Decolonisation: history, thought, and practice
Prof. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni will give the keynote lecture at the Stephen Ellis Debate on 10 December, entitled: 'Decolonisation as an Expression of African Agency: Reworlding the World in a Time of Global Turbulence'. Ndlovu-Gatsheni is Professor of History & Canada Research Chair in Pluralistic Societies: Epistemic Pluralism and Ecologies of Knowledges, at the University of Calgary, Department of History. On this occassion, the African Library has compiled a web dossier on the history, thought, and practice of decolonisation.
This web dossier is based on the abstract quoted below, which Professor Ndlovu-Gatsheni supplied prior to his lecture. Using this as a starting point, the African Library has compiled a web dossier on the history, thought and practice of decolonisation. A special section is dedicated to works on this and other subjects by Professor Ndlovu-Gatsheni. The web dossier contains titles from the collection of the African Library, extended with sources available through the broader Leiden University Library collection. Under the header ‘web resources’, a number of relevant websites are included.
“
Decolonisation is the most profound, heroic, inventive and most policed and costly expression of African agency. This lecture challenges a growing body of reactionary and revisionist scholarship which try to dismiss decolonisation as nativism, victimhood, ideological fashion or wrong-headed initiative and an overloaded concept that has lost its meaning and value. This lecture posits that decolonisation was born expansive, as a multifaceted project of remaking the world from the vantage point of those whom Frantz Fanon named the wretched of the earth, and that it was subsequently narrowed, domesticated and disciplined into the juridical form of the sovereign nation-state by a convergence of imperial reform, Cold War containment and the ambitions of Western-educated African elites. The lecture reconstructs the long archive of African agency in decolonisation, from the Haitian Revolution and Adwa through Pan-Africanism, Bandung, the liberation movements and the New International Economic Order, to the resurgent and insurgent decolonisation of the twenty-first century, which has migrated from the state to political society and now speaks in the plural grammars of decolonizing universities, restitution campaigns, reparations claims, recovery of Indigenous and African language, and many others including epistemological decolonization/epistemic revolt. Engaging seriously with Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò's Against Decolonisation (2022), the lecture articulates decolonization as the most powerful expression of African agency and rejects the core claim that decolonisation infantilises Africans. The lecture closes by proposing reworlding as the positive content of decolonisation: not a return to a lost purity but the construction of a pluriversal world, an ecology of knowledges, and what Fanon called a new humanism.
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Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni - On decolonisation | Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni - Other works | History - Haitian revolution | History - The battle of Adwa | History - Pan-Africanism | History - Bandung | History - National liberation movements | History - New International Economic Order | Decolonisation in thought | Decolonisation in practice | Web resources
Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni works
Global storms and Africa in world politics : contemporary challenges and decolonial responses/ Gorden Moyo and Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni (eds.).
Cham : Springer Nature Switzerland : Imprint: Springer, 2025.
Language and decolonisation : an interdisciplinary approach/ Finex Ndhlovu and Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni (eds.).
Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2025.
The Sage handbook of decolonial theory/ Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores (ed.), Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores, Ana Carolina Díaz Beltrán, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sandeep Bakshi, Augustin Lao-Montes and Flavia Rios.
London : SAGE Publications, Limited, 2025.
Marxism and decolonization in the 21st century : living theories and true ideas/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Morgan Ndlovu (eds.).
London ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022.
African voices: in search of a decolonial turn/ Siphamandla Zondi (ed.), Ramy Magdy Ahmed, Teboho J. Lebakeng, Lebogang T. Legodi, Faith Mabera, Kealeboga J. Maphunye, F. Fiona Moolla, William Mpofu, Philani Mthembu, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Bongani Nyoka, Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba, Ayesha Omar, Kgothatso Shai, Tendayi Sithole, Hashi Kenneth Tafira and Siphamandla Zondi.
Boulder : Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2021.
Decolonization, development and knowledge in Africa : turning over a new leaf/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020.
The dynamics of epistemological decolonisation in the 21st century : towards epistemic freedom/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Strategic Review of Southern Africa, volume 40, no. 1, pages 16-45. (2018)
Epistemic freedom in Africa : deprovincialization and decolonization/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
New York : Routledge, 2018.
