Decolonial systems thinking

Summary

Decolonial systems thinking asks how colonial histories and knowledge hierarchies shape the system, observer, method and canon, and whether marginalised standpoints can alter those terms.

Implications for practice

It shifts inclusion from demographic display to the construction of knowledge, institutional authority and the right to redefine the problem.

Key distinctions

• decolonisation versus diversification
• standpoint versus demographic proxy
• historical power versus abstract plurality

Historical development

• decolonial thought
• critical systems thinking
• systems thinking from the margins

Ideas it depends on

• colonial history
• epistemic power
• boundary critique

Further developments

• revised systems education
• lineage recovery
• alternative genealogies

Connections to practice

• curriculum review
• participatory boundary critique
• source and canon audits

Common confusions

• Decolonial systems thinking is not a label for any systems work done outside Europe or North America.
• Personal identity alone does not establish a decolonial argument.

Further checks

• Add primary published work from practitioners and scholars who explicitly identify their work as decolonial systems thinking.

Recorded connections

Check the wording, direction, scope, sources, and status of a connection before relying on it.

• Magnus Ramage researches critical and decolonial approaches to Decolonial systems thinking

  Status: accepted · Relation: researches

  The profile states a research interest and work in progress; it does not establish a completed decolonial systems doctrine.

  Locator: Open University profile, research and scholarship interests

  • Dr Magnus Ramage — Open University profile (checked)

Sources and passage locators

• Dr Magnus Ramage — Open University profile (checked)
• The Necessary Tangle running feedback: canon, closure and patriarchy (checked)

Cite this entry

Taylor, B. P. (2026). Decolonial systems thinking. The Necessary Tangle, release 0.35. https://transduction.systems/entries/concept_decolonial_systems_thinking/

Include the release and review status when you quote or reuse this account.