Anti-colonial theory can reproduce the very binary it criticizes.

Evidence

Some of the most vigorous and sophisticated African theory simply reinstates such Manicheisms, confirming the African as both unitary and other. JanMohamed’s concept of the Manichean allegory of colonialist discourse (1983, 1985) articulates the binary itself very well but his criticism of those texts which he calls “symbolic” and “imaginary” (after Lacan) actually reproduces the binary rather than offers a way to disrupt it. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3403

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces JanMohamed’s Manichean allegory concept and the Lacanian symbolic/imaginary binary in postcolonial criticism.
• XREF: connects to: Anti-universalist critique can reproduce the speculative universalism it attacks. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 1082