Decolonizing Anthropology with Shalini Randeria
This week Shalini Randeria (Central European University, Wien) will lead the discussion of the joint online lecture series: "Decolonizing Anthropology: A Self-Critical Assessment of the Current State of Research and Teaching”. With this lecture the second half of that lecture series will come to an end.
In the previous semester (WiSe 22/23) the lecture series focused on examining the current state of different institutes. The sessions explored how colonial perspectives are intertwined with institutions and particular approaches to research and thinking were discussed and critiqued. Through this exchange and collective learning, the lecture series addressed how to decolonize the discipline and how to develop new methods for a more open collegial exchange.
This semester will take a more systematic approach and host scholars who are at the forefront of the decolonizing debate. They will share new approaches that developed through the self-critical engagement with problematic practices. The first set of sessions will focus on the lessons to be learned from anthropology’s disciplinary history. Which issues continue to affect the discipline and which critiques can help as the discipline moves forward and assist in avoiding prevalent traps.
In the second part of the lecture series different regions and concrete examples of research activities will be in the spotlight. As presenters give insight into methods, they are developing to foster more democratic exchanges and create inclusive knowledge worlds.
The theoretical underpinnings that question the foundational epistemologies at the core of Anthropology will be central to the third and last part of sessions. How have these evolved over time, and what would it take to decolonize not only our approaches and methods, but also the conceptual apparatus that organizes our discipline? As this discussion will confront the possible limits of decolonization, the limitations themselves will be discussed. An outlook into a possible future, that will preserve the awareness that the past cannot be undone while acknowledging its lingering presence, will be discussed. The lecture series will close by returning to the question of the discipline and asking how thinking anthropology in the plural might open new spaces for institutional development and continuous learning.
The detailed program for this semester as well as further information and additional literature can be found on the accompanying boasblog. To register for the series please follow this link.
Coordination team of the lecture series:
Anna Lisa Ramella (Lüneburg), Ursula Rao (MPI Halle), Martin Zillinger (Cologne), Michi Knecht (Bremen), Amelie Greefe (Bremen), Sarah Nawratil (Halle) & Hannah M. Reupert (Bremen)