Colonial Mindset Analysis

The Colonial Mindset in a Changing Age
For hundreds of years, the colonial mindset has affected the way humans disperse themselves into society. In her article “Queering the Borderlands: The Challenges of Excavating the Invisible and Unheard,” Emma Pérez defines the colonial mindset as, “… a normative language, race, culture, gender, class, and sexuality. This colonial imagery is a way of thinking about national histories and identities that must be disputed if contradictions are ever to be understood, much less resolved” (Pérez 123). The colonial mindset determines the social hierarchies that place people into either positions of superiority or inferiority. The colonial mindset involves using a heteronormative interpretation when reviewing history: the straight, white individual is automatically given privilege in society.
Without a doubt, the colonial mindset controls what is perceived as fundamental and
As Alex fights the heteronormative ideologies of her classmates, she unknowingly uses the idea of the decolonial imaginary. The colonial mindset still determines the relations of power, whether gendered or sexual or racial or classed, in our society. In order to challenge the colonial mindset, we have to decolonize our history. Instead of allowing the white, colonial, heteronormative gaze to construct our past, we must change the way we think about history. Emma Pérez writes, “I am arguing for decolonial gendered history to take us into our future with perspectives that do not deny, dismiss, or negate what is unfamiliar, but instead honors the differences between and among us” (Pérez 126). To escape the colonial mindset, we must not fall prey to what is easy. We have to accept the colored and queer events of our past and study them. Instead of questioning the femininity of girls like Alex, we must embrace their differences and accept them as who they truly