UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (UNISA)
College of Human Sciences
⋄
DVA3701: ASSIGNMENT 6
Semester 1, 2026
⋄
Module Code: DVA3701
Module Name: Development Theory
Assignment No.: Assignment 6
Due Date: 17 April 2026
Semester: Semester 1, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for DVA3701: Development Theory
at the University of South Africa.
,UNISA | DVA3701 Decoloniality: Power, Knowledge and Being
Introduction
The formal end of colonial rule across Africa and Asia in the mid-twentieth century did not
end the structures of domination that colonialism had built. What survived formal indepen-
dence was something more durable and less visible: a set of power relations, knowledge
hierarchies, and ways of defining who counts as fully human that continued to organise the
world long after the last colonial governor had left. Decolonial scholars gave this persistence
a name: coloniality.
Decoloniality, as a theoretical and political project, is the sustained effort to name, analyse,
and dismantle this coloniality. It is not a single theory with one author; it is a broad intel-
lectual tradition drawing on Latin American critical thought, African philosophy, Caribbean
anti-colonial writing, and the lived experience of communities that formal decolonisation
left behind. This essay engages that tradition through three prescribed themes. Part one
explains the three main concepts of decolonial theory: coloniality of power, coloniality of
knowledge, and coloniality of being. Part two examines how decolonial scholars, with partic-
ular attention to Ndlovu-Gatsheni, propose to move away from coloniality. Part three offers a
personal assessment of whether those proposals are realistic. The analysis draws primarily
on Maldonado-Torres (2012) and Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2014), supported by broader decolonial
literature.
Page 1 of 15
, UNISA | DVA3701 Decoloniality: Power, Knowledge and Being
Part (a): The Three Main Concepts of Decolonial Theory
Coloniality vs Colonialism: A Necessary Starting Point
Before engaging the three concepts, a foundational distinction must be drawn. Colonialism
and coloniality are not the same thing, even though they are related. Colonialism refers to
a political and economic arrangement in which one nation exercises sovereign power over
another, administering its territory, extracting its resources, and controlling its population.
Coloniality, by contrast, refers to the long-standing patterns of power, knowledge, and iden-
tity that emerged from colonialism and that continue to shape the modern world even after
formal colonial relations have ended.
As Maldonado-Torres (2012) explains, coloniality survives colonialism. It persists in academic
curricula that treat European thought as universal and African thought as particular or folk-
loric. It persists in economic systems that continue to extract value from the global South for
the benefit of the North. It persists in the self-image of formerly colonised peoples, many of
whom have internalised the colonial view of their own inferiority. Recognising this distinction
is the first move of decolonial analysis: the problem is not only history but the present.
Key Distinction
Colonialism vs Coloniality: Colonialism is a historical and political condition: formal
administration of territory by a foreign power. Coloniality is a structural and ongoing
condition: the continuation of colonial power relations in cultural, epistemic, economic,
and ontological domains after formal independence. Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2014) captures
this with the argument that Africa politically decolonised in the twentieth century
but remains trapped in a “colonial matrix of power” that shapes its institutions, its
economies, and the self-understanding of its people. Decolonisation removed the
administrator; it did not remove the structure.
Coloniality of Power
The concept of coloniality of power was developed by the Peruvian sociologist Anı́bal Qui-
jano and is the foundational concept from which the other two derive. Quijano argued that
European colonialism constructed the modern world through the imposition of a racial classi-
fication system that organised humanity into a hierarchy with white Europeans at the top and
Indigenous, African, and Asian peoples at the bottom. This racial hierarchy was not simply
Page 2 of 15
College of Human Sciences
⋄
DVA3701: ASSIGNMENT 6
Semester 1, 2026
⋄
Module Code: DVA3701
Module Name: Development Theory
Assignment No.: Assignment 6
Due Date: 17 April 2026
Semester: Semester 1, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for DVA3701: Development Theory
at the University of South Africa.
,UNISA | DVA3701 Decoloniality: Power, Knowledge and Being
Introduction
The formal end of colonial rule across Africa and Asia in the mid-twentieth century did not
end the structures of domination that colonialism had built. What survived formal indepen-
dence was something more durable and less visible: a set of power relations, knowledge
hierarchies, and ways of defining who counts as fully human that continued to organise the
world long after the last colonial governor had left. Decolonial scholars gave this persistence
a name: coloniality.
Decoloniality, as a theoretical and political project, is the sustained effort to name, analyse,
and dismantle this coloniality. It is not a single theory with one author; it is a broad intel-
lectual tradition drawing on Latin American critical thought, African philosophy, Caribbean
anti-colonial writing, and the lived experience of communities that formal decolonisation
left behind. This essay engages that tradition through three prescribed themes. Part one
explains the three main concepts of decolonial theory: coloniality of power, coloniality of
knowledge, and coloniality of being. Part two examines how decolonial scholars, with partic-
ular attention to Ndlovu-Gatsheni, propose to move away from coloniality. Part three offers a
personal assessment of whether those proposals are realistic. The analysis draws primarily
on Maldonado-Torres (2012) and Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2014), supported by broader decolonial
literature.
Page 1 of 15
, UNISA | DVA3701 Decoloniality: Power, Knowledge and Being
Part (a): The Three Main Concepts of Decolonial Theory
Coloniality vs Colonialism: A Necessary Starting Point
Before engaging the three concepts, a foundational distinction must be drawn. Colonialism
and coloniality are not the same thing, even though they are related. Colonialism refers to
a political and economic arrangement in which one nation exercises sovereign power over
another, administering its territory, extracting its resources, and controlling its population.
Coloniality, by contrast, refers to the long-standing patterns of power, knowledge, and iden-
tity that emerged from colonialism and that continue to shape the modern world even after
formal colonial relations have ended.
As Maldonado-Torres (2012) explains, coloniality survives colonialism. It persists in academic
curricula that treat European thought as universal and African thought as particular or folk-
loric. It persists in economic systems that continue to extract value from the global South for
the benefit of the North. It persists in the self-image of formerly colonised peoples, many of
whom have internalised the colonial view of their own inferiority. Recognising this distinction
is the first move of decolonial analysis: the problem is not only history but the present.
Key Distinction
Colonialism vs Coloniality: Colonialism is a historical and political condition: formal
administration of territory by a foreign power. Coloniality is a structural and ongoing
condition: the continuation of colonial power relations in cultural, epistemic, economic,
and ontological domains after formal independence. Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2014) captures
this with the argument that Africa politically decolonised in the twentieth century
but remains trapped in a “colonial matrix of power” that shapes its institutions, its
economies, and the self-understanding of its people. Decolonisation removed the
administrator; it did not remove the structure.
Coloniality of Power
The concept of coloniality of power was developed by the Peruvian sociologist Anı́bal Qui-
jano and is the foundational concept from which the other two derive. Quijano argued that
European colonialism constructed the modern world through the imposition of a racial classi-
fication system that organised humanity into a hierarchy with white Europeans at the top and
Indigenous, African, and Asian peoples at the bottom. This racial hierarchy was not simply
Page 2 of 15
