Decolonizing Dialectics

Radical Américas

by Geo Maher

Anticolonial theorists and revolutionaries have long turned to dialectical thought as a central weapon in their fight against oppressive structures and conditions. This relationship was never easy, however, as anticolonial thinkers have resisted the historical determinism, teleology, Eurocentrism, and singular emphasis that some Marxisms place on class identity at the expense of race, nation, and popular identity. In recent decades, the conflict between dialectics and postcolonial theory has only deepened. In Decolonizing Dialectics George Ciccariello-Maher breaks this impasse by bringing the work of Georges Sorel, Frantz Fanon, and Enrique Dussel together with contemporary Venezuelan politics to formulate a dialectics suited to the struggle against the legacies of colonialism and slavery. This is a decolonized dialectics premised on constant struggle in which progress must be fought for and where the struggles of the wretched of the earth themselves provide the only guarantee of historical motion.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Nonfiction, Theory, History, Race, Academic

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Matías Pérez Ojeda Del Arco · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful book bringing decolonial authors such and Sorel, Fanon, and Dussel to the fore in order to interpret contemporary 'social' struggles for better worlds. Ciccariello-Maher notably digs well in the legacy of these three authors to the sense that his book also may become as a reading guide for these authors. A Titanic work indeed by C-M digesting those thinkers. I enjoyed his exploration on Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks, first, and then, the Wretched of the Earth, extracting from both the lessons that strongly resonate in the contemporary decolonial body of thought that is expanding around the Global South. The chapter of Dussel also condensed well this author’s propositions and explains well the ‘maturation’ of Dussel from Heidegger, Hegel, to finally transcend Levinas. The book is well organised chronologically, and makes geographical justice to decolonial thought-action around the world when engaging these three 'titans'. Simply put it, if the intention of the book is to see and talk about dialectics in a different way, C-M has succeeded. Nevertheless, the topic of dialectics is by its own essence, complicated, hard, and painful sometimes, therefore, I found unnecessary C-M’s language and writing too over-complicated in many of the passages of the book. Again, a great book in this process to decolonize the modern/colonial paradigm that involve all. A book to re-read with different eyes and lived experiences in the future.

[Brian Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book of postcolonial political theory, Ciccariello-Maher looks at how "the" dialectic can be decolonized and sharpened into the theoretical weaponry of a combative dialectics of struggle. The chapters are divided into engagements with quite diverse thinkers - Georges Sorel, Frantz Fanon, and Enrique Dussel - as well as a chapter critiquing Hardt and Negri's idea of the Multitude and how decolonial dialectics better captures concrete ruptures and struggles, such as in the case study of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution.

Overall, I found Ciccariello-Maher's theorizing mostly clear and always thought-provoking. "Decolonizing Dialectics" is a useful theoretical accompaniment to his other major work on Venezuela, "We Created Chavez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution" (2013).

[Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Challenging and technical but essential. Ciccariello-Maher is an amazing scholar and writer

[chana levanah · Rating 5 out of 5]

essential theory reading for our current position in history. i would encourage anyone into radical politics/leftism/postmarxist theory, any anarchist or activist, especially white people, to read this, as long as they are able to (not all of us have the privilege of having gone through enough education or self education to read denser works of theory or other academic topics).

i am not an academic, i am a self taught armchair consumer of critical/queer theory, focusing as much as I can on works by queer people and people of color. having no formal training in philosophy i was still able to understand what was being said in this book as long as I remained vigilant about looking up words, phrases, or events that I needed to know more about for context.

i will always remember this book as a landmark work for this period of time in my life.

[El Bombín · Rating 5 out of 5]

Analisis de la dialéctica de la descolonización, tomando a Sorel, a Fanon, a Dussel, a Mariátegui...libro interesante, lindo para analizar coyunturas latinoamericanas y de "países emergentes". Versa sobre la reversión de la dialéctica del amo y esclavo hegeliana desde una perspectiva de las teorías de liberación nacional
El autor ha escrito varios libros sobre Venezuela y el chavismo y en el capítulo 5 hace un interesante análisis.

Aparte le pega un par de palitos lindos a Negri, Hardt y esa parva de eurocentristas.

Recomendadisimo

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

It assumes a *lot* of prior knowledge, e.g., about Enrique Dussel and Emmanuel Levinas. But I mostly agree with the thesis and learned a lot from its articulation.

[Chris Nagel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The butler did it.

But my biggest beef with this book is what I can sum up with a catch-phrase my buddies and I used in college: “All that way for a Stroh’s.” This came from an old ad campaign for Stroh’s beer, in which some wayward desert wanderer sidles up to an oasis, asks for something to quench his thirst, and, finding only the wrong brands available, trudges on. The patron remaining at the bar watches in amazement and says the tagline. We used it ironically, because Stroh’s kind of sucked.

[Otto Cuauhtémoc · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Los proyectos intelectuales que se llaman antirracistas pero no tienen relación con las bases comunitarias ni colectivas solo mantienen el racismo” es fuerte todo lo que me ha quebrado el pensamiento este libro, y como repensar la descolonización combativa desde espacios fuera de la centralidad

[Eme Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joining Sorel, Fanon and Dussel and applying them to Venezuela is brilliant, well executed, easy to read (well, considering) and ALMOST makes Dussel seem readable lmao

[M S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read. Requires basic understanding of dialectics and decolonization.

[J. Moufawad-Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrote a review here:

https://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/revi...

[brenda tan · Rating 3 out of 5]

fanon chapters are pretty good, but dont love the chapter on dussel. the whole point of totality is that there is no outside