The decolonial Mandela : peace, justice and the politics of life/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
New York [etc] : Berghahn, 2016.
Decolonizing the university, knowledge systems and disciplines in Africa/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Siphamandla Zondi (eds.).
Durham : Carolina Academic Press, 2016.
Decoloniality in Africa : a continuing search for a new world order/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: The Australasian review of African studies, vol. 36, no. 2, p. 22-50 (2015)
Global coloniality and the challenges of creating African futures/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Strategic Review of Southern Africa, volume 36, no. 2, p. 181-202 (2014)
Coloniality of power in postcolonial Africa: myths of decolonization/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
Dakar : CODESRIA, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, 2013.
Empire, global coloniality and African subjectivity/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
New York : Berghahn Books, 2013.
Perhaps decoloniality is the answer? Critical reflections on development from a decolonial epistemic perspective : editorial/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Africanus : skakelblad van die Departement van Naturelle-Administrasie, Universiteit van Suid-Afrika, vol. 43, no. 2, p. 1-11 (2013)
Knowing - unknowing : African Studies at the crossroads/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Katharina Schramm (eds.).
Brill, 2024.
The paradox of planetary human entanglements : challenges of living together/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Inocent Moyo (eds.).
London, England ; New York, New York : Routledge, 2023.
Reflections on the proceedings of the 19th congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Sino-Africa and Sino-BRICS relations/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Strategic Review of Southern Africa, volume 43, no. 1, p. 191-210. (2021)
Biometric technologies, electoral fraud and the management of elections in Nigeria and Zimbabwe/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Strategic Review of Southern Africa, volume 42, no. 2, p. 205-230 (2020)
The dynamics of changing higher education in the Global South/ Busani Mpofu and Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni (eds.).
Newcastle upon Tyne, England : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020.
South Africa-China relations : a constructivist perspective/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Strategic Review of Southern Africa, volume 42, no. 2, p. 63-86 (2020)
The quest for sustainable development in the context of insecurity : some critical reflections/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, R. Obinna Iroanya and R. Molapo.
In: Strategic Review of Southern Africa, volume 41, no. 1. (2019)
Rethinking and unthinking development : perspectives on inequality and poverty in South Africa and Zimbabwe/ Busani Mpofu and Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni (eds.).
New York ; Oxford : Berghahn, 2019.
Celebrating the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth and his nationalist humanist vision/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Busani Ngcaweni.
In: African journal on conflict resolution, volume 18, number 2, pages 9-31 (2018)
African multilateral responses to the crisis in Zimbabwe : a Responsibility to Protect perspective/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Strategic Review of Southern Africa, volume 49, no. 2, p. 50-77. (2017)
Towards a framework for resolving the justice and reconciliation question in Zimbabwe/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Everisto Benyera.
In: African journal on conflict resolution, vol. 15, no. 2, p. 9-33 (2015)
Bondage of boundaries and identity politics in Postcolonial Africa : the 'Northern problem' and ethno-futures/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Brilliant Mhlanga (eds.).
Pretoria : Africa Institute of South Africa, 2013.
Nationalism and national projects in Southern Africa : new critical reflections/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Finex Ndhlovu.
Pretoria : Africa Institute of South Africa, 2013.
Revisiting the national question and rethinking the political trajectory of Africa in the 21st century/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: International journal of African renaissance studies : multi-, inter- and transdisciplinarity, vol. 8, no. 2, p. 32-57 (2013)
The African national project, the question of African development, and the rise of new institutionalism/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Africanus : skakelblad van die Departement van Naturelle-Administrasie, Universiteit van Suid-Afrika, vol. 42, no. 1, p. 30-45 (2012)
Coloniality of power in development studies and the impact of global imperial designs on Africa/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni
In: The Australasian review of African studies, vol. 33, no. 2, p. 48-73 (2012)
The death of the Subject with a capital 'S' and the perils of belonging: a study of the construction of ethnocracy in Zimbabwe/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Critical arts : a journal of media studies, vol. 26, no. 4, p. 525-546 (2012)
Racialised ethnicities and ethnicised races : reflections on the making of South Africanism/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: African identities, vol. 10, no. 4, p. 407-422 (2012)
Rethinking 'Chimurenga' and 'Gukurahundi' in Zimbabwe : a critique of partisan national history/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: African studies review : the journal of the African Studies Association, vol. 55, no. 3, p. 1-26 (2012)
Colonial modernity and the African worldview : theorizing and historicizing religious encounters in south-western Zimbabwe/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Eastern Africa social science research review : a publication of the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern Africa (OSSREA), vol. 27, no. 2, p. 91-114 (2011)
The Zimbabwean nation-State project : a historical diagnosis of identity and power-based conflicts in a postcolonial State/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2011.
