In this workshop we will discuss the relation between intercultural philosophy and post-colonial / de-colonial theory. The first day will be devoted to African perspectives – the second day the focus is on theories from Latin-America.

Friday, 28 February 2020 (9 a.m. to 7 p.m.)

Central in this part of the workshop devoted to African perspectives is the close reading and discussion of Felwine Sarr’s book “Afrotopia” and a text written by Mbembe (On the Postcolony: Preface and Introduction to the second edition). Additionally, two invited scholars will present papers on the topic. The combination of paper presentations and the close reading of key texts will give firm ground for in-depth discussion of the topic and exchange of views.
To these presentations readings and discussions all interested scholars, regular students and PhD students are invited to participate. For those interested in participation we advice to read Sarr’s and Mbembe’s texts in advance. The texts will be made available to those who register for the workshop (for registration, see below). Participation in the workshop is also open to those generally interested in the topic without preparation or knowledge of the texts.

Paper presentations:

Renate Schepen (Amsterdam): Between Islands and Lagoons, Imagining the Planetary

Babacar Mbaye Diop (Dakar): African art and the postcolonial question

Angela Roothaan (Amsterdam): discussant

Saturday, 29 February 2020 (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.)

The de-colonial discourse in Latin-America stands in a long tradition of the “filosofia americana” that dates back to the mid-19th century. Post-colonial theory is thus part of a long history that finds a first impressive culmination point in the 1970s in the so-called philosophy of liberation. On the one hand the de- and post-colonial theories are closely related with these liberation discourses, while on the other hand they develop a powerful critique of essentialist depictions of Latin-America and of fundamental eurocentric aspects oft he liberation discourses from the perspective of poststructural thought (Santiago Castro-Gomez; Walter Mignolo, Anibal Quijano).

Paper presentation:

Rolando Vázquez (Utrecht): The fundaments of decolonial thought and the challenge of interculturality

Response papers:

Marcela Torres Heredia & Gregor Seidl (Vienna): Territorial Coloniality“: an ontological concept to enhance the visibility of multidimensional structures of colonial continuities and processes of decolonization in space and time

Hans Schelkshorn (Vienna): The image of “Europe” in decolonial discourses in Latin AmerIca