10 Small Acts of Decolonization

Written By YTN Group

Blogpost written by Matchima Chutijirawong (Pao)

What if the closest way to decolonize, is in fact, to start from looking within? What was robbed through colonization, was all of the ‘other’ ways of knowing, relating to the world, nature, and understanding history. To decolonize, sounds like a large concept that is hard to grapple with a single individual, but it can start here and now. 

As Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o wrote, colonialism's "most important area of domination was the mental universe of the colonized, the control, through culture, of how people perceived themselves and their relationship to the world."

It begins with reflecting on our own mind and confronting the complicity we may have within us.

  1. Observe

    It's about reading between the lines, because silence is also a statement.

    Attentive, critical observation of news and everyday life makes one in tune with the state of their community. It allows one to notice the unnoticed: the things that may have been taken for granted, whose voices were heard on the main news media, whose narratives were unacknowledged and who benefitted from it.

  2. Ask questions

    Question yourself a little more, catch on to your own prejudices.

    It may start as simply as asking yourself when you are in a public space or when consuming media: Which people do I trust and who do I see as different or dangerous? How do I see myself? Through whose lens am I thinking and making these presumptions?

    Start with asking yourself especially when making assumptions and conclusions: Am I thinking through prejudices that devalue or neglect particular groups of people, culture and knowledge? Are there other ways to look at these topics, if there are, what are they?

  3. Reflect and Relate

    Reflection shows that you are not alone, your prejudices are also formed by a larger construct.

    It comes from you relating these prejudices within you to the larger systematic convention. This can expand your understanding of what shapes your prejudices, and negligence. It is a powerful method to see the relationship you have with the colonial construct and how you may partake in perpetuating it within yourself as well.

  4. Learn more about where you live, Trace back your food and goods

    If all of the things mentioned above are still vague and hard to grasp, this may be a more tangible way to start: Look into the history of where you are currently living.

    Start with unpacking how this area changed throughout the times, who were here before, and who were made to leave.

    In everyday life, you can start by looking at what you consume everyday, the avocadoes on your plate, where do they come from? The beef you had yesterday, how were they produced? That shirt on sale was half the price of its original tag, where was it produced and how was it produced?

  5. Speak-up, Share, Discuss, Exchange

    Do you know the feeling of when you come across an injustice happening so close to you it's impossible to keep to yourself? This is completely normal, because this matters more than just to you alone, it is a matter of the community we belong to. To share and discuss your notion with others in a healthy way for everyone, requires nuances and understanding. It may come with confronting tensions and disagreements. But this is how a matter gets noticed in the first place.

    Speaking up can start with you casually pointing out the silent biases in everyday life. Start small within your social circle. Share your questions out loud. Create a conversation space for others to also voice their own uncertainties. Exchange and discuss your perspectives and your questions. It all begins with a conversation where all opinions are laid out to be reflected by others in the same space. By sharing your thoughts and questions, by putting them in dialogue with people, is a way to reflect on your perspectives as well as others.

  6. Read and Listen, to what others have to say

    Reading lets you see the world through another's eyes.

    Read through different writers and thinkers, especially to the local authors. Literature, especially memoirs give you intimate glimpses of the conflict, crisis from the lived experience.

    Listening to others builds a stronger and healthier well-rounded understanding for yourself. When someone from a marginalized background shares an experience of systemic bias, listening means resisting the urge to defend the system or rationalize the event from your perspective alone. It starts with you accepting their narrative as a valid, expert account of their own life.

  7. Flip the directions of the story

    But what if, it is difficult to even notice the unnoticed. It is sometimes difficult to be able to notice what you overlook, because how do you know what you do not know? Chimamanda Ngozi’s TED speech on ‘The Danger of a Single Story’ reminded us that to notice one’s oblivions is to notice how the stories were being told chronologically. 

    In the speech, she quoted the Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti that "If you want to dispossess a people, the simplest way to do it is to tell their story, and to start with, 'secondly'. 

    “Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans, and not with the arrival of the British, and you have an entirely different story. 

    Start the story with the failure of the African state, and not with the colonial creation of the African state, and you have an entirely different story.”

    When coming across a narrative, always ask: "Where does this story actually begin?"

  8. Remember: What has been erased from the main history and censorship

    Histories are often written by the victors, but truth holds more than one side of the story.

    Truth be told that many oppressions have not ended until today, even if it is noted in the history book, the consequences that propelled from the past events are still significantly impacting today’s struggles of many. Remember the struggle and recognize the power structures today that oppresses certain groups of people.

    Many memories were not in the main history and there is a big reason why. Remembering the stories which were intentionally erased from the history is a way to decolonize the history narrative. You may start with actively seeking out oral histories, books, and archives from voices which were not regarded in the main history narratives. This means newsrooms, publishers, authors, thinkers, artists and historians from various cultural backgrounds of the global majority world. Remembering is an act of resistance against the systemic amnesia that colonial educational systems often encourage.

  9. Connecting the dots: See the connections, players and patterns

    Try to view peace operations, wars and conflicts around the world through a critical lens by simply analyzing who is gaining from this unrest, who are losing, who are included and excluded in the narrative. Across many tensions, the pattern of conflicts share similarities, and paying attention to the connection between each party in the conflict, especially those behind it, is a way to rethink the narrative about this conflict that you first have.

    Recognizing the patterns of these conflicts may eventually lead to noticing how resource extraction in one country, or one region often directly correlates with wealth accumulation and high standards of living in the other countries. The resources extracted may have as well be linked to the products sold to your consumption in your city.

    Recognize that modern conflicts are rarely just "ethnic or cultural hatreds"; they are almost always tied to the deep-rooted colonial history, modern geopolitics, and corporate interests. Seeing the connections between the conflicts, the gains and the loss will help you form your awareness of the key actors in these operations, those who benefited and those who fell victims. Being aware of this is a crucial step to seeing beyond colonial conventions.

  10. Care and Support, through solidarity

    Our freedoms are bound together, and our struggles alike.

    The actions to decolonize are being taken globally, and that means they are being initiated and supported locally around the world. We can strengthen this effort by being there for each other. It means showing up physically, financially, or politically for struggles that may not have a direct visible effect on you. Solidarity starts with care for one another.

Start small, build it into your habit, and this is where decolonization begins.
It’s your turn to start now.

 

Bibliography

Thumbnail Photo credit: Canva Images

About the author:
Matchima Chutijirawong (Pao) was born in Thailand and is now based in Finland. She hopes to use arts and design to amplify overlooked narratives and foster dialogue within the community she belongs. Her work and interest have been around social design, circular design and grassroot advocacy. Her work previously supported organizations such as the ThaiConsent organization for Gender Justice and the United Nations. In the mean time, she also continues her practice as a fine artist and illustrator.

YTN Group
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