In this powerful and thought-provoking essay, Nelson Maldonado-Torres builds on earlier decolonial thinkers like Aníbal Quijano and Frantz Fanon to further explain the concept of "coloniality of being." He argues that colonialism was not just about political domination or economic exploitation, but also a deep and long-lasting attack on the very being and humanity of colonized people. This idea goes beyond what Quijano called the "coloniality of power" (which focused on social hierarchies and global control) and focuses on how colonialism affected the way people see themselves and others — at the deepest level of existence.
Maldonado-Torres uses the writings of Fanon to show how colonial systems created a racial hierarchy in which some people were treated as fully human (usually Europeans), while others (especially Black and Indigenous people) were seen as less than human or even non-being. He calls this process the coloniality of being — a way of structuring reality where the colonizer’s way of life, knowledge, and values are seen as superior, while the colonized are dehumanized and excluded from full participation in humanity. This continues even after formal colonialism ends, as the global system still operates on colonial logics.
He also critiques Western philosophy for its role in ignoring or justifying this system. Philosophers like Descartes, with his famous statement “I think, therefore I am,” made European thought the center of what it means to be human — leaving out the voices and experiences of the colonized. Maldonado-Torres argues that we need to move toward a decolonial philosophy that centers ethics, memory, and the lived experiences of those who were colonized. He calls for an ethics of decoloniality, which recognizes the ongoing effects of colonialism and works to restore dignity and humanity to all people.
In short, this essay adds a deeply philosophical and human dimension to decolonial thought. Maldonado-Torres urges us to see how colonialism continues to shape the way we think, feel, and exist in the world — and calls for a radical transformation of our ways of being, knowing, and relating to each other. His concept of coloniality of being helps us understand that decolonization is not only political or economic — it is also existential.
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