Democratic Innovations and the Coloniality of Affects

Recently, there has been increasing calls to centre lived experiences in democratic innovations, away from expert and abstract discourse (Elstub and Escobar 2019; Holdo and Khoban 2025; Richardson, Durose, & Perry, 2019; Smith 2009). This is important, if democratic innovations are to be truly guided by the ideals of equality and inclusion. For pluralistic societies, especially postcolonial and settler-colonial contexts, this means holding space for continuing experiences exclusion and marginalisation without shying away from discourses of coloniality. In this paper, I survey some recent attempts to decolonize deliberative democratic theory and engage with non-Western feminist thinkers and examples, particularly the Philippine postcolonial context. I take seriously the field’s continuing preoccupation with Western political thought despite concerns of its entanglements with colonial logics (Banerjee 2021; Mendonca and Asenbaum 2025; Slaviero 2025) and reticence toward engaging with political economy (Fraser, Bua and Vlahos 2024). I suggest a reconstructive agenda for deliberative democratic innovations, one that innovates and reanimates indigenous concepts and traditions. In doing this, I take inspiration from Breny Mendoza’s Latin American feminist critique of the coloniality of democracy, and offer an intersectional critique of the coloniality of affect. I draw from a new generation of Filipina intersectional feminist thinkers engaged in the philosophical and political work of analysing Filipino concepts in a way that responds to contemporary socio-political realities. Foremost of these are Jacklyn Cleofas’ work on utang-na-loob (translated to English as debt of gratitude) and katarungan (justice), Darlene Demandante and Kelly Agra’s work on pakikiramdam (feeling for another), Danna Aduna’s work on the epistemology of wala (nothing), and Lovelyn Paclibar’s work on kwentuhan (narrative or story sharing) among others. To illustrate, I explore the Filipino concept of hiya (often translated as shame or embarrassment) and the ways in which it shapes contemporary democratic participation in the Philippines. As a way of feeling and relating with others, hiya is often construed negatively. When applied to democratic participation, marked by unequal power relations, increasing support for authoritarianism, deep histories of political dynasties, and disenfranchised citizens among others, I show that hiya can be a tool for further exclusion for the marginalised. The political import of hiya as a way of feeling and relating cannot be abstracted from the history of democracy in the Philippines as a “benevolent gift” from the Spanish and American colonial periods. But as “an active and sacrificial self-control of one’s individual wants for the sake of other people,” hiya can also be understood as virtue. It illuminates a person’s sense of connectedness and shared responsibility – always with others – whether in instances of pagtatalo (disagreements) or kwentuhan (narrative or story sharing). I conclude with a reflection of how examining the relationship of affects, colonialism and democratic participation might shift the terrain of theorising democratic innovations away from Eurocentrism, towards an inclusive orientation that is attentive to situated knowledges and lived experiences.