Being Anti-Colonial by Jayan Nayar presents a profound critique of the contemporary engagements with ‘decolonial theory’ and the popular usage of ‘decolonisation’. This work argues that much of the current discourse within critical theory tends to overlook the intricate, essentially praxiological underpinnings of the anti-colonial struggle, thereby comfortably situating itself within the post-colonial status quo. Nayar’s book serves as a radical call to authentically re-engage with the anti-colonial ethos, emphasizing the necessity to confront the enduring architectures of coloniality that define our present. Distinctly divided into two parts, the book first elucidates the conceptual groundwork to reconceptualise ‘anti-colonial’ as a philosophical stance deeply entwined with the fabric of the global (post)colonial reality. Through meticulously argued philosophical foundations, Nayar underscores the (post)colonial present as a state of ‘resettlement’, where the architecture of post-colonial world-making loses sight of its colonial matrices. Being Anti-Colonial is both an invitation and a challenge to the academic community to critically revisit and re-energize the conversation about coloniality.

With his impressive scholarship, Jayan Nayar challenges critics of coloniality, himself included, to question their standpoints. Critical scholars are implicated in assuming the reality of a post-colonial world as ‘(b)ordered’ but requiring reform and justice. Through an incisive critique of coloniality, of the idea of ‘Europe’ of ‘Blacked Lives Matter’ of ‘Zionist-Israelism’, he demands engagement on the frontline of anti-colonial struggles of the violated, subjugated, impoverished ‘subjects’ of (post) colonial normality. — Abdul Paliwala, Professor of Law at School of Law, University of Warwick