Responding to the decolonial turn: Epistemic Vulnerability

Abstract

The question this essay asks is how does one respond in a credible way (from a position of whiteness) to the decolonial turn when that turn radically interrogates (to the point of shaming) one's being by questioning the morality of the cultural and social structures of whiteness and the zone of being in which one finds oneself. The essay proposes a hermeneutic of vulnerability as a response which is based on a mindfulness for the vulnerability of those who still bear the brunt of the aftermath of apartheid and a mindfulness for the vulnerability of the self as perpetrating agent. The essay proceeds as follows: (a) an introduction to the notion of the decolonial turn; (b) a decolonial critique of racialised discourse in a decolonial reality; and (c) a discussion of a hermeneutics of vulnerability with which exploitation of the other creates a vulnerability in the perpetrating self in order to discontinue the effects of coloniality.

Linguistic, psychological and epistemic vulnerability in asylum procedures: An interdisciplinary approach

“…The concept originates from the Latin verb vulnerare (‘to wound’). Hence, vulnerability often has a negative connotation as it refers to the possibility of being either physically or emotionally harmed (Snyman, 2015: 280). Vulnerability is widely discussed in the context of international protection regimes, where it generally refers to a group or individual in need of special support or protection because of age, disability or risk of abuse.…”

A hermeneutic of vulnerability: difficult empathy in response to moral injury within whiteness

“…It is a decentring of the disposition of the mythic norm behind the one who reads the Bible (cf. Snyman 2015aSnyman , 2015bSnyman , 2017. The process renders one vulnerable, but it opens up the opportunity for change for bible readers who find themselves at the wrong side of history, and equip them with a framework with which to work through their complicity with the racism embedded in apartheid and coloniality.…”

Hijacking Subaltern’s history (broken bodies, broken voices): Decolonial critique of ‘Subaltern whiteness’ in South Africa

“…I knew I was a prisoner in my own mind. Snyman (2011a;2011b;2015a;2015b;, in the numerous publications that followed this struggle to stay afloat, seems to have begun a process of delinking himself from racialised discourse with its trappings by framing himself within decolonial turn, which enabled him to become epistemically vulnerable. While he does not allude to this, epistemic vulnerability leads to regenerative process.…”

“…Decolonial/de-apartheid critique aims to foster spaces for 'epistemic vulnerability' (Snyman 2015b) where the covert perpetrator or innocent beneficiaries of apartheid takes responsibility over past wrongs without taking clever stance to shift blame to historical oblivion. From a decolonial perspective, modernity cannot be thought without its darker side -coloniality (Mignolo 1995;.…”