and I'm also sick and tired of white feminism informed ppl acting like bc a story has a man as main character it can't be feminist bc 1) contradicts the original text 2) shallows down what feminist authors can do. thinking about gender also involves thinking about how men are raised to perpetrate violence and exploitation, and how they themselves are violated and exploited. the same way, thinking about whiteness informs how white ppl are also affected by this system. at the end of the day, these movements are talking about the several ways dehumanization happens, and how it harms our relationships with others and with ourselves. the mechanisms it uses, because it's by questioning it that we can find ways to change it.

with that being said, be fucking for real and start reading and listening to BIPOC, women, queer and disabled ppl in philosophy and psychology. stop relying only onto european/us authors.

From today’s Book of the Day, I have selected one sentence for a multidisciplinary analysis. “The question as to who and what is responsible for African underdevelopment can be answered at two levels: first, the operation of the imperialist system bears major responsibility for African economic retardation.” — Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972) Walter Rodney’s observation in…

Sobriety disengages Empire

Colonization is no longer only territorial. It exists in behaviors, interactions, and social hierarchies. Franz Fanon, in « Peau noire,masques blancs (1952), articulates this precisely: the colonizer asserts dominance consciously, shaping the mental, social, and emotional life of the colonized. The colonized internalizes these hierarchies, sometimes unknowingly, sometimes under coercion. This is what I see in my everyday life, in academic settings, in social spaces, and even in intimate encounters.

For instance, at my university, a French white professor heads the Malagasy department. Her authority is not just institutional; it is performative. She infantilizes us, crosses personal boundaries, and enjoys the visibility of her superiority. Her actions illustrate how colonial hierarchies survive in education, where the supposed merit of local expertise is overshadowed by her racial and social position. These dynamics are a direct manifestation of what Fanon describes: the conscious colonizer and the colonized conditioned to navigate their subordination.

This extends beyond the academy. White travelers, professionals, or acquaintances often unconsciously replicate colonial power dynamics. They impose norms, disregard local knowledge, and assert entitlement. This is not innocent; it is deliberate socialization. What is most dangerous is how these behaviors shape the minds of the colonized, teaching us to accept subordination, to admire those who dominate, and to internalize inferiority.

I perceive these patterns not only in personal interactions but also in the global context of Africa. The continent’s history of resource extraction, cultural suppression, and territorial domination has left deep psychological scars. Healing and development cannot occur without addressing the mental colonization that persists. African liberation is not just about sovereignty over land or resources; it is about reclaiming consciousness, resisting inherited hierarchies, and reconstructing identities free from imposed inferiority.

My lived experiences as a racialized woman in Europe illustrate this everyday colonial logic. I have encountered people who exploit trust, space, and kindness, consciously asserting superiority simply because of their whiteness. These are not isolated incidents; they are part of a broader social mechanism that has endured for centuries, continuously shaping interactions and self-perceptions.

In the first movement of this exploration, we confronted the illusion at the core of modern subjectivity: the atomised, sovereign, self-determining individual — the Cartesian res cogitans reanimated through liberalism, capitalism, and the psy-disciplines. Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com We traced how this idealised subject, far from being a neutral construction, is inextricably entangled…