Western value systems and ways of knowing the world are in need of serious critique, especially in terms of colonialism and capitalism. These systems, many argue are fundamentally unjust and unsustainable while also working toinvalidate and erase alternative, indigenous ways of knowing. We need to work towards decolonization by both challenging these dominant Western systems, and exploring and supporting alternatives. That the primary intent of this thesis, which aims to engage and compare indigenous and Western worldviews using two specific case studies of land management. The first, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, represents an indigenous Māori approach in a New Zealand context, while the East Bay Regional Park District represents a ‘conventional’ Western approach in a US context. The analysis of these groups was based primarily on management plans and other assorted documents, as well as personal experience working with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei in particular. The structure and practice of each group were explored separately, and connected with the systems and values of their respective cultural contexts. Comparisons were then made exploring differences in community participation, ways of knowing, and systems of values and belief. The District, while showing significant concern for the environment, was still engaged in limiting and harmful colonial practice. In contrast the practice of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, with its local focus, community engagement, and deep relation with the land, is a worthy source of inspiration in moving towards a world that is more safe, just, and sustainable.

Plutarch’s Life of Philopoemen and Life of Titus Flamininus are often overlooked in favor of Plutarch’s more famous subjects. However, this biographical pair uniquely treats contemporary figures on opposing sides of the conflicts of the early 2nd century BCE: Philopoemen as the last great Greek general fighting for freedom, and Flamininus as the Roman general whose actions brought about Greece’s subjugation to Rome. Reading these biographies through a post-colonial lens reveals Plutarch’s internal resistance to the Roman subjugation. I argue that, although Plutarch does not outwardly denigrate the Roman conquest, he uses Flamininus and his flaws to criticize Rome’s subjugation of Greece. He simultaneously shows a preference for Philopoemen and the cause of Greek freedom throughout both works. He not only praises Greece’s former glory, but also condemns Rome’s dominant position over Greece. Despite Plutarch predating the traditional subjects of post-colonialism, this act of literary resistance to the Roman occupation justifies a close reading of these texts through a post-colonial lens.

The following works are an exploration of the histories of colonization that Indigenous people experienced in North America and how the settler colonial phenomenon continues to exist in the contemporary United States. In this project I am placing “official” history alongside personal narrative in order to represent the overlooked experiences of those impacted by the colonial project in the southwest. Old English Modern Mestizaje acts to deconstruct the ideologies that create common sense notions of Mexico, Mexican American, Xicana/o/x and Mestizaje. With this project I am working to explore the impact of racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, capitalism and hetero patriarchy, as they affect the material realities of people whose lives are determined by their relationship to the border. Through the use of sculpture, experimental video, documentary photography, urban sculpture, earthenware, and performance this series means to draw our attention to the ways we uphold and reconstruct institutions of power. I am most compelled by the places where evidence of resistance and survival is made manifest. With Old English Modern Mestizaje my desire is to generate alternative empathies that open paths for a new consciousness.

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This thesis aims to provide a historical study of colonialism and coloniality in the period 1900-2003 through a comparison of the British invasion of Iraq at the start of the 1900s and the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 in order to identify continuities as well as changes. The study employs a comparative research method in order to demonstrate that there were significant similarities between the two invasions. However, comparing two colonial invasions in the same country in different time periods also has the potential to reveal significant changes over time in colonial strategies. The thesis compares the two invasions in terms of Quijano’s four spheres of the colonial matrix of power, namely the struggle for control of authority, the struggle for economic control, the struggle for hegemony of information and the transformation of gender relations. The thesis will demonstrate that the colonial strategies adopted by both imperial powers were strikingly similar. Moreover, the thesis will argue that these similarities were part of a continuation of a colonial system since many of the structures that were established by the British, such as tribalisation within an imposed nation-state, have remained in place and were reinforced by the U.S. Additionally, the same ways of seeing and representing colonised peoples that were present during the British invasion, were used to justify the American invasion. Every sphere of both invasions was thoroughly gendered. Not only did colonial invasions effect gender relations in Iraq considerably, but the ideologies used to justify the invasions were also based on gendered assumptions. Finally, in accordance with decolonial theory, the thesis calls for “a declaration of war against naturalised war." / Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Historical and Heritage Studies / MSocSci / Unrestricted

