Transimagination: Towards a Collective Methodology for Decolonization

Written by Paraskevi Siamitrou

The frequency of the word “reimagine” has skyrocketed in recent years, as visualised below.

(Reimagine, V. Meanings, Etymology and More | Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.)

Yet it feels somewhat lukewarm as a word, perhaps because it implies repetition. My mind goes to the repetition of pre-existing epistemologies, the same knowledge systems that led us to this first place of imagination: who imagined the solutions in the beginning? And who provides us with new ones now?

Would preimagine or transimagine be more suitable? Does it even matter? I think I am not craving the originality or purity of an idea, but rather the intentions and functionalities of the solutions themselves. Because, in the end, we care about people, land, health, climate  and justice. 

Homi Bhabha conceptualizes the third space, a site where hybrid identities and alternative narratives can flourish while resisting colonial cultural impositions. I find this notion particularly relevant here, a synthesis of time and space, between coloniser and colonised, offering a hybrid space in which to operate and negotiate. 

Truly, it could lead to the decolonisation of the mind and a kind of spiritual liberation.

And yet, this “third space” does not shift the hegemony. It fails under unequal material conditions and exploitative discourse. It remains silent about the heterogeneities of suppressed groups. How can this produce an imagination that does not simply perpetuate colonial legacies, one that resists being used as leverage for the same systems of power? How do we give voice to the global majority? Would there ever be a synthesis of the world without sustaining neocolonial exploitation? We do not– yet- have the answer. We are young and we are (un)learning.

This imagination must be transgressive and communal: amplifying different voices, creating a polyphony, an ‘orchestra’ that resists power imbalances. In its most concrete form, resistance and decolonisation are processes of transformation: from social, cultural, and material oppression toward new social relations grounded in mutual interdependence.

In my language, “imagine” translates to φαντάζομαι, fantasy, and can be synonymous with ονειρεύομαι, the oneiric, the dream. I cannot befriend the word reimagine, because I believe that the people of the global majority were never part of the first imagination process of this world. But I want to dream, to transimagine, a “third space” that enables better alternatives and gives voice to the so-called “voiceless.”

Beyond this critique of Bhabha’s concept, we do also live with and within the (neo)colonial legacies that shape our world. Co-imagine implies chronicity, continuity, urgency: we cannot waste time, we cannot erase the past and its overstretched repercussions. It asks new questions and critiques inherited answers. Our co-imagine is filled with determination and hope, rooted in the terrifying uncertainty of the future. It embraces solidarity, justice, and equity.

But decolonisation is not a reverie. It is a practice of resistance, a struggle against oppressive systems, slow violence, environmental degradation, and enduring colonial legacies.

Copenhagen Decolonisation Collective is a decolonising collective devoted to change, unlearning, and deconstruction. We imagine together an alternative world, while critiquing and resisting the existent. Co-imagine is not a dreamy, escapist project; it is a collective, revolutionary methodology for transformation, survival, and transimagination.

REFERENCES

reimagine, v. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.).

https://www.oed.com/dictionary/reimagine_v

Bhandari, N.B. (2022). Homi K. Bhabha’s third space theory and cultural identity today: A

critical review. Prithvi Academic Journal, 5, 171-181.