On Worldviews & Postcolonialism
Introduction & Case Study
Over the course of the last millennium, European countries have undergone tremendous change at every level of their society. This included changes to it's economic, political, and philosophical systems or structures. These changes were primarily precipitated by a move away from an oppressive structure that governed all these areas of life and more - The Church.
This paved way for the European golden age which saw the burgeoning of open scientific enquiry and formulation of "better" systems of ethics & politics than what they were already accustomed to under The Church. Inevitably, as the Church played an oppressive, restrictive role in people's lives for the last several centuries, these systems that were being newly formulated during the Late Renaissance & Enlightenment Era had to do away with any interference from that structure that has been highly oppressive and intrusive and actively stifled open enquiry and scientific ingenuity. That was the best option they had after all...
During this era, we see the emergence and development of the ideas that would mature and form the basis of modern western society as we know it, weather that be the concept of the Nation state, separation of Church and State, secularism & liberalism.
By the late 19th century, the political and legal power of the Church as an institution had been stripped and reduced to a cultural, historical vestige. Additionally, by this point, European society has undergone massive transformation at every level. Their worldview was now fundamentally different and was almost the entire opposite to what it was pre-"reformation".
But what is a worldview & what forms a worldview?
A worldview can be understood as a framework that encompasses different aspects of philosophy, religion & culture and acts as a lens which enables a society to make sense of the world and their position in the world.
With Europe during this period of transformation, their philosophical foundations changed at every level. Below are some of the foundational aspects of philosophy that structures a society and can be viewed as a pyramid with metaphysics forming the foundations & political philosophy forming the tip:
Their metaphysics - The fundamental understanding of what constitutes truth - shifted
Their epistemology - The fundamental understanding of how knowledge is produced and verified - shifted
Their ethics - The fundamental understanding of right and wrong - shifted
And finally, their political philosophy - the fundamental understanding and engagement in politics and how society should be organised - shifted
These are not trivial changes. These form the foundation of civilisations, how individuals, make sense of the world, operate and perceive themselves and others in the world.
Organically, worldviews change in a bottom-up fashion, such that a change in politics or ethics would've been precipitated by or induced by a shift in epistemology. And likewise a change in epistemology would be precipitated by a shift in metaphysics - the most foundational of knowledge. This is the process that Europe underwent throughout the last millennia which has allowed them to arrive at where they are now.
Where things get complicated…
However, once they sought to expand their influence for political and economic reasons that were justified with deeply heinous justifications cloaked in altruism, they exported their worldview as well in order to create a new world order in their image.
This project was propelled by the slave trade and colonisation. This destabilised existing civilisations and their worldviews. This intervention was justified, as Jules Ferry put it, by the “superior race” having a duty to “to civilise inferior races”, during a famous parliamentary debate in July of 1883 - not too long ago. The ramifications of these acts were so deep that the results of this intervention still echoes in today's age.
What occurred to the indigenous people at the aforementioned levels of philosophy was a rapid and radical displacement of existing systems of making sense & navigating the world with another that was deemed "more valuable" which has been developed, tried and tested, and refined over centuries in another context and continent.
Then, once the people regained their freedoms they were left with a cacophonic mix of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics & political philosophy that was not a result of their organic institutional and cultural journey, but rather one which was a result of one worldview violently imposing authority on another.
Some of these implications…
This is dangerous for many reasons, because we now engage in discussions on "development" - weather that be economic, political or cultural - assuming a coherent worldview where the pieces to the philosophical puzzle are uniform and complementary. But in fact, the pieces to the puzzle they were left with, post-colonially, are of different sizes and shapes!
A civilisation needs to build a coherent worldview where each layer of complexity leads to the next up in the metaphorical pyramid. This was not the case.
We're now attempting to adopt a political philosophy that was not the logical step from our pre-colonial system of ethics which was heavily influenced by religion and customary laws. This poses a major conundrum for a group of people who now have to practically re-create a worldview that sees their civilisation thrive.
This is no easy feat.
It took the Europeans almost 1000 years to achieve relative peace & stability, even then, it was at the expense of other civilisations.
Looking to the future…
So now what do we do? How do we organise a coherent worldview, that engages the public, given our unique historical context as Djiboutians?
These are indeed difficult questions and I may not have a concrete answer. Over the next several weeks I’ll be pondering this issue, developing & sharing my ideas and thoughts on this question.
Please leave your ideas & comments down below as they would prove useful.