Epistemic ethnonationalism: identity policing in neo-Traditionalism and Decoloniality theory

Traditionalism’s most influential contemporary revival, Dugin’s Eurasianism, is routinely characterised as being of the radical Right. The Decoloniality theory of Quijano, Mignolo and Ndlovu-Gatsheni, on the other hand, with its intellectual roots in Marxist dependency theory, presents itself as on...

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Main Author: George Hull
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of the Free State 2022-12-01
Series:Acta Academica
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/aa/article/view/6223
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author George Hull
author_facet George Hull
author_sort George Hull
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description Traditionalism’s most influential contemporary revival, Dugin’s Eurasianism, is routinely characterised as being of the radical Right. The Decoloniality theory of Quijano, Mignolo and Ndlovu-Gatsheni, on the other hand, with its intellectual roots in Marxist dependency theory, presents itself as on the progressive Left. Yet, despite their different intellectual genealogies and drastically different reputations, both theoretical approaches have converged on a position with troubling practical consequences: epistemic ethnonationalism, the doctrine that which beliefs one should adopt and which concepts one should employ are determined by which ethnos/ethnie one belongs to. Both approaches deplore acceptance of Western beliefs and employment of Western concepts outside the West, both turn to existential phenomenology to ground their ethnorelativism, and both have influenced contemporary politics. I assess the theoretical underpinnings of both approaches, and argue that if neo-Traditionalism is to be classified as a Rightist body of thought, then Decoloniality theory ought also to be.
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spelling doaj.art-cdf8c2a10c4e4a49945101f5bc6cca8e2024-03-11T23:03:06ZengUniversity of the Free StateActa Academica0587-24052415-04792022-12-01543Epistemic ethnonationalism: identity policing in neo-Traditionalism and Decoloniality theoryGeorge Hull0University of Cape Town Traditionalism’s most influential contemporary revival, Dugin’s Eurasianism, is routinely characterised as being of the radical Right. The Decoloniality theory of Quijano, Mignolo and Ndlovu-Gatsheni, on the other hand, with its intellectual roots in Marxist dependency theory, presents itself as on the progressive Left. Yet, despite their different intellectual genealogies and drastically different reputations, both theoretical approaches have converged on a position with troubling practical consequences: epistemic ethnonationalism, the doctrine that which beliefs one should adopt and which concepts one should employ are determined by which ethnos/ethnie one belongs to. Both approaches deplore acceptance of Western beliefs and employment of Western concepts outside the West, both turn to existential phenomenology to ground their ethnorelativism, and both have influenced contemporary politics. I assess the theoretical underpinnings of both approaches, and argue that if neo-Traditionalism is to be classified as a Rightist body of thought, then Decoloniality theory ought also to be. http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/aa/article/view/6223Decoloniality theoryTraditionalismEpistemic ethnonationalismAleksandr DuginWalter D. Mignolo
spellingShingle George Hull
Epistemic ethnonationalism: identity policing in neo-Traditionalism and Decoloniality theory
Acta Academica
Decoloniality theory
Traditionalism
Epistemic ethnonationalism
Aleksandr Dugin
Walter D. Mignolo
title Epistemic ethnonationalism: identity policing in neo-Traditionalism and Decoloniality theory
title_full Epistemic ethnonationalism: identity policing in neo-Traditionalism and Decoloniality theory
title_fullStr Epistemic ethnonationalism: identity policing in neo-Traditionalism and Decoloniality theory
title_full_unstemmed Epistemic ethnonationalism: identity policing in neo-Traditionalism and Decoloniality theory
title_short Epistemic ethnonationalism: identity policing in neo-Traditionalism and Decoloniality theory
title_sort epistemic ethnonationalism identity policing in neo traditionalism and decoloniality theory
topic Decoloniality theory
Traditionalism
Epistemic ethnonationalism
Aleksandr Dugin
Walter D. Mignolo
url http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/aa/article/view/6223
work_keys_str_mv AT georgehull epistemicethnonationalismidentitypolicinginneotraditionalismanddecolonialitytheory