o intención de la no colonia.

Lo que se produzca de ello sin duda beneficiará al crecimiento inmensurable de este capitalismo como ya lo hace hoy día al tenernos publicando libros, generando becas, montando exhibiciones o creando premios con la idea de fomentar el diálogo de estos discursos, mientras la meta real es generar capital de ello, primordialmente simbólico y luego económico. 

¿Qué debería abandonarse? la esperanza de que esto se realice de la mano de la institución colonizadora; conquistadorx, estado, nación, museo, entes orgánicos, artificiales, estáticos o moldeables. No por deshecharles sino por gestar estrategias desde su interior.

Cuarta y última cuestión: La decolonización ocurrirá en un sitio común: en nuestro espacio personal: cuerpo y psique, ente reorganizado. Las estrategias son tan infinitas que las guías deben formularse cuidadosamente, una a una, procurando la cosecha de este programa que deseamos implantar en nosotros y, aunque nos ofrezcan el programa general regularizado, le omitamos al recordar que no usaremos otro uniforme aún cuando busquemos el bien común. Humano es errar repetidamente por la misma causa y la versión de este programa ha de evitar la reproducción del error. Quizá eso pueda ser algo nuevo.

Confieso que pretendía compartirles algunas interesantes respuestas de algunxs autorxs expuestas en el título analizado, sin embargo la extensión para este blog me deja corta para el cometido. Les aconsejo la lectura de lo que han respondido Zehra Jumabhoy, David Bindman, James Elkins, Kajri Jain y Susan Pui San Lok, de quien rescato el cierre de su intervención con la formulación de estas preguntas, que habremos de respondernos para diseñar (designar) el cómo; cómo pensamos llevar a cabo esta compleja empresa anti colonia:

“Quién está en el cuarto? Quién está fuera del cuarto? Quién maneja* la puerta? Quién es el/la porterx? Quién tiene la llave? Quién está hablando? Quién calla? Quién está escuchando? Quién es escuchadx? Quién está mirando? Quién está siendo miradx? A quién se ve? A quién no se ve? De quién es la mirada privilegiada?De quién es la mirada, cuyos derechos son negados? Quién tiene derecho a no ser vistx? Quién puede rechazar visibilidad? De quién domina el lenguaje? De quién son las reglas que determinan valor? Quién y qué es denigrado?  Eres mansplaining?  Eres whitesplaning? Eres blacksplainig? ... Quién se siente incomodx? Quién se está disculpando? Quién está haciendo el trabajo?”

Aledaño a estas cuestiones, cabe aplicarlas al texto analizado. Ahí la decolonización sirve a Grant y Price, sirve a Asociation for Art History y sus patrones, sirve a los museos y funcionarios de Reino Unido; sirve, en mucho, a quienes respondieron esta encuesta y sirve, en última instancia, a la persona lectora que reflexiona sobre este estanque de ejercicio de poder. 

A mi me sirve.

En la noción de alquimia de Paracelso, esta cumple la misma función que cada órgano del cuerpo humano, esto es: discernir entre impurezas y nutrientes, filtrar entre lo sano y lo tóxico, una suerte de destilado que separa lo consumido para desechar lo nocivo. Así emprendí esta lectura como muchas más, así aconsejo se tomen esta lectura.

Abe Odedina, Beulah’s Garden, 2018. London: Collection of the artist. Photo: Ed Cross Fine Art/Alan Roderick.

Comparto la (anti) colaboración de Sumaya Kassim, para adivinar la suerte de estrategias que usaron Grant y Price para apropiarse de los pensamientos expuestos por estas 30 personas, no remuneradas, para enunciarse como autoras de este texto (4 cuestiones lanzadas) y ser validadas por la Asociación para la Historia del Arte; lamentablemente puede leerse como la generación, publicación y difusión de estas reflexiones por parte de dicha Asociación. Esta es la batuta de la decolonialidad: el discurso se apropia de lxs autorxs y quienes pueden no ser vistxs, se apropian del discurso.       

