NEITHER SETTLER NOR NATIVE

Colonialism enacted one of the first ‘fundamentalisms’ of the modern period, ‘advancing the proposition that every colonized group had an original and pure tradition, whether religious or ethnic, and should return to that condition as a matter of course or be obliged to do so by law.’ So enunciates Mahmood Mamdani, a political scientist, professor at Columbia University and one of the most perceptive and savviest analysts of postcolonial African history, on the loss of political belonging, the denial of citizen’s rights, the endless cycles of civil wars and inter-tribal bloodshed, the ungovernability and general descent into chaos and anarchy that is the fate of the continent today. His is a chilling text, merciless in its exposure of the colonialist’s sanctimonious logic, and highly censorious of the legal positivism of our age that outwardly promotes universal rights but which in fact stipulates a closure of all politics, thus heralding ‘the end of history’ and further fortifying the incumbent regime. And yet this bleak vision is not without hope and does not lack a constructive and workable plan for the future.