Coloniality, Slavery and the Holocaust: Introducing the Decolonial Option' is a pioneering course in the social sciences and the humanities. The events of slavery and the holocaust illuminate the geopolitical sources of decolonial thinking in the Global South and critical thought in the Global North. The course builds a dialogue between these currents of thought, and introduces the decolonial option as a path towards global justice.
We will evaluate the potentials of the decolonial option in relation to coexisting options. The seminar brings together notions such as disposable life in the economic domain and bare life from the political domain. The first comes from decolonial tinking while the second from critical thought. The course benefits from the local history of Middelburg, a city that was central in the Dutch history of Slavery and that suffered great destruction during the 'Second World War'. The course will also explore the relations between museums and the coloniality of representation and memory by analyzing museums such as the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (http://www.ushmm.org/) and International Slavery Museum at Liverpool (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/).What to expect?
The course begins by inviting students to identify in the local-historical legacy the sources of the traditions of thought that will be studied: on the one hand, the source of critical thought in connection with the experience of the 'Second World War', and on the other hand, the source of contemporary decolonial thinking in the experience of slavery and coloniality. Then the course gets immersed into the key critical debates around modernity and coloniality. Finally, the students will reflect on current issues of global justice that might include: global capitalism, race, gender, nature, knowledge and aesthetics. Students are expected to have done some preparatory reading before the start of the course.
Period
04-07-2011 - 19-07-2011 (3 weeks)
Target group
The course is open for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. Since the course is concerned with contemporary critical and decolonial debates around global justice and issues such as global capitalism, race, gender, nature, knowledge and aesthetics some general interest in those areas will be welcome. Participants will be selected on the basis of a) an application letter describing their motivation and areas of interest, and b) proof of writing skills, e.g. an existing essay or article.
Course aim
The participants will: 1) get acquainted with the major debates in critical and decolonial thinking, 2) understand the decolonial option in light of the synergies and divergences between 'global north' and 'global south' perspectives, 3) reflect on key issues of global justice, 4) learn to situate knowledge in relation to local and global histories and 5) develop their ability to produce critical and committed research in the Social Sciences and the Humanities.
Credits
0.0 ECTS credits
Course fee
EUR 800. Course + course materials + housing
Course leader
Dr Rolando Vzquez
Roosevelt Academy
Address: Lange Noordstraat 1
Postal code: 4331 CB
City: Middelburg
Country: Netherlands
Website: http://www.roac.nl/roac/summerschool.phtml
E-mail: KTC@roac.nl
Phone: +31118655500
Coloniality, Slavery and the Holocaust: Introducing the Decolonial Option
