Initiatives
Webinar Series - "Decolonization & Postimperialism" with Gustavo Lins Ribeiro
SEPHIS organizes the first session of its Webinar Series "Emerging Critiques from the South"
Decolonization and Postimperialism (with a special focus on Latin America and anthropology).
Gustavo Lins Ribeiro (UAM, Mexico)
Abstract:
Colonialism and imperialism are two sides of ancient historical processes of demographic, economic, political and cultural expansions. They were boosted by the development of the capitalist world system after its beginning in the 16th century. In consequence, what is today called the Americas became a huge settler colony, colonized by Spanish, Portuguese, English and French invaders. Native resistance to the colonial enterprise has been common ever since and has included armed conflicts as well as discursive formulations from indigenous intellectuals and political leaders. Decolonization is supposed to mean the end of colonialism with the advent of political independence. However, powerful colonial structures keep on affecting postcolonial life. I will explore a few Latin American efforts to decolonize knowledge and politics, such as the coloniality of power, the Buen Vivir/Vivir Bien, and the comunalidad theoretical framework. I will also explore the need to further decolonize anthropological thought, a discipline that has grown out of the conflictive contact areas created by modern colonialism/imperialism. I will finish by introducing the notion of postimperialism as a utopian heuristic meant to destabilize the colonialism/imperialism pair.
About the speaker:
Full Professor of the Department of Cultural Studies, Autonomous Metropolitan University – Lerma, Mexico) and National Researcher level 3 of the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology. He is Professor Emeritus of the University of Brasilia. He was a visiting professor in Argentina, Colombia, France, South Africa and the USA. His fields of research include topics such as development, international migration, internet, globalization, transnationalism and world anthropologies. He has written and edited 23 books, and more than 170 articles and chapters in seven languages. His last book is “Otras Globalizaciones” (2018). He was a member of the Advisory Council of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (New York); the president of the Brazilian Association of Anthropology (ABA) and of the Brazilian Association of Research and Graduate Programs in the Social Sciences (ANPOCS); the founder and first chair of the World Council of Anthropological Associations (WCAA). He was vice-president of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) and is its Honorary Member. He received the 2021 Franz Boas Award for Exemplary Service to Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association.
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About the SEPHIS Webinar Series – Emerging Critiques from the South
This series of webinars titled Emerging critiques from the South invite scholars from the South and|or engaged with a Southern Attitude (Ferreira & Pinheiro, 2020) to share ideas that are not conformed to what has now become canonical, hollow versions of the decolonial critique. One the one hand, we acknowledge the fundamental importance of the decolonial critique, given its history and contributions to the recognition of Southern academias; on the other hand, we believe that emerging perspectives are beginning to take form in order to overcome the current predicament in which scholars critique of coloniality of power and knowledge find themselves. With this webinar series, SEPHIS wants to carry out its historical role of being a platform for bringing together people investing in emerging and innovative ideas aimed at the promotion of real equality through science. The webinar format seeks to privilege conversation between one or more invited scholars with SEPHIS fellows and friends.