Fear, Flight, and Freedom: On Anti-colonial Countermasteries and Ontological Insecurities

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/decohori.5.1.0165
• Pages: 165-196
• Published date: 01 January 2019
• Date: 01 January 2019
• Author: Zaynab Shahar

Horizontes Decoloniales Volumen V.1 (2019): pp. 165–196

horizontes

decoloniales

ISSN 2545-8728

eISSN 2422-6343

Volumen V.1

2019

165

Fear, Flight, and Freedom

On Anti-colonial Countermasteries

and Ontological Insecurities

Zaynab Shahar

Abstract in English

In Unthinking Mastery Julietta Singh argues that anticolonial discourse

hinges on the contradiction of both repudiating the “mastery” of colo-

nialism and at the same time reproducing and advocating mastery

towards anticolonial liberation. Through a close reading of Fanon, Singh

demonstrates the ways in which he understood countermastery as the

production of “new masterful subjects.” This paper deconstructs Fanon’s

countermastery through the lens of ontological insecurities to illuminate

how it informs the production of contemporary decolonial discourse.

This paper expands Fanon’s conception of decolonial embodiment

through proffering queer failure and queer of color disidentification as

ways of etching towards decolonial queer-feminist praxis.

Key words: Coloniality, Ontology, Queer Studies, Feminist Thinking,

Frantz Fanon.

Abstract in Spanish

En Des-pensando Maestría, Julietta Singh explica que existe una

contradicción en el discurso anti-colonial que repudia “maestría” y al

mismo tiempo que propone una “maestría” de liberación anticolonial. A

partir de una lectura profunda de Fanón, Singh demuestra la forma en la

cual la contramaestría produce “nuevos sujetos maestros.” Este articulo

deconstruye la contramaestía de Fanón a partir de lentes de la inseguridad

ontologica para iluminar las forma de producción de discurso decolonial

contemporáneo. Este articulo intenta expandir la concepción Fanoniana de

la corporalidad decolonial ofreciendo las concepciones de ‘fracaso queer”

y “desidentificación de color queer” para pensar la construcción de una

praxis queer y feminista decolonial.

Key words: Colonialidad, Ontología, Estudios Queer, Pensamiento Feminista,

Frantz Fanon.

Zaynab Shahar Fear, Flight, and Freedom

horizontes

decoloniales

ISSN 2545-8728

eISSN 2422-6343

Volumen V.1

2019

166

Abstract in Portuguese

Em Unthinking Mastery, Julietta Singh explica que há uma contradição no

discurso anticolonial que repudia o “domínio” e, ao mesmo tempo, propõe

um “domínio” da libertação anticolonial. A partir de uma leitura profunda

de Fanon, Singh demonstra a maneira pela qual o contradomínio produz

“novos sujeitos dominadores”. Este artigo desconstrói o contradomínio

de Fanon através de lentes da insegurança ontológica para aclarar a forma

de produção do discurso decolonial contemporâneo. Este artigo busca

expandir a concepção de corporalidade decolonial de Fanon, oferecendo

as concepções de “fracasso queer” e “desidentificação de cor queer” para

pensar a construção de uma práxis queer e feminista decolonial.

Key words: Colonialidade, Ontologia, Estudos Queer, Pensamento Feminista,

Frantz Fanon.

Zaynab Shahar is a Ph.D student at Chicago Theological Seminary, spe-

cializing in comparative religion and gender/sexuality in Judaism and

Islam. She holds an M.A in Religious Studies from CTS and a B.A in Jewish

Studies from Hampshire College. Her research focuses on comparative

queer-feminist practices of solidarity and interpretative method between

Jewish and Muslim American communities. She’s interested in the implica-

tions of women and LGBTQ folks wanting to assume greater responsibility

within the terrain of obligatory ritual. She’s interested in utilizing decoloni-

ality and critical theory to articulate a comparative analysis of gender, ritual

obligation, and religious space that move past the orthodox/liberal binary

that pervades queer theology and the feminist study of religion.

Zaynab Shahar Fear, Flight, and Freedom

horizontes

decoloniales

ISSN 2545-8728

eISSN 2422-6343

Volumen V.1

2019

167

Introduction

In Unthinking Mastery Julietta Singh (2018: 2) aims to

deconstruct “the persistence of mastery” at the foundation of

postcolonial and anticolonial discourse. For Singh (2018:2),

anticolonial discourse hinges on the contradiction of one the

one hand, repudiating the “mastery” of colonialism and at

the same time reproducing and advocating mastery towards

decolonial and anticolonial liberation efforts. In doing so,

countermastery functioned not only to defeat colonial mastery

but “towards the production of decolonized subjectivities.”

Through a close reading of Fanon and Ghandi, Singh dem-

onstrates the ways in which both men understood the utility

of countermastery in producing “new masterful subjects.”

Ultimately, Singh (2018:2) argues that such impulses towards

the utilization of countermastery “didn’t interrogate its own

masterful engagements,” particularly the ways in which such

“complex entanglements with mastery would come to reso-

nate in the postcolonial future it so passionately anticipated.”

Singh’s (2018:2) meditations on mastery and her quest to

linger in the company of Cixous’s belief in the existence of

something other than mastery is particularly potent in endeav-

oring to think through the emergence of yet another academic

field dedicated to the conceptualization of decolonial subjec-

tivities: decoloniality.

I first encountered the concept of decoloniality while

attending the 2018 Critical Muslim Studies Summer School

in Granada, Spain. As the summer school unfolded, I took

note of the spatial relationships between the varying onto-

epistemologies presented as integral to the work of Critical

Muslim Studies. In one instance, discussions on coloniality

and decoloniality were primarily oriented around deconstruct-

ing the role of race and nation in understanding subjectivity

and intersubjectivity. In another instance, discussions of gen-

der and “feminism” operated primarily within the terrain of