I am about to move on from this provocative subject but feel constrained to leave behind some markers for those persons who will have to return to these writings to decide what merit there may be to the views expressed and what relevance, weight and impact if any, they will have upon their practice of Christianity and their participation in our emerging Caribbean Civilization. I’ve been told … let’s say more than once by persons initially dismissive of my writing how much their opinions shifted upon a second reading, and a third. I am very aware of how our epistemologic/world-view foundations often serve more as a filter than a magnifying lens, orienting us more towards subjective bias than creative insight. Those who find no resonance of these writings with their understanding and practice of Christian faith, I ask you again to consider the videos presented in Part 1, particularly Dr Kwiyani’s reflections upon decolonizing Christian mission. If the Caribbean church does not consider seriously its need to repudiate the Colombian and Cromwellian roots of the Christianity that has become the familiar face not only of the religion, but also of the Christ worshiped in Caribbean spaces, not only will its relevance to our civilization diminish, its leadership of our progress be forfeited, but ultimately it will qualify itself for cancellation by a generation more hungry for truth and justice than their predecessors, less prone to manipulation and needing existential answers the status quo is not capable of providing. We cant pray for Justice and truth forever and not expect results.
Whenever someone is saying what must be said and saying it much more eloquently than I can, I am compelled to highlight such a voice: – YK
Colonialism deployed knowledge as an instrument of power. European, British, and United States of America empires mapped territories, created artificial borders, categorized peoples, and constructed racial hierarchies through pseudo-scientific disciplines. Colonial epistemologies emerged as tools for understanding and controlling the colonized. Schools and universities reproduced European worldviews, teaching colonized subjects to see themselves through the eyes of the colonizing empire’s interests.
Colonialized subjects were encouraged and conditioned to assimilate into rather than challenge the white supremacist capitalist system. This legacy persists today in development models that privilege foreign expertise, in educational systems that reward memorization of European, British, and United States of America content, and in academic and social legitimacies and institutions that center Western interests. After independence, many ex-colonial nations inherited institutions designed for colonial governance and aggrandizement rather than their community’s empowerment. Schools prepared students for exams rather than critical thinking and self-determination. Universities rewarded research that mirrored western priorities rather than addressing local challenges.
Mastery of western knowledge became a passport to individual mobility rather than a tool for collective uplift. Decolonial epistemology proposes a radical reorientation of knowledge and praxis. Knowledge that must serve community upliftment, and justice. In many ex-colonial societies, communities have long relied on their own knowledge systems- agricultural, ecological, spiritual, and social-to survive. Reorienting knowledge means elevating these systems as legitimate and essential. It means recognizing that a farmer in Moruga, a Spiritual Baptist elder in Tobago, or a steelpan tuner in Laventille possesses forms of expertise that universities must learn from, not just study as intriguing.
Colonial epistemologies sought to alienate oppressed people from their histories, languages, and cosmologies. The purpose of decolonial knowledge is to restore these connec tions. It treats cultural practices as sites of memory, praxis, theory, and innovation. Knowledge becomes a means of sustaining identity rather than erasing it. Decolonial Knowledge must address the structural inequalities produced by colonialism: racial and skin color hierarchies, land dispossession, economic dependency, and cultural marginalization. It must prioritize housing, education, youth development, ecological resilience, and community safety. It must demand that universities and policymakers treat communities not as data sources but as partners and creators of their own liberation.
It encourages creativity, experimentation, and syncretism. It encourages youth innovation based on a mix of local and global influences. Knowledge, thus, becomes a tool for designing futures rooted in dignity and possibility. This reorienting of the purpose of knowledge requires institutional transformation. Schools must shift from exam-driven models to critical inquiry based, culturally grounded learning. Universities must value community research, oral histories, and artistic knowledge. Governments must craft policies informed by local epistemologies rather than imported frameworks. Cultural institutions must be recognized as knowledge centers, not just entertainment venues. Reorienting the purpose of knowledge is ultimately a political and ethical project. A political and ethical project that is clearly and closely aligned and associated with the practical philosophy of communities. Praxis must be linked to the customs of human interactions in communities.
Reorienting the purpose of knowledge allows us to ask: What kind of society do we want to build, and what knowledge do we need to build it? Decolonial knowledge is a collective endeavor, a tool for empowerment, and a pathway to the flourishing of ex-colonial people globally. It insists that the people who have survived the violences of colonialism and extractive rapacious capitalism possess the wisdom to shape their own futures. When knowledge serves liberation rather than domination, it becomes the means of understanding the world, and the means to transform it.
Kelson Maynard
Published in PAW
SUMMER EDITION Volume 2, Issue #4 | June 1 – August 31, 2026
My own last word: Is the Christ of the Caribbean liberator or dominator? If the latter, I can answer my own question posed at the end of the article Sovereign Intelligence: That Jesus is not the answer. – YK
YeKengalé 