Decolonisation and its discontents: Thoughts on the postcolonial African moral self

Abstract

Decades after the end of colonialism, Africa seems well positioned to evaluate the successes or failures of Africa as a continent of liberated people. Nearly all analyses of African liberation movements have rightly highlighted the glories of decolonisation; very few have stressed its pitfalls. This article examines the negative moral consequences of certain philosophical assumptions of the African decolonisation process. Of particular interest in this inquiry is the frame of mind of African actors of decolonisation who eventually became the political and intellectual leaders of their countries. How might we conceive of the African moral subject within the contexts both of decolonisation and as a member of the global community in the twenty-first century? What, if anything, can Africa learn from the missteps of the decolonisation process?