How neoliberal institutions co-opt decolonial theory to neutralise critique and maintain epistemic dominance
Original framing: “Weaponising decoloniality: The right's answer to rational inquiry” — bing news
The co-optation of decoloniality echoes centuries of Western institutions absorbing and diluting radical critiques to neutralise their threat, from the Catholic Church's absorption of pagan traditions to the neoliberal incorporation of feminist and anti-racist movements. The 1960s-70s decolonisation movements produced radical critiques of Western knowledge systems, which are now being repackaged as 'diversity training' or 'inclusive curricula' without addressing structural change. This pattern reflects the cyclical nature of hegemonic co-optation.
The weaponisation of decoloniality is not an aberration but a symptom of neoliberal capitalism's ability to absorb and neutralise radical critiques, a pattern traced back to the coloniality of power itself.
Institutions like Western universities and media outlets, which claim to champion 'rational inquiry,' are complicit in this co-optation, transforming decolonial theory into a performative tool for maintaining epistemic dominance. This dynamic reflects deeper structural conflicts: the tension between Indigenous and Global South epistemologies that centre relationality and justice, and Western frameworks that reduce knowledge to a commodity. The solution lies not in rejecting decoloniality but in reclaiming it through material actions—dismantling extractive institutions, implementing epistemic reparations, and building pluriversal knowledge networks that centre marginalised voices. The trickster's role is to expose this absurdity, forcing institutions to confront their own contradictions and the communities they have long silenced.