Sumaya Kassim               

<<On receiving an invitation to participate in this questionnaire, I enquired whether contributors would be paid to do so. When told that they would not and that submissions to Art History are never remunerated, I sent the following response which I offer in place of answers to the questions set out by the editors:           

I need to think about it. If I do contribute it will reflect my honest experience of ‘decolonizing’ art in this country which has usually involved the expectation of my providing consultation, my words and perspective without any remuneration despite the fact I am a freelancer. When I refuse or draw attention to the power dynamics at play, itis perceived as my being ‘difficult’. In my view, this is a reflection of how institutions in much of the UK work, which is to reify and support legible intellectual endeavour (made legible by writers/academics being white and/or in secure academic jobs) and dismiss people who are deemed illegible, thereby diluting decoloniality’s call to action... It’s a very complex issue because I don’t think that paying BIPoC* freelancers adequately addresses the structural inequalities created by our colonial past. However, I do think the way I am received (and my precarity) as a visibly Muslim, racially marked woman is symptomatic of this country’s history, and that it’s important to draw attention to how publications and institutions are enthusiastic about ideas of decolonizing, survival, reparations et cetera, but rarely make practical provisions to address the labour and people associated with the theory. I don’t think it’s ‘intentional’ per se; it’s more insidious than that. It’s ‘business as usual’ and that’s why it’s so dangerous, that’s why change is so often brought to a halt. People mean well, but real change requires a complete overhaul of how we conceive of the relationship between labour, ideas, movements, and individuals.>>

*A Black, Indigenous & People of Colour Movement.

<<Al recibir una invitación para participar en este cuestionario, pregunté si se pagaría a los contribuyentes por hacerlo. Cuando me dijeron que no lo harían y que las presentaciones a Historia del Arte nunca son remuneradas, envié la siguiente respuesta que ofrezco en lugar de las respuestas a las preguntas formuladas por los editores:

Necesito pensarlo. Si contribuyo, reflejará mi experiencia honesta de "descolonizar" el arte en este país, que generalmente ha implicado la expectativa de que brinde consultas, mis palabras y mi perspectiva sin ninguna remuneración, a pesar de ser un profesional independiente. Cuando me niego o llamo la atención sobre la dinámica de poder en juego, se percibe como mi ser "difícil". En mi opinión, esto es un reflejo de cómo funcionan las instituciones en gran parte del Reino Unido, que consiste en reificar y apoyar el esfuerzo intelectual legible (hecho legible por escritores / académicos que son blancos y / o en trabajos académicos seguros) y descartar a las personas que se consideran ilegible, lo que diluye el llamado a la acción de la descolonialidad ... Es un tema muy complejo porque no creo que pagar a los freelancers de BIPoC* aborde adecuadamente las desigualdades estructurales creadas por nuestro pasado colonial. Sin embargo, creo que la forma en que me reciben (y mi precariedad) como una mujer visiblemente musulmana y racialmente marcada es sintomática de la historia de este país, y que es importante llamar la atención sobre cómo las publicaciones e instituciones están entusiasmadas con las ideas de descolonización, supervivencia , reparaciones, etc., pero rara vez hacen provisiones prácticas para abordar el trabajo y las personas asociadas con la teoría. No creo que sea "intencional" per se; Es más insidioso que eso. Es "lo de siempre" y es por eso que es tan peligroso, es por eso que el cambio a menudo se detiene. Las personas tienen buenas intenciones, pero un cambio real requiere una revisión completa de cómo concebimos la relación entre trabajo, ideas, movimientos e individuos.>>

*Movimiento de Personas Negras, Indígenas o de Color.

Sin duda la decolonización tiende formularse como una vacuna por propagar a los enfermos, aunque estas llegan rápidamente esparcidas desde pocos centros, los mismos que han creado el virus y, cabe dudar si en la vacuna está la nueva enfermedad. Mi consejo: -tomado de Paracelso-, absolutamente toda enfermedad tiene cura, y estas se encuentran en la naturaleza, las más, incluso dentro de nosotrxs mismxs. Ahondemos en la capacidad innata de nuestro organismo de eliminar este y otros males.

-Jeanette Morales Salas

Ciudad de México, 15 de abril de 2020.

CRISIS.

Traducciones del ingles de la autora.

