Abstract

Recently there have been numerous actions around the world with the aim of freeing public spaces from colonial vestiges. Statues of slaveholders, colonialists, racist doctors, as well as street names and subway stops have been targeted world-wide in order to challenge the glorification of brutal colonial history. This international movement has also suffered a lot of criticism, being labeled as a cancel-culture. The debate that has begun shows how much the West is still unwilling to deal with its colonial past. Not dealing with one’s past is then a further obstacle in order to elaborate copresences and colonial transformations. In this sense, the decolonial manifestations aimed at historical memory are only one aspect of a transversal critique necessary in order to understand how the coloniality of power develops in the contemporary world. In the contribution, the Italian context acts as a favorite analysis context to investigate the limits and potential of post and decolonial actions. Of particular importance is therefore a reflection on the material dimension, deeply intertwined with the symbolic one