Launch of Charles Xuereb’s book:

x p r e s s i n g h i s o p i n i o n o n C h a r l e s X u e r e b ’s s o c i o - h i s t o r i c a l v o l u m e D ec o l o n i s i n g t h e M a l t e s e m i n d , i n s e a rc h o f i d e n t i t y

Baldacchino believed that Xuereb’s treatise was ‘monumental’ with an intended pun on the researcher ’s criticism of colonial monuments in Valletta

Two other academics, Dr Charmaine Bonello, researcher on early childhood education and Director of Culture in the Ministry for National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government Aleks Farrugia, journalist and historian addressed the audience.

The launch was presided over by the University Rector, Prof Alfred Vella

A colonial perspective

Farrugia said that many Maltese learnt their history through a colonial perspective For older citizens colonialism was a tangible experience; present-day generations absorb colonialism in a subliminal manner Does colonialism still exert a perpetuating effect?

Farrugia compared Xuereb’s approach to that of Giordano Bruno Guerri who contends that colonial domination and the influential Catholic Church made Italians, who disregard absolutist values such as freedom and heroism and prioritise personal well-being and the family’s needs

A parallel with the Maltese character is quite evident The Maltese were accustomed to serve They continuously strived to survive with the least of sacrifices. The speaker felt that this servant mind-set is still prevalent

Dr Bonello compared colonialism to a double-edged knife: some advantages gained but disadvantages linger on even after independence

Bonello noted that 12 per cent of countries in the world – all former colonies – start at its launch at San Anton Palace recently, Professor Godfrey Baldacchino said, “The publishing of a book of research should not mark the end of a project, but rather the beginning ” He was commending the author on stimulating a national debateA ‘monumental’ study on Malta’s decolonisation formal children’s education at five In Europe three countries, including Malta, the UK and the Netherlands do the same Research shows that since the 19th century, five year-olds were not provoked into critical thinking

Bonello agreed with Xuereb that colonial mentality increases inequity

Malta, 10th smallest in the world

Prof Baldacchino stated that countries have more than one narrative, evolving and taking different shades – social, economic and political

History is a construction process of a narrative At times particular narratives, depending on the power of the source, emerge as the strongest, as is the case with local voices lauding the British legacy

Analysing colonialism in Malta, the 10th smallest country in the world, one finds that the British did not come to exploit the Island or the Islanders They surmised that the archipelago could serve as a fortress base They forged an alliance with the Catholic Church and induced the people to be loyal to the Crown Baldacchino spoke of reactions to powerlessness, like loyalty and resistance. In Malta’s colonial history, resistance is quite rare: violent protests in 1919 and in 1958

The Maltese preferred to just grumble

Charles Xuereb’s book, which includes 130 photos – some never published before – asserts that the Maltese are still suffering from a ‘historical malady’ through which they are persevering a colonial mentality, even after almost 60 years of Independence. Already a best-seller on the Island, Decolonising the Maltese mind, in search of identity, follows another of Xuereb’s provoking deliberations on a crucial period of Malta’s history, the French 1798-1800 events

In 2014 the University of Malta had published France in the Maltese Collective Memory, Perceptions, Perspectives, Identities after Bonaparte in British Malta, now in its third edition and an e-book. Decolonising the mind is available at https://www midseabooks com/shop/history/decolonising-the-maltese-mind-insearch-of-identity/