# The Outsider Within. Anticolonial Critiques of Humanity and the Cosmopolitan Vision

## TL;DR

This paper explores how anticolonial thinkers challenged the idea of a universal humanity to fight colonialism and promote anti-racism.

## Contribution

It introduces the 'outsider within' concept to rethink knowledge production in racially structured societies.

## Key findings

- Anticolonial thinkers exposed the racial stratification in the concept of universal humanity.
- The 'outsider within' perspective offers a way to develop a more inclusive cosmopolitan vision.
- This approach encourages integrating diverse perspectives into sociological discourse.

## Abstract

This article re‐examines the anticolonial critique of the concept of ‘humanity’. It uses the example of Leopold Senghor to show the extent to which this critique is shaped by their sociological marginality. Drawing on Georg Simmel's discussion of the ‘stranger’ and Patricia Hill Collins's discussion of the ‘outsider within’, the study rethinks the production of knowledge in racially structured societies. As ‘outsiders within’ colonial empires, anticolonial thinkers from the 1930s to the 1960s challenge the idea of a universal humanity used to justify colonialism and expose its racial stratification. Their critique helps to end colonial domination and develop a more robust conception of common humanity, aligned with a genuine cosmopolitanism that resists exploitative manipulation and promotes anti‐racist agendas. By exploring the critical potential of the figure of the stranger or outsider within, this study invites sociologists to integrate diverse perspectives into sociological discourse and to promote a cosmopolitan epistemology that combines particular and universal insights.