BOOK REVIEW: Achille Mbembe, "Out of the Dark Night. Essays on Decolonization”, New York: Columbia University Press, 2021, 254 p.

Abstract

Famous, appreciated and read on all continents, Achille Mbembe is one of the principal pillar of postcolonial studies, constantly providing content and guidance for social scientists and critical theorists. Eleven years after the launch of "Sortir de la grande nuit" , the intensely updated English version of the masterpiece appears in 2021 at Columbia University Press publishing house. The book's title suggests the progress of the African community on a global scale. Moreover, the Cameroonian author clearly indicates that this project has dealt with “decolonization as a praxis of self- defense and as an experience of emergence and uprising” and it is “an inquiry into the decolonized community”. "Out of the Dark Night" is divided into six dense chapters, outlined by an Introduction and an Epilogue meant to lead us directly into the Politics of the Future World, the main point being the localization of the postcolonial at the present moment, because “our era is far from being one of repentance, and is rather an era of clear conscience” (p. 133) and all chapters are completing and supporting this statement.