Online Reporter
Elliot Ziwira-At the Bookstore
Colonialism is a pervasive and insidious phenomenon that has left an indelible mark on the psyche of colonised peoples, particularly Africans.
Though defining colonialism in isolation from imperialism can be challenging, one thing remains clear, suppression. Colonialism is a system of oppression where one group exercises power and control over another, perpetuating domination and subjugation.
This form of psychological imprisonment has been perpetuated through violence, cultural erosion, and a deliberately structured education system designed to subjugate the colonised.
As Frantz Fanon aptly puts it in “The Wretched of the Earth” (1967), colonialism is a “permanent form of imprisonment” that relies on the manipulation of the colonised’s cultural identity, history, and values. This process of domination affects not only the individual, but also the collective psyche, leading to a state of “universal social neurosis” in post-colonial societies.
Colonialism causes widespread social neurosis by influencing individual thoughts and behaviours. This psychological imprisonment is a deeply ingrained condition, akin to a language, that shapes the collective psyche.
According to Lacan, neurosis is a complex, layered issue that cannot be easily cured. The trauma inflicted by colonialism is perpetuated through generations, as the experiences of the coloniser and the colonised continue to shape societal norms and behaviours.
This, in turn, leads to contradictory and neurotic behaviour patterns, as described by Spivak’s concept of “retrospective hallucination”.
Eventually, colonial trauma becomes an integral part of the social fabric, influencing the way individuals think and interact with one another.
The legacy of colonialism is evident in the way it has distorted the cultural identity of the colonised. The imposition of Western education and values has led to a sense of dislocation, where individuals are caught between two worlds, unable to fully belong to either. This has resulted in a state of “normlessness”, where individuals struggle to find their place in the world.
The education system, in particular, has played a significant role in perpetuating colonialism.
Through imposition of Western knowledge and values, the coloniser has been able to erase the cultural heritage and identity of Africans. This has led to a situation where Africans are forced to adopt a foreign culture and language, while their own culture and language are marginalised and suppressed.
Africa’s colonisation by European powers was no accident, but a deliberate strategy to exploit the continent’s natural resources and cheap labour to fuel industrial growth (Williams, 1944).
As industrialisation created new opportunities and slavery declined, European capital sought new frontiers, and Africa became the prime target, after the Middle East and Asia proved unprofitable.
Colonialism, like imperialism, entailed a multifaceted control mechanism that subjugated the colonised through political, social, economic, physical, psychological, mental, and emotional domination.
Under the guise of a divine mandate to “civilise” the world, European colonists masked the brutal nature of colonialism with a veneer of Christianity and Western education.
Fanon observes that in a Manichaean world “it is not enough for the settler to delimit physically, that is to say with the help of the army and the police force, the place of the native.
“As if to show the totalitarian character of colonial exploitation, the settler paints the native as a sort of quintessence of evil”.
In the mirrored reflections of Mongo Beti’s “Mission to Kala” (1957), and Charles Mungoshi’s “Waiting for the Rain” (1975) and “Coming of the Dry Season” (1972), a disturbing truth emerges—the native’s liberation is predicated on the erasure of identity.
The colonial machinery bastardises and demonises African cultural values, replacing them with Westernised forms of education laced with religious indoctrination.
This toxic education system is designed to uproot Africans from their heritage, alienate them from their roots, and assimilate them into a foreign culture.
The result is a lost generation, trapped in a limbo of cultural identity, unable to fully belong to either their African heritage or the imposed Western culture. As they drink from the cup of Western education, they become increasingly disconnected from their community, their knowledge, and their very sense of self.
Dislocated from the source, Africans are exposed to charlatanism.
In Beti’s “Mission to Kala” and Mungoshi’s “Waiting for the Rain”, the tragic consequences of colonialism’s assault on African identity are laid bare.
The protagonist, Jean-Marie Medza, embodies the crisis of the educated elite, who are swallowed up by the colonial system and become complicit in their own oppression.
Medza’s failure to reconcile his Western education with his African heritage exposes the inadequacy of colonial education.
In colonial Cameroon, the educated elite are revered, yet they use their status to exploit their own people, failing to offer meaningful contributions to their communities.
Education becomes a tool of oppression, perpetuating colonialism’s stranglehold on African societies.
The Mandengu family in “Waiting for the Rain” waits in vain for salvation, pinning their hopes on Lucifer, who has acquired Western education and values.
However, Lucifer’s knowledge serves only the interests of the colonial power, highlighting the disconnect between Western education and African realities.
Medza and Lucifer’s struggles reflect the impossibility of reconciling African value systems with European ones. Medza’s failures expose the fallacy of Western forms of education, which prioritise artificial examination conditions over real-world application.
However, as Fanon points out, decolonisation is possible, albeit through violent confrontation. The church, once a tool of colonial oppression, must be reclaimed to serve the interests of the native, rather than the oppressor.
The church, which was supposed to be a force for good, has been complicit in the colonial project, serving as a tool for the subjugation of the colonised.
As Fanon notes, the church is “the white people’s church, the foreigner’s church”, which calls the native to the ways of the white man, rather than to God’s ways.
To break free from this psychological imprisonment, Fanon advocates for a violent confrontation with colonialism. This is not a call to physical violence, but rather a call to challenge the dominant narratives and structures that have been imposed on Africans.
Hence, the struggle for decolonisation is an ongoing process that requires a fundamental transformation of the individual and collective psyche, acknowledging the inadequacy of Western education and reclaiming African identity, culture, and values.
It is a struggle to confront the overriding narratives, and to create a new future free from the shackles of colonialism. This struggle requires a critical examination of the ways in which colonialism has shaped African worldviews, cultures, and identities. It requires a willingness to challenge hegemonic tendencies and create new narratives rooted in their own experiences, cultures, and histories.
All the more it requires courage, pliability, and determination. But it is a struggle that is necessary if humanity is to create a world that is truly just, equitable, and free.
Africans must, therefore, engage in a radical and transformative confrontation with the legacy of colonialism, as Fanon advocates.
This confrontation is necessary to decolonise not only the individual, but also the broader society.
