Les failles de l’universalisme européen, confronté en particulier à son histoire coloniale, ont nourri différents types de critiques de l’Occident. En quoi le courant «postcolonial» apparaît-il original? Sa constitution d’emblée transnationale et éclectique lui permet d’associer la tradition anti-impérialiste, les nouvelles subaltern studies et une lecture de la mondialisation.


What is post-colonial thinking? An interview with Achille Mbembe


The faults in Europe’s universalism, especially when confronting its colonial history, have nurtured a variety of critical perspectives in the West. Why does the “post-colonial” way of thinking look so original? It grew up as a transnational, eclectic vein from the very start, enabling it to combine the anti-imperialist tradition, the fledgling ‘subaltern studies’ and a specific take on globalization.