The aim of this op-ed is to explore writings from Edward Said, Dipesh Chakrabaty , Frantz Fanon and Anton de Kom in understanding the ways in which we read coloniality and, in particular, settler-colonialism, using the example of the occupation and gen-ecocide of Palestine.
Chakrabaty’s provinciality of Europe highlights how Europe (White) centres itself in relation to the rest of the world. Edward Said claimed that the Orient is a necessary juxtaposition for the Occident because it offers a romanticisation of the racialised other (Black), rendering the other hypervisible yet simultaneously invisible. Consequently, Said’s notion of Orientalism fixes the position of the “other”, perpetuating malignant forms of brutality with the fungibility of Black life. …..more
