Empires of the Mind

The colonial experience has profoundly marked both Europe and Africa, the coloniser and the colonised. From the start of the scramble for Africa in the fifteenth century, African culture, language, identity, and agency have been systematically minimised and discounted while European supremacy has been amplified. This has set a tone that has persisted as the two struggle to achieve an equitable partnership. To this day, the language used by African and European leaders, writers, and influencers reflects that many are trapped in an outdated worldview that masks the true colonial legacy. It takes conscious work to do away with the heavy presence of colonial narratives and perceptions. This chapter reviews the works of many scholars who have attempted to do just this. From seminal books such as Born in Blackness (French, Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War, 2021), African Europeans (Otele, African European: An Untold History, 2020), and The EU and Africa (Adebajo & Whiteman, 2012) to others that frame the discussion in terms of the historical reasons for continuity in the stigmatisation of Africa, this chapter seeks to capture some of the critical insights of those who can help us construct a new narrative. Frantz Fanon’s and Amilcar Cabral’s theories on decolonising minds are also mentioned. Additionally, references to the current post-colonial academic debates are included.