Emergency regimes as a legacy of French colonialism in Cameroon remain a key instrument to legalising strategies of control and subjugation of people. Officials in the country have been relying on these regimes not to save the state from a potential threat of war or invasion but to deny a fair democratic game, eliminate political opponents and keep control of power, people and resources. The core arguments of the present study devoted to emergency regimes in contemporary democracies with strong emphasis on Cameroon lies in its conceptual framing which is a clear contextualisation of the problem of the exception in the colonial period. In elucidating the situation in Cameroon, the study hilights how the permanent recourse to emergency regimes within the colony was central to Europeans’ tactics in their strategies of control and domination of colonised people. Starting with detailed historical analysis grounded on colonial and postcolonial experiences in Cameroon (and even Algeria), the study attempts to shift the understanding of the theories on the exception and sovereign violence by placing contemporary legal and philosophical debates on the exception in the context in which they originally emerged, a means of legitimating the subjugation of colonised peoples. More specifically, the thesis shows how the country’s colonial past strongly influences the current state’s structures through a basic reliance on emergency measures which became normalised to a point where law’s force has been reduced to the zero point of its own content. The draconian measures have been routinised and have successfully moved from the exceptional sphere to that of the normality. Additionally, patterns of rule by ordinance and decree were put in place in the early ‘post-independence’ period, and have now become the norm in Cameroon. As consequences, the process matters of justice are reduced to bare legal force, and in that process the legitimacy of both state and law are compromised, rendering subjects politically jaundiced and demoralised. The net effect of such developments appears to be detrimental to the very foundation of the state which is then subject to a process of disintegration. / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Jurisprudence / LLD / Unrestricted

In the Constitutional Court case of Mazibuko and Others v The City of Johannesburg and Others CCT 39/09 [2009], a case dealing with the question of access to water, the presiding judge, Kate O'Regan CJ, makes the following opening remarks to the judgment: 'Water is life. Without it, nothing organic grows. Human beings need water to drink, to cook, to wash and to grow our food. Without it, we will die. It is not surprising then that our Constitution entrenches the right of access to water'. My aim in this dissertation is to investigate the couplet of law-life and the political in the Constitutional Court case of Mazibuko and Others v The City of Johannesburg and Others. The case stands as an exemplar of the intersection of life and the political by virtue of its focus on socio-economic rights, specifically the right of access to water enshrined in the Constitution. The history of the case, the jurisprudence employed by the courts, and the responses and critiques to the Mazibuko case add to the problematics to be investigated here. What would it entail if the couplet of law-life would be brought to the concept of the political? It would mean interrogating how life and law is constructed by the political and not merely how the political manages and regulates life through law. If life is considered to be a matter of bare necessities, or mere biological life, there would not be a need to consider the question of the political relation to life; it could be delegated, as it has practically been, to technocratic governmental policy. Bringing the political to questions of life would reveal how the political implicates life in its constituting moment. In this dissertation, I will explore how the political could be brought to the couplet of law-life, focusing particularly focus on socio-economic rights, international law, colonialism, and constitution making. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Philosophy / MA / Unrestricted

MAAS / Centre for African Studies / The institution of African traditional royal leadership herein after referred to as Vhuhosi, may at times be seen to be falling short in fulfilling its function. Arguably, symptoms such as the misunderstanding of the role and powers of traditional royal leaders, the never-ending land disputes, as well as issues of political transition in South Africa, can be traced back to the introduction of missionary activism. Amid a myriad of challenges, the proposed study seeks to investigate the influence of missionary work on the institution of Vhuhosi. The study’s focus will specifically be on the efficiency, or lack thereof, of the institution to perform its functions following the historical interface with missionary activism. The study will employ a mixture of research methodologies, amongst them the literary study of archive materials, the empirical investigation of the current state of the institution, and the appraisal of the prevalence of mission activities in the modern-day era all of which fall under the qualitative research design. It is envisaged that the results of the study will benefit current traditional royal and religious leaders, government officials in understanding the historical explanation of current trends and tendencies. Most importantly, the study will equip those involved in improving the situation and changing the course of history. Furthermore, the study will benefit scholarship by providing relevant and constructive research material that could inform and/or shape the calibre of leadership in these institutions. / NRF

Ansel Adams, one of the world’s great photographers, once said, “There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.” This thesis will explore the relationship of the photographer, the viewer, and the photographed subject in the context of humanitarian photography, which has historically internalized a specific balance of power between the worlds of the photographer, viewer, and subject. By examining this tangible expression of the internalized world, this thesis is also performing a critical examination of humanitarianism itself with the intent of improving humanitarian practices and interior worlds. In examining these topics, this thesis will answer the following questions: What is the humanitarian gaze? And: Why is the spectatorial nature of sympathy reserved for Global South? These are questions that will lead to the core question that this thesis asks: what is the relationship between humanitarianism and colonialism?

This project aims to investigate the presentation of identity in Dalia Sofer’s novel Man of My Time with concepts coined by Homi K. Bhabha and further discussed by Stuart Hall and David Huddart. By first providing a background of historical context for Iran between 1950 and 1990, the thesis will then provide a discussion of the characters’ identities using concepts like hybridity, nationhood, stereotype, mimicry, and menace, while also providing relation to the real life experience of Iranians. Based on these results it is then discussed how much use there is for a concept like hybridity in the current political climate that is characterised by displacement and subjection. The need for fixed identity among minorities is explored before the research concludes by declaring that the concept of hybridity may be useful in other contexts but is not actionable for minorities that are forcefully stripped of it.