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Decolonize That!
Decolonize Multiculturalism
For those interested in continuing the struggle for decolonization, the word “multiculturalism” can seem like a sad joke. After all, institutionalized multiculturalism today is a muck of buzzwords, branding strategies, and virtue signaling that has nothing to do with real struggles against racism and colonialism. But Decolonize Multiculturalism unearths a buried history.
The book focuses on the student and youth movements of the 1960s and 1970s, inspired by global movements for decolonization and anti-racism, which aimed to fundamentally transform their society, as well as the fierce repression of these movements by the state, corporations, and university administrations. Part of the response has been sheer violence—campus policing, for example, only began in the ’70s, paving the way for the militarized campuses of today—with institutionalized multiculturalism acting like the velvet glove around the iron fist of state violence.
And yet today’s multiculturalism also contains residues of the original radical demands of the student and youth movements that it aims to to open up the university, to wrench it from its settler colonial, white supremacist, and patriarchal capitalist origins, and to transform it into a place of radical democratic possibility.
The book focuses on the student and youth movements of the 1960s and 1970s, inspired by global movements for decolonization and anti-racism, which aimed to fundamentally transform their society, as well as the fierce repression of these movements by the state, corporations, and university administrations. Part of the response has been sheer violence—campus policing, for example, only began in the ’70s, paving the way for the militarized campuses of today—with institutionalized multiculturalism acting like the velvet glove around the iron fist of state violence.
And yet today’s multiculturalism also contains residues of the original radical demands of the student and youth movements that it aims to to open up the university, to wrench it from its settler colonial, white supremacist, and patriarchal capitalist origins, and to transform it into a place of radical democratic possibility.
- GenresNonfiction
348 pages, Paperback
Published May 23, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 7, 2024
Working from the distinction between struggles for voice, representation, presence, and transformation grounded in anti-racist, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist goals and expectations, and the corporate response that gave us institutional multiculturalism and diversity, Alessandrini builds a powerful argument for disordering, especially of those institutions. The second distinction he works with is slipped in briefly, almost as an aside, but is crucial – and that is the distinction between multicultural and multiculturalism reminding us of the vital difference between the simple noun and ideology.
There is a third, vital, aspect of this discussion – his refusal to define multiculturalism. This, at first, especially for those of us in a particular academic space (the be-clear-about-your-terms posse), but Alessandrini is less concerned the many ways we have wrangled the term than what it does. That is to say, he grounds the analysis very much in the activist approach of impacts rather than getting stuck in the definitional desert. That’s not to say there is not definitional critique, but it is more in a focus on institutional and managerial uses of multicultural(ism) and diversity in ways that negate and undermine the disruptive potential of those transformative struggles.
It was the fourth conceptual strand that I found most timely, where he weaves austerity into these three other tendencies. Here Alessandrini picks up not on the conventional views of austerity as only financial but echoes, for instance, arguments made by Glen Coulthard about the limitations and dangers of recognition which is woven into of a case about the ‘end of the world’. The argument is not so much that we cannot imagine the end of the world but that it is upon us and we can and should be imagining new futures and working to make them happen – there are hints of the Occupy/anarchist prefiguration idea here – while remembering that decolonization is not a cultural event.
The discussion and the associated advocacy is heavily oriented to the US university and college system (Alessandrini’s world of work) but he is careful to contextualise the approach both in some key thinkers grappling with these kinds of issues – notably Angela Davis, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, & Sara Ahmed so points to and draws in wider issues such as abolition and the exploitation of worker of colour in corporate approaches. Even so, the US-centric approach limits the applicability and seems at time paradoxical given the decolonial framing and approach: I understand it, speak to your audience, but be clearer about who your audience might be.
He also make sure to show how the kinds of managerial approaches we currently live with are directly linked to the struggles of the 1960s. Most notably he draws on Nixon’s commission inquiring into student protests sparked by the killing of students by the National Guard during an anti-war protest at Kent State in Ohio (which is widely known as an iconic moment) and the nearly contemporaneous killings by police of Black protestors at Jackson State in Mississippi (which is largely forgotten). He uses the work of this commission of inquiry and work done by Lewis Powell, who became a Supreme Court judge, to show how the current discourse that positions universities as defenders and sites of multicultural diversity and protestors as opposed to that diversity has deep historical roots. Equally importantly he shows how these events of the later 1960s are also the basis of not only the hyper-militarised campus police that we see in the USA, but of campus police at all.