Do Africans exist? : genealogies and paradoxes of African identities and the discourses of nativism and xenophobia/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: African identities, vol. 8, no. 3, p. 281-295 (2010)
Redemptive or grotesque nationalism? : rethinking contemporary politics in Zimbabwe/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and James Muzondidya.
Bern ; Oxford : Peter Lang, 2010.
Reinvoking the past in the present : changing identities and appropriations of Joshua Nkomo in post-colonial Zimbabwe/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Wendy Willems.
In: African identities, vol. 8, no. 3, p. 191-208 (2010)
Africa for Africans or Africa for 'natives' only? : 'new nationalism' and nativism in Zimbabwe and South Africa/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Afrika spectrum, vol. 44, no. 1, p. 61-78 (2009)
Do 'Zimbabweans' exist? : trajectories of nationalism, national identity formation and crisis in a postcolonial state/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
New York [etc.] : Peter Lang, 2009.
Making sense of cultural nationalism and the politics of commemoration under the Third Chimurenga in Zimbabwe/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Wendy Willems.
In: Journal of Southern African studies, vol. 35, no. 4, p. 945-965 (2009)
Who ruled by the spear? : rethinking the form of governance in the Ndebele state/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: African studies quarterly : the online journal of African studies, vol. 10, no. 2/3, p. 71-94 (2008/09)
Black republican tradition, nativism and populist politics in South Africa/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Transformation : critical perspectives on Southern Africa, no. 68, p. 53-86 (2008)
Nation building in Zimbabwe and the challenges of Ndebele particularism/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: African journal on conflict resolution, vol. 8, no. 3, p. 27-55 (2008)
Patriots, puppets, dissidents and the politics of inclusion and exclusion in contemporary Zimbabwe/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Eastern Africa social science research review : a publication of the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern Africa (OSSREA), vol. 24, no. 1, p. 81-108 (2008)
'Echoing silences': ethnicity in post-colonial Zimbabwe, 1980-2007/ James Muzondidya and Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni
In: African journal on conflict resolution, vol. 7, no. 2, p. 275-297 (2007)
Giving Africa voice within global governance: oral history, human rights and the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
Leiden : African Studies Centre // Leiden : University Library Leiden [Host], 2007.
Re-thinking the colonial encounter in Zimbabwe in the early twentieth century/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Journal of Southern African studies, vol. 33, no. 1, p. 173-191 (2007)
Tracking the historical roots of post-apartheid citizenship problems : the Native Club, restless natives, panicking settlers and the politics of nativism in South Africa/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
Leiden : African Studies Centre, 2007.
Gods of development, demons of underdevelopment and Western salvation : a critique of development discourse as a sequel to the CODESRIA and OSSREA international conferences on development in Africa/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: OSSREA bulletin, vol. 3, no. 2, p. 32-48 (2006)
How Europe ruled Africa: Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: International journal of humanistic studies, vol. 5, p. 1-18 (2006)
Nationalist-military alliance and the fate of democracy in Zimbabwe/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: African journal on conflict resolution, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 49-80 : fig., tab (2006)
The nativist revolution and development conundrums in Zimbabwe/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
Durban : ACCORD, 2006.
Quarrying African indigenous political thought on governance : a case study of the Ndebele state in the 19th century/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Indilinga : African journal of indigenous knowledge systems, vol. 4, no. 2, p. 449-470 : fig., tab (2005)
Dynamics of the Zimbabwe crisis in the 21st century/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: African journal on conflict resolution, vol. 3, no. 1, p. 99-134 (2003)
Patriarchy and domestication of women in Zimbabwe : a critique of female-to-female relations of oppression/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
In: Zambezia : a journal of social studies in Southern and Central Africa, vol. 30, no. 2, p. 229-245 (2003)
Decolonisation in history
Haiti and the revolution unseen : the persistence of the decolonial imagination/ Natalie M. Léger.
