Marcusean resources to think coloniality

Abstract

The article aims to take a stand in the debates surrounding the potential contribution of the theoreticians of the first generation of the Frankfurt School to postcolonial/decolonial theory, by showing that Herbert Marcuse, in his work, has outlined coloniality as later authors have defined it. Marcuse denounced the neocolonialism and neoimperialism of which the Global South populations were prey at the time of decolonizations. He showed that the welfare state and the affluent society in contemporary Western societies largely fed themselves on the continued economic exploitation of the Global South. Marcuse decried the uneven development bred by the capitalist system and criticized the ideology and mechanisms of development imposed on the newly independent countries, which also violated the subjectivity of their peoples, ignoring their values and aspirations. He condemned the racial-based violence and war imposed on the ‘underprivileged’ in the Global South and the Global North alike. These trains of thought describe different aspects of coloniality. This article will analyze these insights through a close reading of Marcuse’s work and comparisons with the writings of Frantz Fanon, Kwame Nkrumah and Samir Amin.