decolonisation
decolonisation — noun
1. the transition by which a land under foreign colonial control gains its own gove
the transition by which a land under foreign colonial control gains its own government and stops being ruled as a colony.
Algeria's decolonisation ended more than a century of French rule.
decolonisation of [country] after colonial rule
Vinícius's history class linked decolonisation to new flags, laws, and elections.
link decolonisation to nation-building changes
Many Pacific leaders saw decolonisation as the first step toward fair trade.
The film follows Kenya's decolonisation through protests, court cases, and village meetings.
After decolonisation, the island wrote its own constitution and chose a president.
- independence
names the result more often than the long political process leading to it
- self-rule
stresses local political control rather than the dismantling of empire
- liberation
broader and often more emotional; can apply beyond colonial contexts
- colonisation
the act or system of taking control of another land as a colony
- imperial rule
emphasises continued control by an empire rather than local independence
文法句型
decolonisation of [country/region]
decolonisation after [period/event]
用法筆記
Usually names a historical or political process in which power moves from an empire to local rule. It often appears with 'of' plus a country or region, and the focus is broader than a single day of independence.
常見錯誤
2. the work of reshaping a school, museum, reading list, or similar institution so
the work of reshaping a school, museum, reading list, or similar institution so colonial European viewpoints no longer dominate and more space is given to local or previously marginalised voices.
Sora urged the art school to begin decolonisation of its reading list.
decolonisation of a reading list
The museum's decolonisation plan added Indigenous curators and local place names.
decolonisation plan in a museum
Students said real decolonisation means sharing power, not just changing posters.
After months of meetings, the department treated decolonisation as a long process.
Lakshmi's essay argues that decolonisation should start with whose stories children read.
- reform
much broader; reform can improve a system without addressing colonial power
- diversification
focuses on adding variety, but may not question who controls the institution
- indigenisation
emphasises local knowledge and practices more directly than decolonisation
- Eurocentrism
placing European experience and standards at the centre
- colonial framing
keeping the old hierarchy of whose knowledge is treated as most important
文法句型
decolonisation of [curriculum/museum/university]
calls for decolonisation in [institution/field]
用法筆記
Common in discussions of universities, museums, archives, and publishing. It usually means changing whose voices are centred and who has decision-making power, not simply removing every European text or object.