Nashville, Tennessee : Vanderbilt University Press, 2025.
Kongomania and the Haitian Revolution David Geggus
In: The Americas, Vol.81 (2), p.219-247 (2024)
The Haitian Revolution: capitalism, slavery, and counter-modernity/ Eduardo Grüner, Ramsey McGlazer and Gisela Catanzaro.
Newark: Wiley, 2019.
Rethinking the Haitian Revolution : slavery, independence, and the struggle for recognition/ Alex Dupuy.
Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
The Haitian Revolution : a documentary history/ David Patrick Geggus.
Indianapolis : Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 2014.
The Haitian revolution/ Toussaint Louverture (ca. 1743-1803), Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Nick Nesbitt.
London [etc.] : Verso, 2008.
The black Jacobins : Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution/ Cyril Lionel Robert James.
New York : Vintage Books, 1989.
ʼAbā Nafso : Daǧāzmāč Bālčā Sāfo/ Selaši Šāwel (ስለሺ ሻውል).
[Addis Ababa] : Far East Trading, 2022.
From Adwa to OAU: Ethiopia and the politics of pan-Africanism, 1896-1963/ Fikru Gebrekidan.
In: International journal of Ethiopian studies, Vol.6 no. 1/2, p.71-86 (2012)
The Battle of Adwa : African victory in the age of empire/ Raymond Jonas.
Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011.
The Battle of Adwa : reflections on Ethiopia's historic victory against European colonialism/ Paulos Milkias, Getachew Metaferia and Richard Pankhurst.
New York : Algora Publishing, 2005.
The second emancipation : Nkrumah, pan-Africanism, and global Blackness at high tide/ Howard W. French.
New York, NY : Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2025.
Essays on pan-Africanism : includes Karrim Essack's The pan African path: the road to liberation (1993)/ Shiraz Durrani, Noosim Naimasiah (eds.) and Karrim Essack.
Nairobi : Vita Books, 2022.
Histoire du panafricanisme/ Hakim Adi.
Paris : Présence Africaine, 2022.
Kwame Nkrumah and the pan-African ideal : debates and contestations/ Sehlare Makgetlaneng.
Pretoria : Institute for Preservation and Development, 2021.
The pan-African pantheon : prophets, poets, and philosophers/ Adekeye Adebajo (ed.).
Manchester : Manchester University Press., 2021.
Pan-African history : political figures from Africa and the diaspora since 1787/ Hakim Adi and Marika Sherwood.
London [etc.] : Routledge, 2003.
Black revolutionary : George Padmore's path from communism to pan-Africanism/ James R. Hooker.
London : Pall Mall Press, 1967.
Africa must unite/ Kwame Nkrumah.
London [etc.] : Heinemann, 1963.
History of the Pan-African Congress : colonial and coloured unity : a programme of action/ George Padmore.
London : The Hammersmith Bookshop Ltd, 1963.
All-African peoples conference : news bulletin./
Accra : [s.n.], 1958.
Making a world after empire: the Bandung moment and its political afterlives/ Vijay Prashad and Christopher J. Lee.
Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2019.
The A to Z of the non-aligned movement and Third World/ Guy Arnold.
Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2010.
African perspectives on the non-aligned movement/ L. Adele Jinadu and Ibbo Mandaza.
Zimbabwe : African Association of Political Science, 1986.
Africa's golden road/ Kwesi Armah and Jomo Kenyatta.
London : Heinemann, 1965.
Africa unbound : reflections of an African statesman/ Alex Quaison-Sackey and Kwame Nkrumah.
London, 1963.
Bandoeng et le réveil des anciens peuples colonisés/ Odette Guitard.
In: Que sais-je? : le point des connaissances actuelles. Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1961.
Bandung, Cairo and Accra : a report on the first conference of independent African states/ Colin Legum.
London : Africa Bureau, 1958.
The colour curtain : a report on the Bandung conference/ Richard Wright and Gunnar Myrdal.
London : Dobson, 1956.
The Asian-African Conference, Bandung, Indonesia, April 1955/ George MacTurnan Kahin.
Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, 1956.
Ghana ! : rêver l'indépendance 1957-1976/ Damarice Amao (ed.), James Barnor, Carlos Idun-Tawiah, Rita Mawuvena Berissan and Paul Strand.
Paris : Atelier EXB, 2026.
My country, Africa : autobiography of the black Pasionaria/ Andrée Blouin and Jean Scott MacKellar.
London : Verso, 2025.
Senghor : writings on politics/ Léopold Sédar Senghor and Yohann C. Ripert (ed.).
Durham : Duke University Press, 2025.
Colonisations : notre histoire/ Pierre Singaravélou (ed.).
Paris : Seuil, 2023.
Décolonisations? : élites, jeunesse et pouvoir en Afrique occidentale française (1945-1960)/ Nicolas Bancel.
Paris : Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2022.
L'Afrique francophone peut-elle se libérer de ses chaînes?/ Michel Koffi-Djémé.
Paris : L'Harmattan Côte d'Ivoire, 2022.
Sororité et colonialisme : Françaises et Africaines au temps de la guerre froide (1944-1962)/ Pascale Barthélémy.
Paris : Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2022.
Sudan on the eve of independence 1954-1956/ Faisal Abdel Rahman Ali Taha and Fergus Nicoll (ed.).
London : Ink Press Publications, 2022.
Undesirable : passionate mobility and women's defiance of French colonial policing, 1919-1952/ Jennifer Anne Boittin.
Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2022.
Amilcar Cabral : the life of a reluctant nationalist/ António Tomás.
London : Hurst & Company, 2021.
Barthélémy Boganda : premier défenseur des droits humains en Oubangui-Chari volume 1 1940-1953/ Bernard Simiti.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2021.
Barthélémy Boganda : premier défenseur des droits humains en Oubangui-Chari volume 2 1953-1959/ Bernard Simiti.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2021.
Kwame Nkrumah : visions of liberation/ Jeffrey S. Ahlman.
Athens : Ohio University Press, 2021.
Nouveaux regards sur l'Afrique coloniale française : 1830-1962/ Joëlle Alazard and Sihem Bella (eds.).
[Levallois-Perret, France] : Bréal by Studyrama, 2021.
What Britain did to Nigeria : a short history of conquest and rule/ Max Siollun.
London : Hurst & Company, 2021.
Tshombe à Alger : une certaine histoire de la décolonisation africaine/ Florent Sené.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2020.
For an extensive overview of older titles on this subject, see the 2020 web dossier on African leaders of independence.
New International Economic Order
Africa, India and the New World Order/ Surya Narayan Yadav.
New Delhi : Jnanada Prakashan, 2009.
Africa and the new world order/ Julius O. Ihonvbere.
New York [etc.] : Peter Lang, 2000.
L'Afrique sud-saharienne du XXIe siècle : programme d'un émissaire pour l'Afrique/ Manuel Ruben N'Dongo.
Paris [etc.] : L'Harmattan, 1997.
Africa : the marginalized continent/ Kofi Awoonor.
Accra : Woeli Publishing Services, 1994.
L'Europe et l'Afrique : un siècle d'échanges économiques/ Hélène D'Almeida-Topor and Monique Lakroum.
In: Collection U. Paris : Colin, 1994.
Third World options : power, security and the hope for another development/ Justinian F. Rweyemamu.
Dar es Salaam : Tanzania Publishing House, 1992.
La question du plan Marshall et l'Afrique/ Têtêvi Godwin Tété-Adjalogo.
Paris : Éditions L'Harmattan, 1989.
Towards rational alternatives : reflections on two of Africa's major international concerns/ A.J. Nsekela.
Arusha : Eastern Africa Publications Ltd, 1984.
Africa, the Middle East, and the new international economic order/ Jorge Alberto Lozoya and Hector Cuadra.
New York : Published for UNITAR and the Center for Economic and Social Studies of the Third World CEESTEM [by] Pergamon Press, 1980.
The new international economic order and its relevance for West Africa/ Kodwo Ewusi.
Legon : University of Ghana, Institute of statistical, social and economic research, 1978.
Decolonisation in thought
Anticolonialism and social thought/ Anaheed Al-Hardan and Julian Go. 
Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2025.
Decolonizing language and other revolutionary ideas/ Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo.
New York : The New Press, 2025.
The rebel's clinic : the revolutionary lives of Frantz Fanon/ Adam Shatz.
New York : Picador, 2025.
Red Africa : reclaiming revolutionary Black politics/ Kevin Ochieng Okoth.
London ; New York : Verso, 2023.
W.E.B. Du Bois et l'Afrique : panafricanisme, paradoxes, mimétisme culturel et pacte colonial/ Mbongo Pasi Udumbula Pambi and Jean Mallaud.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2023.
Against decolonisation : taking African agency seriously/ Olufemi Taiwo.
London : Hurst & Company, 2022. Dutch version: Tegen dekolonisatie : een pleidooi voor Afrika's eigen competentie/ Oluf́eṃ́i Taíẃò. Amsterdam : Prometheus, 2023.
Décolonisation, fédéralisme et poésie chez Léopold Sédar Senghor/ Sébastien Heiniger.
Paris : Classiques Garnier, 2022.
Decolonizing epistemologies : Latina/o theology and philosophy/ Ada María Isasi-Díaz and Eduardo Mendieta (eds.).
New York, NY : Fordham University Press, 2022.
The politics of decolonial investigations/ Walter Mignolo.
Durham : Duke University Press, 2021.
Decolonization and Afro-Feminism/ Sylvia Tamale.
Ottawa : Daraja Press, 2020.
Neither settler nor native : the making and unmaking of permanent minorities/ Mahmood Mamdani.
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020.
The long revolution of the global south : toward a new anti-imperialist international/ Samir Amin.
New York, New York : Monthly Review Press, 2019.
Philosophical foundations of the African humanities through postcolonial perspectives/ Helen Yitah (ed.).
Leiden ; Boston : Brill-Rodopi, 2019.
Postcolonial theory : a critical introduction: second edition/ Leela Gandhi.
New York, NY : Columbia University Press, 2019.
Unsettling eurocentrism in the westernized university/ Julie Cupples and Ramón Grosfoguel (eds.).
Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019.
Worldmaking after empire : the rise and fall of self-determination/ Adom Getachew.
Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2019.
C.L.R. James and revolutionary Marxism : selected writings of C.L.R. James, 1939-1949/ C. L. R. (Cyril Lionel Robert) James, Scott McLemee and Paul Le Blanc (eds.).
Chicago, Illinois : Haymarket Books, 2018.
En quête d'Afrique(s) : universalisme et pensée décoloniale/ Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Jean-Loup Amselle and Anthony Mangeon (writer of preface).
Paris : Albin Michel, 2018.
On decoloniality : concepts, analytics, and praxis/ Walter Mignolo and Catherine E. Walsh.
Durham : Duke University Press, 2018.
Latin@s in the world-system : decolonization struggles in the twenty-first century U.S. empire/ Ramón Grosfoguel, Nelson Maldonado Torres and José David Saldívar (eds.).
London ; New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.
Postcolonial thought and social theory/ Julian Go.
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2016.
Reading postcolonial theory : key texts in context/ Bibhash Choudhury.
Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge India, 2016.
The Antonio Gramsci reader : selected writings1935/ Antonio Gramsci and David Forgacs.
Delhi : Aakar Books, 2014.
Postcolonial sociology/ Julian Go.
Bingley [England] : Emerald, 2013.
How Europe underdeveloped Africa/ Walter Rodney.
Cape Town [etc.] : Pambazuka Press [etc.], 2012.
W.E.B. Du Bois on Africa/ W.E.B. Du Bois, Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Edmund Abaka.
Walnut Creek, CA : Left Coast Press, 2012.
Maldevelopment : anatomy of a global failure/ Samir Amin.
Oxford [etc.] : Pambazuka, 2011.
From Toussaint to Tupac : the Black international since the age of revolution/ Michael Oliver West, William G. Martin and Fanon Che Wilkins.
Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
Homi Bhabha's Third Space and African identity/ Fetson Kalua
In: Journal of African cultural studies, Vol.21 (1), p.23-32 (2009)
The life, thought and legacy of Cape Verde's freedom fighter Amilcar Cabral (1924-1973) : essays on his liberation philosophy/ John Fobanjong and Thomas K. Ranuga.
