Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, December 2011, 37 – Supplement, 157-170 Postcolonial missiology in the face of empire: in dialogue with Frantz Fanon and Steve Bantu Biko Reginald Nel Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa Abstract The challenges of neo-colonialism challenge academics and clergy alike to search for an alternative to what the Accra Con- fession declares as empire. For the Accra Confession, empire means the specific coming together of economic, cultural, poli- tical and military imperial power as a “system of dominance” to protect the interest of the powerful. The question is whether Missiology, given her colonial history and official collusion to imperialism, still has a role to play in the context of over- coming imperialism, today. I argue that the future of a post- colonial Missiology, in the face of empire, depends on a cross- cutting dialogue with interlocutors, who engage this legacy head on. Has the critique from African anti-colonial thinkers been engaged in the development of a postcolonial Missiology for our time? Here I highlight the challenge of two younger voices, namely Steve Bantu Biko and Frantz Fanon, in parti- cular in the publications, ‘I write what I like’ and ‘The Wretched of the Earth’, respectively, as they engage colo- nialism and imperialism, but more so, as they influenced South African Black Theology. This I argue is an overdue dialogue, in our ongoing quest for developing a truly postcolonial Missiology. Introduction: an ongoing struggle I am haunted by stories of young men, single mothers, breadwinners of families, who, like so many others, have lost their jobs. LenkaBula shares the testimony of “Rosemary, the tailor”: My name is Rosemary van Dyk. I am a woman of mixed descent, known in South Africa as Cape Coloured. I worked in a clothing textile company for nine years, but the company was closed down because it could not compete with the interna-