Introduction

In order to gain an idea of ‘postcolonial childhoods’, it is commonplace to resort to thought currents, studies and theories, which, after the end of the colonial rule, deal with its aftermath and the continuing forms of dependence and oppression, and claim alternatives from the perspective of colonial and postcolonial subjects. They are known by multiple names: Subaltern Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Philosophy of Liberation, Ethnophilosophy, Sage Philosophy, Coloniality of Power, Coloniality of Knowledge, De-Coloniality/Decolonization, Epistemology of the South, Southern Theory or Ubuntu, and shall be subsumed here under the term postcolonial theory. Until now, these theories have not extensively taken children and childhoods into consideration. Nevertheless, they can be used and are taken up in this book in order to better understand children in their respective living contexts and their potentials for action, and to place childhoods more precisely in their historical and geopolitical contexts. In this chapter, I will first outline the basic ideas of postcolonial theory and then present some of the most important contributions from Africa and Latin America.

Basic ideas of postcolonial theory

The term postcolonial refers to present geopolitical constellations in which former colonies existed and to former colonial states themselves. It even has relevance for states that were never directly involved in colonialism, yet are influenced by the effects of colonial thought and imagination. The cultural theorist Stuart Hall (1992), from the Caribbean, proposes a two dimensional understanding of the term postcolonial. The first, temporary dimension means the time after the formation of the nation states from the colonies, which could thus be regarded as overcoming enduring state of affairs.