Lewiston, NY [etc.] : Edwin Mellen Press, 2006.
Women's liberation and the African freedom struggle/ Thomas Sankara.
Toronto : Pathfinder Press, 2005.
Rethinking Africa's globalization/ Tiyambe Zeleza.
Trenton, NJ [etc.] : Africa World, 2003.
Discourse on colonialism/ Aimé Césaire and Joan Pinkham.
New York : Monthly Review Press, 2000.
De la postcolonie : essai sur l'imagination politique dans l'Afrique contemporaine/ Achille Mbembe.
Paris : Karthala, 2000. English version: On the postcolony/ Achille Mbembe and A.M. Berrett. Berkeley, CA [etc.] : University of California Press, 2001.
A critique of postcolonial reason : toward a history of the vanishing present/ Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.
Cambridge, MA [etc.] : Harvard University Press, 1999.
Ghosts in our blood : with Malcolm X in Africa, England, and the Caribbean/ Jan Carew and Malcolm X.
New York : Lawrence Hill Books, 1994.
The location of culture/ Homi K. Bhabha.
London [etc.] : Routledge, 1994.
Antériorité des civilisations nègres : mythe ou vérité historique?/ Cheikh Anta Diop.
Paris [etc.] : Présence africaine, 1993.
The C.L.R. James reader/ Cyril Lionel Robert James and Anna Grimshaw.
Oxford [etc.] : Blackwell, 1992.
The post-colonial critic : interviews, strategies, dialogues/ Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Sarah Harasym.
New York, NY [etc.] : Routledge, 1990.
La faillite du développement en Afrique et dans le Tiers-Monde : une analyse politique/ Samir Amin.
L'Harmattan, 1989.
Malcolm X speaks : selected speeches and statements/ Malcolm X and George Breitman.
New York [etc.] : Pathfinder, 1989.
The philosophy and opinions of Marcus Garvey, or, Africa for the Africans, Volumes I and II/ Marcus Garvey and Amy Jacques Garvey.
In: The New Marcus Garvey library : a series of original works. Dover, Mass., U.S.A : Majority Press, 1986.
Black Marxism : the making of the black radical tradition/ Cedric J. Robinson.
London : Zed Press, 1983.
In the twilight of revolution : the political theory of Amilcar Cabral/ Jock MacCulloch.
London [etc.] : Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983.
The Haitian Maroons : liberty or death/ Jean Fouchard, A. Faulkner Watts and Cyril Lionel Robert James.
New York, N.Y : E.W. Blyden Press, 1981.
Unité et lutte/ Amílcar Lopes Cabral.
Paris : Maspero, 1980.
Nkrumah and the Ghana Revolution/ Cyril Lionel Robert James.
In: Motive : a new series of radical writings. London : Allison and Busby, 1977.
Neo-colonialism : the last stage of imperialism/ Kwame Nkrumah.
London, 1971. In: African writers series
L'oeuvre de Frantz Fanon : colonialisme et aliénation dans l'oeuvre de Frantz Fanon/ Renate Zahar.
Paris, 1970.
Black skin, white masks/ Frantz Fanon and Charles Lam Markmann.
London, 1967.
Philosophy and opinions of Marcus Garvey : or, Africa for the Africans/ Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Amy Jacques Garvey and Essien Udosen Essien-Udom.
London : Cass, 1967.
Les damnés de la terre/ Frantz Fanon and Jean-Paul Sartre.
Paris : Maspero, 1961. English version: The wretched of the earth/ Frantz Fanon, Jean-Paul Sartre and Homi K. Bhabha. New York, NY : Grove Press, 2004. Dutch version: De verworpenen der aarde/ Frantz Fanon, Jean-Paul Sartre and Han Meyer. Utrecht : A.W. Bruna & Zoon, 1969.
Nations nègres et culture/ Cheikh Anta Diop.
Paris : Éditions Africaines, 1954.
Also see the 2025 web dossier on African philosophy.
Decolonisation in practice
Analogue Africa : notes on the anti-colonial imagination/ Jeremy Harding. 
New York ; London : Verso, 2026.
Decolonising research : indigenous methodologies in Sub-Saharan Africa/ Winnifred Bedigen, Nankie Ramabu and Sarah Njeri (eds.).
London ; New York, NY : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2026.
An African history of Africa : from the dawn of humanity to independence/ Zeinab Badawi.
London : WH Allen, 2024.
Art and museum in Africa : a decolonial perspective/ Emery Patrick Effiboley.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2024.
Can Africans do economics?/ Grieve Chelwa (ed.).
Johannesburg, South Africa : Inkani, 2024.
Decolonisation pathways. Volume II, Coloniality and African responses to COVID-19/ David Ngendo-Tshimba (ed.).
Kampala, Uganda : Centre for African Studies, Uganda Martyrs University, 2024.
Décoloniser les mémoires de l'esclavage/ Myriam Moïse and Benaouda Lebdaï (eds.).
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2024.
Decolonize, humxnize/ Kathryn Toure, Roopal Thaker and Rama Salla Dieng (eds.).
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2024.
Decolonizing African history/ Toyin Falola.
Basel : Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2024.
Comme le fleuve, la vérité se perd dans le désert : faire de la recherche dans les Afriques en décolonisation/ Georges Courade.
Paris : Les Indes savantes, 2023.
Continuous pasts : frictions of memory in postcolonial Africa/ Sakiru Adebayo.
Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2023.
We belong to the earth : towards a decolonial feminist pedagogy rooted in Uhuru and Ubuntu/ Nadira Omarjee.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2023.
Decolonizing African studies : knowledge production, agency, and voice/ Toyin Falola.
Rochester, NY : University of Rochester Press, 2022.
The collector and the collected : decolonizing area studies librarianship/ Megan Browndorf, Erin Pappas and Anna Arays (eds.).
Sacramento, CA : Library Juice Press, 2021.
Décoloniser la pensée africaine de l'économie : trajectoires épistémologiques, itinéraires théoriques et pratiques/ Richard Makon.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2021.
L'Afrique confisquée : ou... de l'urgence d'une contre-conférence de Berlin/ Benoît B. Bouato.
Yaoundé : CERDOTOLA, 2021.
Decolonising the academy : a case for convivial scholarship/ Francis B. Nyamnjoh.
Basel : Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2020.
Pour une désaliénation des études africaines : repenser l'africanisme postcolonial/ Amadou Sarr Diop.
Dakar : Harmattan Sénégal, 2020.
Rapport sur la restitution du patrimoine culturel africain : vers une nouvelle éthique relationnelle/ Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy.
[S.l.] : [S.n.], 2018.
Afrotopia/ Felwine Sarr.
Paris : Philippe Rey, 2016.
Web resources
Website: Decolonial International Network
The Decolonial International Network (DIN) is an international network bringing together academics and activists aiming to create a space to promote the theory and practice of decolonial thinking.
https://din.today/
Podcast : Decolonial thinking with Prof. Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni
Five-part SMUS (Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability) podcast special with Prof. Sabelo Ndlovu Gatsheni and Pinky Ndlovu about decolonisation.
https://open.spotify.com/show/14gppx5tQHiAUYVaS3Hi1T
Interview: Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni: Why decolonisation matters more than ever
In this December 2025 interview with Zara Qadir for the Global Souths Hub, Prof. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni argues that decolonisation is not a slogan but an ongoing unfinished struggle rooted in centuries of resistance.
https://globalsouth.org/2025/12/sabelo-j-ndlovu-gatsheni-why-decolonisation-matters-more-than-ever/
Video: 2019 ASA Hormuud Lecture by Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni
Video registration of the lecture entitled “Empire, decolonization and challenges of development in Africa” delivered by Prof. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association (ASA).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyySH6T1Ong
Video: Decoloniality Summer School 2025
Video registration of the 11th UNISA Decoloniality Summer School 2025 themed: “Fanon beyond Fanon: living decoloniality - language, identity, and aesthetics.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3trmV6MTzKY&t=1227s
Reading list: The Decolonizing Reading List 2022
A reading list to help diversify course material, containing readings on African Politics, created by Democracy in Africa, a voluntary organisation dedicated to building a bridge between academics, policymakers, practitioners and citizens.
https://democracyinafrica.org/decolonizing_the_academy/
Posted on 19 October 2026, last modified on 5 November 2026