It is in these aspects of the case and the disciplining role of managerial multiculturalism and diversity that links the case most forcefully to abolitionism. But that’s not to say that this is all bleak analysis. Alessandrini is also careful to ensure that he draws out and on current struggles that produce the sort of disordering he explores – drawing compellingly on Franz Fanon’s work here – making clear that disorder has multiple uses. In current disciplinary discourses, linked back to Nixon’s commission and intensified in the wake of the attacks in the US in September 2001, ‘disorder’ discursively and in policing links protest to terrorism, and is usually seen as verging on chaos and therefor bad thing. The approach Fanon invokes sees disorder as necessary to build the new, where revolutionary or liberatory transformation is impossible without disordering the current ways.
So, for Alessandrini, decolonising multiculturalism means wrenching it away from it managerialist manifestation in favour of anti-imperialist, anti-colonial form linked to the visions that scholar activists such Gilmour, Ahmed and Davis, as well as the transformational approaches of Fanon and others. Even with its US-focus it’s an exhilarating read for those of us based and working elsewhere. Packed full of insight, inspiration, and sharp insight.
There is a third, vital, aspect of this discussion – his refusal to define multiculturalism. This, at first, especially for those of us in a particular academic space (the be-clear-about-your-terms posse), but Alessandrini is less concerned the many ways we have wrangled the term than what it does. That is to say, he grounds the analysis very much in the activist approach of impacts rather than getting stuck in the definitional desert. That’s not to say there is not definitional critique, but it is more in a focus on institutional and managerial uses of multicultural(ism) and diversity in ways that negate and undermine the disruptive potential of those transformative struggles.
It was the fourth conceptual strand that I found most timely, where he weaves austerity into these three other tendencies. Here Alessandrini picks up not on the conventional views of austerity as only financial but echoes, for instance, arguments made by Glen Coulthard about the limitations and dangers of recognition which is woven into of a case about the ‘end of the world’. The argument is not so much that we cannot imagine the end of the world but that it is upon us and we can and should be imagining new futures and working to make them happen – there are hints of the Occupy/anarchist prefiguration idea here – while remembering that decolonization is not a cultural event.
The discussion and the associated advocacy is heavily oriented to the US university and college system (Alessandrini’s world of work) but he is careful to contextualise the approach both in some key thinkers grappling with these kinds of issues – notably Angela Davis, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, & Sara Ahmed so points to and draws in wider issues such as abolition and the exploitation of worker of colour in corporate approaches. Even so, the US-centric approach limits the applicability and seems at time paradoxical given the decolonial framing and approach: I understand it, speak to your audience, but be clearer about who your audience might be.
He also make sure to show how the kinds of managerial approaches we currently live with are directly linked to the struggles of the 1960s. Most notably he draws on Nixon’s commission inquiring into student protests sparked by the killing of students by the National Guard during an anti-war protest at Kent State in Ohio (which is widely known as an iconic moment) and the nearly contemporaneous killings by police of Black protestors at Jackson State in Mississippi (which is largely forgotten). He uses the work of this commission of inquiry and work done by Lewis Powell, who became a Supreme Court judge, to show how the current discourse that positions universities as defenders and sites of multicultural diversity and protestors as opposed to that diversity has deep historical roots. Equally importantly he shows how these events of the later 1960s are also the basis of not only the hyper-militarised campus police that we see in the USA, but of campus police at all.
It is in these aspects of the case and the disciplining role of managerial multiculturalism and diversity that links the case most forcefully to abolitionism. But that’s not to say that this is all bleak analysis. Alessandrini is also careful to ensure that he draws out and on current struggles that produce the sort of disordering he explores – drawing compellingly on Franz Fanon’s work here – making clear that disorder has multiple uses. In current disciplinary discourses, linked back to Nixon’s commission and intensified in the wake of the attacks in the US in September 2001, ‘disorder’ discursively and in policing links protest to terrorism, and is usually seen as verging on chaos and therefor bad thing. The approach Fanon invokes sees disorder as necessary to build the new, where revolutionary or liberatory transformation is impossible without disordering the current ways.