[edgeofisolation]

New Media: A Symbol of Radical Democracy or Digital Hegemony?

From sovereignty to hegemony, the nature of power and the way in which it circulates and reproduces itself has transformed almost has quickly as society has progressed. Due to the current socio-political climate of the past one hundred or so years, especially with the advent of liberalism, obtaining power through physical force has almost phased out by significant portion of contemporary society. In its place, instead, has come the advent of soft power and the idea of ‘manufactured consent’ proposed by influential theorists Antonio Gramsci and Michel Foucault. One of the major entities who knowingly or unknowingly reproduce these various manifestations of soft power in contemporary society is the media – particularly traditional media outlets like television, newspapers and magazine. With the creation of new media outlets such as social media, however, has come the prospect of the masses finally being able to challenge and bringing awareness about these forms of power on an unprecedented scale through advents like Hashtag Activism and citizen journalism. But how true is this really? Has new media helped challenge the prevalence of soft power influences in traditional mass media, or has manifestations of soft power merely replicated itself onto these digital spaces? This essay will look at the most dominant form of soft power – hegemony – and will be arguing that though new media – particularly social media sites like Twitter and Facebook – has presented the broader public with the ability to challenge mainstream hegemony at an unprecedented capacity, hegemony has simply replicated itself at an unprecedented and global scale which poses a serious threat to the general society.

To begin let there be a brief discussion on one of the main concepts centred throughout this essay: hegemony. Proposed by Antonio Gramsci, hegemony is a form of consented domination of one group over another where he argues that there are a multitude of systems of attitudes, values, and ideologies in place to which serve to maintain and legitimate the established order (Maggard, S., 1984: 69). Within a capitalist society, Gramsci notes that dominant forms of power stem from and are controlled by the ruling elite who control the means of production, and thus in a Marxist sense, maintain control of over dominant forms of culture, values and ideologies perpetuated in society as the economy forms the base of society (Altheide, D., 1984: 477).

One of the major ways this is established and reproduced is within the traditional mass media. According to Altheide (1984: 477), “media hegemony refers to the dominance of a certain way of life and thought and to the way in which that dominant concept of reality is diffused throughout public as well as private dimensions of social life.” As the media is overall a business geared towards profit, media products disseminated by traditional media are them themselves coded messages about the nature of society and the productive forces in control of them laden with capitalist ideologies which is a key proponent in maintain and reproducing hegemony (Altheide, D., 1984: 478). Furthermore, Atheide (1984: 478-479) goes on to argue that in terms of the news productions, journalists are socialized and moulded in order to replicate the dominant ideology pervaded by the media entity which in turn has them merely replicate the status quo instead of challenging hegemonic values in the interest of society in the ways in which they are traditionally meant to: hegemony is contained in these media products and they are laden with the ever pervasive dominant ideology. Put simply, traditional media serves as a means of disseminating the ideas and information brought on by the dominant group which favours them, popularizes their ideas, and helps them to maintain the status quo and thus maintain hegemonic control over their subordinate masses (Habib, A., 2013).

However, all is not gloom and doom. Hegemony is not a form of domination that is set in stone, but however is a continuous process that is constantly replicating and re-replicating itself in order to maintain itself, working as a sense of common sense and not concrete fact (Habib, A., 2013). As such, hegemony can be challenged. In situations when a social movement becomes stronger than the dominant ideologies perpetuated by hegemony, Habib (2013) argues that this will result in the counter-hegemonic force brought on by this social resistance to overthrow the existing hegemony and become the new form hegemony. Furthermore, from the perspective of critical theory, ideological freedom from existing hegemonies can be overcome through the identified and actively resisted (Altheide, D., 1984: 478).

One of the most influential ways in which the hegemony of traditional mass media is challenged is through new media which will be analysed through the lens of the #FeesMustFall (#FMF) and the #RhodesMustFall (#RMF) movements, shining examples of Hashtag Activism. #FMF and #RMH were social movements originating in South Africa which began in 2015. Put simply, where #FMF was a movement that called for 0% fee increment in national universities, #RMF was a movement that called for the removal of the Cecil Rhodes statue at the University of Cape Town. Both, however, sparked a mini revolution in the country and served to highlight the continued racial injustices in the country as well as call for decolonization of universities across the country. As can be seen by the ‘#,’ these movements found much of their success as a result of a nationwide social media campaign that assisted in the call to action, sparked (inter)national debate and was an instrumental tool in the dissemination of information and the organization of the nationwide protests (Daniels, G., 2016: 176-177). Here, protests echoed the robust agnostic spaces found in radical democracy through the diversification of political voices all vying to be heard and served as an instrumental tool in challenging the role in which mainstream media plays in the maintenance and reproduction of hegemony (Daniels, G., 2016: 177).

As one of the key aspects of radical democracy, “agonistic spaces exist where legitimate adversaries fight, but within the symbolic space of democracy… [where] in this symbolic space, we must accept conflict, difference, pluralism and division as part of politics and society” (Daniels, G., 2016: 180). As discussed, social media and Hashtag Activism was instrumental in the creation of national debate centring around the protests that allowed a diverse space for voices of all backgrounds to be heard, echoing the robust agnostic spaces so prevalently found in radical democracy, with many participating in the protest noting that social media allowed for them to write their own narrative centred around the protest (Daniels, G., 2016: 179). Furthermore, with the advent of new and digital media, came the rise of civic participation in the form of citizen journalism which serves to connect participant to wider issues of broadening democratic and communicative space and communication. Daniels (2016: 182) goes on to argue that the advent of this in new media is allowing for a widening diversification of voices, becoming an ever expansive space which serves to strengthen the public sphere with social media being radically important because of unprecedented inclusion of more voices contributing to the public sphere, voices previously marginalized and silenced due to their previous lack of a platform – strengthening not only civic participation but deepening democracy. Because of this, it is thereby argued that new media has been an important tool in upending – or at the very least, disrupting – the ever pervasive hegemony instilled and maintained by traditional mass media (Daniels, G., 2016: 189). As seen by the movement’s success in reclaiming their own narratives, it can be argued that though new media and its creation of diverse agonistic spaces have not completely usurped traditional mass media, it had at its least knocked down its number one spot in shaping the discourses and narratives centred around the movement and its protests. Though this might have been somewhat fleeting given the movement’s relatively small shelf life, the #FMF and #RMF movements has in this respect shown it possible that the media’s main hegemonic control can be unsettled and challenged and the advent of a counter-hegemony, however fleeting it may be, can be ushered into its place (Daniels, G., 2016: 189-190).

But just because new media, in particular social media, has shown its potential in overthrowing hegemonies, does that make it free of its own hegemonies? And if counter-hegemonies can take place in new media, is it not equally possible that existing hegemonies and other forms of soft power can find themselves reproduced in these digital spaces much like in traditional mass media? Sadly, it seems as this is to be the case.

One of the key ways in which hegemony and other forms of soft power is reproduced, or rather in this case enforced is through the idea of digital surveillance. As discussed, new media has come to be one of the key ways in which counter-hegemonies such as social movements can used to reach a broader audience, diversify public opinion, and can be used to rally people in support of said movements, but so can it be used by the government and other corporations as a form of surveillance of the happenings within those movements (Uldam, J., 2016: 202). Just as easily as new media can be used to expose the wrongdoings of the government and bring their secrets to public domain, can it be used to facilitate government and corporate monitoring (Uldam, J., 2016: 203). Through, and perhaps because of, new media platforms such as Twitter, companies and governmental corporations are provided the means in which to monitor civil society’s actions and regain control of their own visibility (Uldam, J., 2016: 204). And such, in this respect “Foucault’s notion of disciplinary power through the visibility of the many still bears relevance because it can help capture companies’ monitoring critical voices in online media and the strategies of management of (the visibility of) stakeholders that underpin them” and as such, even though these tools enabled by new media can serve civil society, unequal power relations between these entities still seem to privilege government and corporate elites(Uldam, J., 2016: 204). Furthermore, drawing on Lacan’s notion of fantasy which Uldam argues to be the assumption that sustains hegemony, “policy interventions are underpinned by ‘fantasies’ as forms of discursive power that condition struggles over the societal directions that should be taken” which then assumes that within a society that political consensus can be achieved, completely negating antagonisms (Uldam, J., 2016: 204).  Thus, relying on this fantasy of political consensus is merely a reinforcement of neoliberalism as opposed as a means of directly challenging it, because, as discussed previously relations of antagonism in society are a key proponent of radical democracy which is instrumental in the transformation of power relations in society (Uldam, J., 2016: 205). With the sort of self-regulating influence brought on by the public digital surveillance by elite institutions, these institutions are thus able to through the use of soft power effectively derail and impede possible forms of the sort counter-hegemonic possibilities that new media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook potentially hold (Uldam, J., 2016: 205).

Lastly, another form in which the democratic possibilities of new media is derailed comes in the form of digital images, or new media texts, used as a form of political subjugation. What is a key form of the maintenance of soft power in modern societies in accordance to Foucault is the elite institutions use of fear where non-hierarchal forms of control are used to reinforce and reproduce unequal power relations in society which is maintained by the internalization of hegemony (Kasara, M., 2017: 179). These forms of discipline as a form of control, though not directly a form of sovereignty, nevertheless are able to achieve much of the same results. Far from being excluded in the narrative of developing a counter-hegemonic narrative, new media plays an instrumental role in governing individuals and groups as well as holding the capability of managing and altering the behaviour of the masses in which it controls: “the Internet in today’s world is the [pa]nopticon in which individuals are watched without knowing that they are being, who’s watching, or the extent that they are being watched” (Kasara, M., 2017: 179). Though this echoes sentiments discussed above about digital surveillance, an instrumental way in which soft power is reproduced other than through the regulation of the fantasy of the political by those in power, is that in this way new media operates in way which regulate (the online) behaviour of the public as new media hold the potential of perpetuating the internalized fear of being captured, humiliated, publically shamed or punished (Kasara, M., 2017: 179). Furthermore, through the propagation of images and forms of public humiliation and punishment via digital media, this actually hold the potential for any groups of people to exercise power as forms through the intimidation of their viewers (the online public), scarily transforming and reproducing hegemonic control that is not just propagated by elites, but also to the broader public as well (Kasara, M., 2017: 180). With the advent of new media any person or group of people with access to the internet is now able to disseminate information concerning humiliation, bigotry, and punishment in society, instilling fear amongst its viewers which could even result in them themselves policing and disciplining the actions of other, radically transforming hegemonic control to an unprecedented global scale (Kasara, M., 2017: 180-181). A rather telling example of this is Russia’s anti-LGBT group Occupy Paedophilia which lure gay men to them through online social media platforms in order to humiliate and even assault them, all the while recording their actions and disseminating this onto popular social media platforms. Not only is this in line with Russia’s anti-LGBT laws and feelings, this also serves to perpetuate these ideals and values onto the public influencing the behaviour other members of society feel towards LGBT people as well as policing and regulating the behaviour of LGBT people in Russia, all without physical force. If this is not an example of the unnerving ways in which hegemony and soft power can be propagated through new media platforms, then what is?

Hegemony has been constantly used as means of controlling the masses of people in contemporary societies without the use or need for force, rather through subtle but profound ways of manufacturing the consent of the masses. Traditionally reproduced and promoted through traditional mass media platforms, it is becoming increasingly evident that hegemonic control is finding its way onto new media platforms, the most notable being social media. Though it can be argued that hegemony is challenged through the advent of new platform via national (and sometimes global) social movements operating at a previously unprecedented rate such as in #FeesMustFall, it is equally and worryingly possible for new media platforms to propagate and spread hegemony just as easy as traditional media, if not even more so given the global scale of new media platforms. ‘Tis a scary time indeed. References:

Altheide, D. 1984. Media hegemony: a failure of perspective. The public opinion quarterly. 48(2): 476-490.

