Re-Defining ‘the Human': A Necessary Step in De-Coloniality

Using the theories of Sylvia Wynter, Frantz Fanon, and Walter Mignolo, this paper provides a socio-historical critique of European conceptualizations of “the human” and the significance of these conceptualizations in modernity/coloniality /post-coloniality, particularly the relationship between “the human” and “blackness” in those contexts. Using language articulated by members of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, this paper examines whether or not some of these contemporary formulations of blackness emerging from this resistance movement challenge European conceptualizations of “the human” and are representations of the “de-linking”/de-coloniality Mignolo (2007) articulates.