Progress on Stolen Terms

The idea that postcolonialism simply marks the end of colonial rule is, at best, a comforting fiction. In truth, the “post” in postcolonialism is deeply misleading, not because colonial empires haven’t formally collapsed, but because their political and economic legacies persist. The nations now called “developing” are not emerging in a vacuum; they are emerging from the wreckage of systemic underdevelopment. Colonialism didn’t just redraw borders; it rewrote futures, redirected economies, and distorted the ways whole societies understand themselves. The result is a world where former colonies are expected to “develop” using the very tools—liberalism, capitalism, and Enlightenment ideals—that once justified their subjugation.

This contradiction is at the core of "postcolonial" thought. It’s not just about studying what came after empires. It’s about examining the systems the empires left behind and questioning the idea that Europe’s version of modernity is the only way forward. The Enlightenment promised progress and universal rights. But for colonized people, those promises often came through violence and exclusion. Thinkers like Frantz Fanon and Aimé Césaire showed how Europe, even while preaching liberty, built empires based on racism, cultural destruction, and exploitation. Modern colonialism wasn’t separate from Enlightenment thinking; it grew directly out of it.

When nations won independence in the mid-1900s, it was seen as a victory. But real freedom proved harder. These countries were left with artificial borders drawn by outsiders, economies designed for extraction, and governments modeled after colonial rule. They were declared sovereign but inherited weak institutions, deep divisions, and huge debt. Around this time, the term “developing countries” began to spread. It became a way to describe these nations without confronting the damage colonialism had done. To call a country “developing” suggests it’s simply behind, but it ignores how the global system was set up to keep it there.

Postcolonialism doesn’t try to glorify the past or offer easy fixes. It asks us to stop judging nations as “failed” when their systems were never built for their own people. It pushes us to rethink “development”, which, by Western standards, means GDP growth, industrialization, and democracy. But these measures don’t always fit the goals or needs of formerly colonized societies. Postcolonialism also asks us to look closely at how empires continue, not just through armies or trade deals, but through education, global institutions, and the stories we’re told about progress.

This isn’t just an intellectual question; it’s a moral one. Today, many postcolonial countries still deal with internal problems shaped by colonial legacies. But that doesn’t mean they’ve failed. It means we need a new way to think about progress, one rooted in justice, not just growth.