Khotsong Baratuoa,
In preparing to share my reflections on “Settler Coloniality, Decolonising Space, and Imagining New Futures,” themes Prof. Geci Karuri-Sebina and I discussed in the fifth episode of the Conscious Conversations podcast series, I delved into readings on Colonialism and Settler Colonialism. As I read, I felt knots in my stomach, intense heat building in my chest, and tears welling up. This isn't the first time I've experienced these sensations. Every time I focus on these issues, I feel this way. The more I understand settler colonialism and colonisation and their effects on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour), the more I get angry and teary. I often ask myself why we are still here, what a 21st-century revolution looks like, and when BIPOC will cease to be complicit in their destruction.
On May 29, 2024, South Africans will go to the national polls again in the sixth national election since our democracy began. Quite frankly, I have no viable option on the ballot. None of the top political parties, who claim to prioritize black people's interests, have shown that they can radically change the psycho-spiritual and socio-economic experiences of BIPOC in South Africa. I have not heard the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) speak about Black Consciousness and Identity politics in a way that helps non-white South Africans heal from the internalized oppression caused by settler coloniality and colonisation. From where I stand, people cannot begin to self-direct and make meaningful changes in their lives without understanding who they are, where they are, and why they are there. We cannot deeply ponder our buying patterns, social behaviors, and belief systems to dismantle a system built against us—a system designed to oppress us spiritually, mentally, and economically.
We know that settler colonialism and colonisation perpetually function within cultural norms, values, and institutional systems long after colonizers have left. They work on people's minds and the fabric of society (or do we, actually?). Despite this, there have been no attempts (at least that I have seen) by the national government, a black government, to address issues of Personhood—a capacity for consciousness, self-awareness, and moral self-direction among BIPOC. The type of liberation Steve Biko argued for, where black people become agents of regenerative change, remains elusive.
Settler colonialism in South Africa and many other African countries has not only meant dispossession of land; it is also an ongoing system of power that seeks to homogenize, sterilize, and decontextualize space and place, stripping away the cultural identity, psychological, and spiritual connections people share with the land and each other. It's a perpetual repression and genocide of a people, exploiting our cultures, land, and resources. We, non-white people, continue to be alienated from our genealogical ties to land, nature, and the non-visible world, vital aspects of our cultural identity.
While South Africa and many other African countries have been independent for decades, the quest for development, urbanization, modernization, and globalization has sustained and reproduced spatial inequality and exclusion for most under-resourced non-whites. I get sick every time I see a strip mall development because, to me, they represent sites of consumption. How can it be that in a country where, according to the 2023 United Nations Development Programme report, at least 4.9 million youths (ages 15 to 34) remain unemployed, with 3.7 million aged 15-24 not in education or training (UNDP, 2023)? What is this, if not the killing of a nation?
Meanwhile, while decolonisation projects are mildly undertaken by various actors using modernist approaches in urban and rural architectural design, unequally allocating resources, and limiting opportunities for self-actualization, BIPOC continue to be exiled from their ancestral lands. This situation deeply reinforces hopelessness, violence, fear, a sense of scarcity and displacement, and an inability to imagine future cities where everyone belongs. Decolonisation, as it stands, is rooted in the dominant culture, decontextualizing people, space, and time, undermining issues related to spirituality, eco-diversity, transitional justice, healing, and restoration.
Episode 5 of Conscious Conversations Season 3 is here.
This episode of Conscious Conversations with Prof. Geci Karuri-Sebina allowed us to reflect on our past and hopes for a truly decolonized future, imagining future urban and rural spaces that are resilient, anticipatory, inclusive, autonomous, and technologically disruptive.
Prof Geci Karuri-Sebina is an African scholar-practitioner currently serving as an Associate Professor in Digital Governance at the University of Witwatersrand, and an Adjunct Professor at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. Geci is the ICESCO Chair on Innovation and Futures in Africa, and is affiliated with the leadership of initiative such as The Emergence Network, the Southern African Node of the Millennium Project, AfricaLICS, and the African Innovation Summit.
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Here’s to a Revolutionary 21st-century – Spirit, Body, and Mind!
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