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Decolonization, Overview

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Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology

Introduction

In the wake of diverse criticism of the colonialist paradigm emerging in multiple disciplines over the last century, including that of the social sciences, the discourse of decolonization has recently gained significant attention. It is a concept that has a strong relationship to the discourse of postcolonialism; however, it can also be constructed as a distinct discourse due to some its differing foundational assumptions. Literature on decolonization draws from a wide range, including Western and Indigenous philosophical discourses, historical analyses of sociopolitical movements, and some qualitative and quantitative social science inquiry. In definition, decolonization is operationalized in a variety of ways depending on the particular discipline employing the term. Despite the plurality of semantic associations, there remain some unifying elements that promote some coherence as a critical discourse.

Definition

Any discussion of the unifying elements of decolonial...

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Correspondence to Jeffrey Paul Ansloos .

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Ansloos, J.P. (2014). Decolonization, Overview. In: Teo, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_527

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_527

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5582-0

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