Fiftieth Anniversary of Decolonisation in Africa: a moment of celebration or critical reflection?

Abstract This article deploys the concept of coloniality of power to critically reflect on the decolonisation process, using a ‘colonial difference’ perspective which enables a critical reflection on the limits of decolonisation from the side of the ex-colonised ordinary citizens of Africa. Three principal arguments are advanced. First, celebration of the decolonisation process as the proudest moment in African history obscures the continuing operation of the colonial matrices of power in maintaining Africa's subaltern position in global politics. Second, decolonisation resulted only in politico-juridical freedom, which is often conflated with freedom for the ordinary peoples of Africa. Third, celebrations of decolonisation are belied by the fact that ordinary African citizens engaged in new struggles for freedom soon after decolonisation aimed at liberating themselves from oppression by the inherited and imposed postcolonial African state. The article delves into the genealogical, ideological and ethical elements of decolonisation, alongside its political assumptions and implications. This facilitates the decoupling of ideas of liberation from notions of emancipation, which are often considered the same thing. It also enables critical engagement with the character of the postcolonial African state imposed on Africans without being fully reconstituted and decolonized institutionally. The article provides a fresh appreciation of ordinary citizens' ongoing struggles for liberation from the postcolonial state exemplified by the current North African popular uprisings against dictatorial regimes.