Dialogue between unequal powers can serve domination as easily as liberation

Evidence

Our approach to Tempels’s contribution to dialogue is articulated within the framework of “Avoir-Savoir-Pouvoir-Valoir” (“economic power – the power of knowledge – political power – dignity or human worth”), which shapes the dialogical relation between Africa and the West in the colonial and post-colonial era. Several issues arise: Who needs dialogue and for what purpose? Why now? How is proper dialogue carried out? Can dialogue help people achieve liberation, empowerment and well-being? Can dialogue be used as a tool of domestication and domination? Can genuine dialogue occur between Africa and the West in a context of unequal political and economic power relations? — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 664

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to wider postcolonial critique of dialogue under unequal power — echoes Fanon and the Frankfurt School’s question of whether communication can be genuine under domination. — connects to: Domination becomes a mutual communicative asymmetry, not just objective control — Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and…, 315
• QUESTION: The four-term frame Avoir-Savoir-Pouvoir-Valoir maps economic to epistemic to political to dignitary power — worth chasing how this grid structures the whole book’s analysis.