15 ways to
How to Decolonize Your Mind

© Taylla de Paula
You want to decolonize your mind? Here’s 15 ways you can start the decolonizing process as shared by professors, anthropologists, artists and social activists.
- Be transparent with yourself about the things you know and the things you don’t know. Learning is an infinite process.
- Be accessible with your language. Not everything needs to sound like a thesis statement. Keep it simple. If you can’t explain it to a 5-year-old, rework your analysis.
- Understand the links between decolonizing, anti-black racism, sexism, homophobia and white supremacy. These structures of power are not mutually exclusive.
- Approach non-white cultures with the same reverence, respect and historical importance that has always been placed on white cultural systems.
- Don’t be a man-splainer.
- Don’t take up all the space in a discussion.
- Be willing to listen.
- Everyone has some kind of privilege but some have more than others. Check yours before you open your mouth.
- Conversations do not always have to be macro. Make things micro so you can see the real life outcomes.
- The hierarchy starts at the bottom. Until those at the bottom are at the top, true equity is non-existent.
- Hold yourself, your friends and family accountable to whatever misconceptions and colonials modes of thinking you engage in. Don’t be afraid to call each other out.
- Don’t let your knowledge be simply for show. Put it work and do the work.
- Understand the historical legacy of language being used to undermine different forms of existence.
- Be aware of how access or lack thereof to education creates very real social barriers.
- Go back to point number 1.
by Tari Ngangura
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