Exploring the Landscapes of Extraction: Colonial Continuities, Postcolonial Assemblages of Power, and Anti-colonial Struggles

The current tumultuous transformations of the world order and disorder, and in particular the declining hegemony of the U.S. build the general framework of the analysis pursued in this chapter. At stake is the issue of decolonization, which is discussed with reference to the different theoretical approaches that have addressed it in recent years (through such notions as “neocolonialism,” “postcolonialism,” and “decoloniality”). The chapter focuses on the relations between the transformations of the global order, decolonization, and contemporary capitalism. Starting from a discussion of “neo-extractivism” in Latin America, an expanded notion of extraction is proposed to grasp crucial aspects of the operations of capital today. Moving across the boundaries between critique of political economy and postcolonial critique, the chapter end with a reflection upon the need to rethink the notion and practice of internationalism.