Passing Which is not to be Passed Through

Abstract. The discussion unfolds around the situation of post-not just as a chronological stage in global development, but also as a condition of living (in) that cannot be finally extinguished. Using the research tools of interdisciplinarity, the discussants outline their positions around such problem areas of contemporary social science and humanities as: How possible is the transition from decolonization to a state of post-coloniality beyond trauma? Is contemporary academic discourse capable of reconciling civilizational fault lines? Is the use of nationalist discourse mandatory for understanding the postcolonial state? To this end, the linearity of the process of turning decolonization into postcoloniality has been questioned, as well as Postcolonial studies itself as an independent methodological program for analyzing macro- and inter-regional interactions. The discussion takes the reader back to the domain of reactualized decolonization as an unfinished geopolitical and sociocultural project, appealing to “world” hierarchical decision-making practices, the transformation of newly decolonized countries, and the subjective state of vulnerability represented in literary discourse.

Keywords: decolonisation, empire, post-empire, asynchrony of decolonisation, postcoloniality, drama of postcoloniality, trauma, vulnerability, postcolonial subject, precarity.