Decolonization, Africanization and pluriversalization.: - Exploring coloniality and decolonization through insights from the Americas, Europe and Africa.

Activity: Talk or presentation › Lecture and oral contribution

Description

The point of inception of this paper is Lewis Gordon’s definition of decolonization as taking responsibility for thought and ideas and as articulating the (socio-historical) condition that makes you what you are. What does it mean to take responsibility for thought and ideas? And how do we articulate the condition that makes us what we are in a world where de-articulation -presented as articulation- has been part of the colonial endeavour and, as such, articulation in itself can be as deceiving and epistemicidal as the colonial project itself? The paper engages in a discussion that takes into account the socio-historical experiences and the intellectual contributions coming from African critical thinking, Latin American mestizo critical thinking (the author’s own tradition – the decolonial perspective), and the emerging critical thinking on the decolonization of Europe. It first presents the basic outlines of ‘decolonial historical realism’, a method of inquiry necessary to employ when articulating the conditions that have made us who and what we are. Second, it presents a reading of Europe that de-centers Europe’s own colonial frameworks of understanding. Third, it discusses the case of Latin America, highlighting how the Mestizos have been shaped through coloniality, and the pitfalls that we face in relation to current processes of decolonization. Fourth, the paper engages the discussions on Africanization, drawing parallels to the former sections. The paper closes highlighting the material dimension as being crucial both to decolonization and to pluriversalization at least in two levels; the economic-political level illustrated through the issue of reparations, and the epistemic level exemplified through current efforts worldwide to decolonize the curriculum. In overall terms, the paper simply underlines the importance of engaging in south-south discussions and activities, whereby we can continue opening paths towards pluriversality.
Period1 Oct 2015
Event titleKnowledge and Change in the African Universities
Event typeSeminar
LocationJohannesburg, South AfricaShow on map

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