Abstract

Postcolonial thinking is a critical epistemology which could be described as radical. It is founded on a colonial civilizing mission, matrix and legacy. Contrary to the misleading prefix postcolonial, this reflection is not limited the analysis chronological facts subsequent to the colonial period. The reason for postcolonial criticism is a great rationalist narrative, linear and secular issued by the Enlightenment, behind which is a unilateral and linear vision of a historical process that is actually identical and valid for each nation. In spite of its Universalist pretentions, the Enlightenment fails - it seems - to transcend its principles: it tends to be more a tendancy to perceive the world through a occidental lense than a proper philosophy.