infinite

"To survive the Borderlands you must live sin Fronteras". This single quote carries the essence of Gloria Andalzua's philosophy. Her understanding of colonisation looks inside the mind of people. She examines the rupture that is ever-present in the mind of the colonised soul; the duality that exists between who we think we are and who the coloniser has told us we are. The colonised is a troubled creature that is 'adept at switching' between the two consciousnesses that wrestle within it. In that sense, decolonization for her is the creation of a new "mestiza consciousness" that works "to break down the subject/object duality" that we are plagued with. To reintroduce us, to our complex selves.

Colonisation itself is the creation of borders. Borders of knowledge, belief, language, Culture, that separate us and rank us. The hierarchy of knowledge systems places us all in rigid boxes and fixes our place in the world. For Anzaldua, decolonization is breaking down those borders. Especially the borders between knowledge and knowing. Our way of knowing the world cannot merely be a matter of either-or, we cannot be either traditional or modern, superstitious or rational, right or wrong. This for her is the "new consciousness". A consciousness that "creates a new mythos" and "a change in the way we perceive reality, the way we see ourselves, and the ways we behave".  It is acceptance of the diversity that exists within each of us. The multiple identities that crisscross inside of us. We, the children of colonisation must first become aware of the multidimensionality of our identities because "The struggle has always been inner, and is played out in outer terrains. Awareness of our situation must come before inner changes, which in turn come before changes in society". Once we recognise the duality within ourselves, we can start to heal it. And Anzaldua’s text is an attempt at healing. It seeks the heal our perceptions and ways of knowing by legitimizing them. 

Part Spanish, part indigenous, Anzaldua understands the difficulty of embracing ourselves. It is an attempt to rid her of her inner shame, as she says, "will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing". This shame resonates with every colonised soul. A shame that we carry within ourselves because of our supposed inferiority. To start the process of decolonisation, we must stop understanding the world in black and white, wrong and right, myth and science. We must "be a crossroads'' of the multiple perceptions that inhabit the world. We must dismantle the hierarchy of knowledge and honour the diversity of perceptions. Anzaldua accomplishes that by asserting every single facet of her identity in her book. She refuses to prioritize one form or language over the other. In doing so, she delivers her authentic self, in the most authentic method. She r embraces her multidimensionality and reckons us to embrace ours too. 

 Decolonization is, in itself, diversification. The refusal to conform to one identity, one knowledge system, one ideology. It is the recognition of possibility in a limitless world. An admission of multiplicity in a single-minded universe. A reiteration of infinity in a calculable world.