Daniels, G. 2016. Scrutinizing Hashtag Activism in the #MustFall protests in South Africa in 2015. In B. Mustvairo (ed), Digital Activism in the social media era. Cambridge: Palgrave Macmilam

Habib, A. 2013. In the age of citizen journalism and social media does Gramsci’s theory of hegemonic functions of the media still hold true? Online, retrieved 20 August 2018: https://ahsanthehabib.wordpress.com/category/in-the-age-of-citizen-journalism-and-social-media-does-gramscis-theory-of-hegemonic-functions-of-the-media-still-hold-true/

Kasra, M. 2017. Vigilantism, public shaming, and social media hegemony: the role of digital-networked images in humiliation and socio-political control. The communication review. 20(3): 172-188

Uldam, J. 2016. Corporate management of visibility and the fantasy of the post-political: social media and surveillance. New media and society. 18: 201-219

Waggard, S. 1984. Cultural hegemony: the news media and Appalachia. Appalachian Journal. 11(2): 67-83

[andrewaitchison]

Abdullah Ibrahim. Cape Town, 2016

[urbanunkindness]

Viva! It’s here. The book whose cover features my art. From the co-editor @jon_earle_ogugu ; “A new book! I am excited to announce the forthcoming publication of Decolonising State and Society in Uganda, whose cover features the remarkable work of @crumanzi. BLURB: Decolonization of knowledge has become a major issue in African Studies, brought to the fore by social movements from #RhodesMustFall to #BlackLivesMatter. This timely book explores the politics and disputed character of knowledge production in colonial and postcolonial Uganda, where efforts to generate forms of knowledge and solidarity that transcend colonial epistemologies draw on long histories of resistance and refusal. Bringing together scholars from Africa, Europe and North America, the contributors in this volume analyse how knowledge has been created, mobilized, and contested across a wide range of Ugandan contexts. In so doing, they reveal how Ugandans have built, disputed, and reimagined institutions of authority and knowledge production in ways that disrupt the colonial frames that continue to shape scholarly analyses and state structures. From the politics of language and gender in Bakiga naming practices to ways of knowing among the Acholi, the hampering of critical scholarship by militarism and authoritarianism, and debates over the names of streets, lakes, mountains, and other public spaces, this book shows how scholars and a wide range activists are reimagining the politics of knowledge in Ugandan public life (Oxford: James Currey, 2022).” ♾🛡💚 (at Kampala, Uganda) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca4kdyWr7cf/?utm_medium=tumblr

[fgabo23-blog]

[Pedagogía Política]: No se trata solo de diferentes grupos étnicos, sino que también se aplica al género, la discapacidad y la orientación sexual. Cuando los estudiantes de la Universidad de Cambridge llamaron hace dos años a más escritores no blancos y pensamiento postcolonial para ser incluidos en su plan de estudios de inglés, hubo una reacción violenta.

[digitalworld-love-blog]

Mainstream media, as well as digital media, reported on #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall. #RhodesMustFall was a movement that started on the ninth of March 2015, at the University of Cape Town, which was originally triggered by a statue at the University that commemorates Cecil Rhodes (Bosch, T.2013). The fact that the students wanted the statue removed, received global attention and then grew bigger, in the aim decolonising education throughout South Africa (Mitchell, K. 2013). The #FeesMustFall movement began in the middle of October 2015, at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, where students called for free education, as fee increases resulted in many lower class and middle class individuals being unable to further their education. Students started protesting as their fees were going to increase by 10.5%, while already facing difficulty with the annual fee. The student protests eventually led to a two day shut-down of the university, campus-wide, students then suggested a tuition freeze, and insisted that the university stays shut-down, until their demands are met (The Daily Vox, 2015). Due to the protesting incidents at Wits, the movement spread nationally, Stellenbosch University, Rhodes University, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, University of Cape Town, as well as Tshwane University of Technology all joined the movement.

 The day that mainstream media became old in South Africa was on the 21st October 2015, the day that hashtags were more important than a news article in a newspaper (Jacobs, S. 2015: 1). #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall were both reported through mainstream media, as well as the online sphere. Both protests were portrayed as violent and disruptive in its nature when it appeared in newspapers, on radio and television for example, yet mainstream media made it seem as if the protestors were being ridiculous and causing unnecessary problems such as ‘causing traffic’ or ‘disrespecting the next person’s education.’