Editors (Eds): Firstly, what do you understand by decolonisation as a term?

Hillary Gyebi-Ababio (HG): The term ‘decolonisation’ is now being used very widely – its definition is often disputed and misinterpreted. Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth is one of the earliest texts where we see decolonisation defined clearly. Fanon speaks of decolonisation as ‘the need to thoroughly challenge the colonial situation’ (Fanon, 2004, 2).

In more recent interpretations, decolonisation has been defined as ‘a political process and vital internalization of the rejection of colonialist mindsets and “norms”’ (Ghillar, 2016).

Mbembe describes decolonisation much more tangibly as being about ‘reshaping, turning human beings once again into craftsmen and craftswomen who, in reshaping matters and forms, need not to look at the pre-existing models and need not use them as paradigms’ (Mbembe, 2018, 9). The Decolonising LSE Collective refer to ‘recognizing, making visible and working to address the legacies that colonialism, empire, racism and patriarchy continue to have and envisioning a world beyond these repressive structures’ (Decolonising LSE Collective, n.d.).

Ultimately, as Behari-Leak et al. articulate well, decolonisation is ‘a nuanced, layered concept’, and we should focus ‘more in its detail than its definition’ (Behari-Leak et al., 2017). We must ensure that we don't get caught up in lengthy academic discussion over the definition of decolonisation that results in cyclical inaction, and ensure there is focus on how to make this work authentic, wholescale and transformative.

The decolonisation movement is alive and growing – and has been for years and years. So much progress has been made, and a firm foundation has been built for the work that is starting to emerge. Therefore, before speaking about how decolonising the library can come to life, we must pay homage to and, in our work, honour those that have been doing this work before us, especially in times where the work of decolonisation has been criticised, misconstrued and outright rejected. A final point on defining decolonisation: many have tried to misconstrue it to be about the ‘erasure of history’. It must be made clear that decolonisation comes to life when there is a real understanding about the justice it seeks to bring to those who have been erased, invisibilised and excluded from the narrative for so long; this comes through rebuilding and reimagining knowledge, the purpose of education, and truly building a world without white supremacy.