So, for Alessandrini, decolonising multiculturalism means wrenching it away from it managerialist manifestation in favour of anti-imperialist, anti-colonial form linked to the visions that scholar activists such Gilmour, Ahmed and Davis, as well as the transformational approaches of Fanon and others. Even with its US-focus it’s an exhilarating read for those of us based and working elsewhere. Packed full of insight, inspiration, and sharp insight.
September 16, 2023
4 stars. ‘Decolonize Multiculturalism’ offers up a thorough exploration of the complex evolution of multiculturalism, and I’m impressed by its deep analysis and thought-provoking message. Alessandrini delves into the inspiring student and youth movements of the 1960s and 1970s, which were fueled by global decolonisation and anti-racism movements. In his analysis, he highlights the profound societal transformation sought by these movements, contrasting it w the harsh repression they faced frm various institutional power structures such as police and university administrations.
What sets this book apart is its critique of modern institutionalised multiculturalism. Alessandrini skillfully exposes the disconnect between contemporary multiculturalism, riddled w buzzwords and virtue signalling. Like take the way decolonisation has been turned into a sparkly new term fr a multitude of things, like “decolonise therapy!” and “decolonise academia!”, yet often fails to centre the anticolonial and anti-racist struggles that sparked its inception. He navigates through the layers of branding strategies to reveal the lingering remnants of the original radical ideals, as these ideals aimed to redefine universities, liberating them frm their settler colonial, white supremacist, and patriarchal capitalist origins, and transforming them into hubs of radical democratic potential.
While the book’s critique is sharp, Alessandrini also manages to maintain a nuanced perspective throughout. He invites us to critically engage w the evolution of multiculturalism, acknowledging both its potential fr progress and its (greater) potential fr co-optation. Ultimately, in ‘Decolonize Multiculturalism’, Alessandrini provides us w an insightful journey through the intricate web of historical and ideological forces shaping multiculturalism, and challenges us to reevaluate the path of progress and social change while rekindling the spirit of those early activist movements.
What sets this book apart is its critique of modern institutionalised multiculturalism. Alessandrini skillfully exposes the disconnect between contemporary multiculturalism, riddled w buzzwords and virtue signalling. Like take the way decolonisation has been turned into a sparkly new term fr a multitude of things, like “decolonise therapy!” and “decolonise academia!”, yet often fails to centre the anticolonial and anti-racist struggles that sparked its inception. He navigates through the layers of branding strategies to reveal the lingering remnants of the original radical ideals, as these ideals aimed to redefine universities, liberating them frm their settler colonial, white supremacist, and patriarchal capitalist origins, and transforming them into hubs of radical democratic potential.
While the book’s critique is sharp, Alessandrini also manages to maintain a nuanced perspective throughout. He invites us to critically engage w the evolution of multiculturalism, acknowledging both its potential fr progress and its (greater) potential fr co-optation. Ultimately, in ‘Decolonize Multiculturalism’, Alessandrini provides us w an insightful journey through the intricate web of historical and ideological forces shaping multiculturalism, and challenges us to reevaluate the path of progress and social change while rekindling the spirit of those early activist movements.
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August 8, 2025You know, I think I also didn't know that police weren't on school campuses until the 70s/80s. I just assumed they were always there, much like many people. I think it speaks to the distorted "inevitability" of neoliberalism and capitalism that we just assume these things were always there and that's why things can't be different. But they can, and this book tries to get that point across. A lot of the time in here is spent on just how bad and removed from reality our reality is. The oppressive force of the ruling white cis heteropatriarchy is just so present, and it's hard to imagine a world beyond it. Alessandrini focuses more on what we can do towards the end, which I appreciated. I also appreciated the call out in the middle of the book about anti-racism book lists. Ouch. And I appreciated the "hey, it's us too" that came after. Letting us, the reader, know that there is a way to make that book list actually be activism in some way instead of just performing.
Also this probably more than most other books gave me quite the reading list.
Also this probably more than most other books gave me quite the reading list.
March 29, 2024
loved this book even tho took me forever to finish reading.
Multicultural at is core is good! Multiculturalism today bad!
I encourage all my friends who are interested in academia and just building a better world to read. I found this super captivating as someone finishing their undergrad in Race and Resistance and starting an Ethnic Studies M.A. in the fall.
Multicultural at is core is good! Multiculturalism today bad!
I encourage all my friends who are interested in academia and just building a better world to read. I found this super captivating as someone finishing their undergrad in Race and Resistance and starting an Ethnic Studies M.A. in the fall.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews