This reading group brings together works of the most prominent scholars working on post- and decolonial theories. We intend to go through some of the most influential readings that have set the boundaries of these fields, while also paying attention to “new” voices and perspectives. Through interdisciplinary readings, we want to promote critical reflections on how these theories relate to our own research and, more broadly, to universities and other spheres of power. In organizing this reading group, our goal is to offer a framework for understanding how these theories relate to other bodies of scholarship, and how they insert themselves in academia today - with its potentialities, and shortcomings. Ultimately, we aim at creating a community on campus dedicated to interdisciplinary decolonial studies, so that graduate students can have an additional space to bring these theoretical references into their research.

Organizers: Victoria Lopes Dos Santos and Lucas Prates.

All meetings are at 4:30 PM unless otherwise noted.

Meeting 1 (February 3):

Post- and Decoloniality: An introduction

Grosfoguel, R. 2007. “The Epistemic Decolonial Turn”, Cultural Studies, 21:2-3, 211-223.

Escobar, A. 2007. “Worlds And Knowledges Otherwise”, Cultural Studies, 21:2-3, 179-210.

Meeting 2 (February 23):

Decoloniality and interdisciplinarity: Indigenous perspectives

Visit of Professor Aparecida Vilaça (UFRJ/Museu Nacional, Brazil) and Ingrid Brioso Rieumont (PhD candidate at SPO, and Spanish translator of Paletó and Me). Event co-organized with the Brazil LAB.

Vilaça, A. 2021. Paletó and Me: Memories of My Indigenous Father. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

• Chapters 1 and 2 (‘Death without Cannibalism’, and ‘The Encounter’).

Meeting 3 (March 24):

Classic debates on post- and decolonial theories

Spivak, G. C. 2010 [1983]. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” In: Can the Subaltern Speak? Reflections on the History of an Idea, ed. by R. C. Morris, 237-291. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

Quijano, A. 2000. "Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America." Nepantla: Views from South, 1:3, 533-580.

Meeting 4 (April 28):

Renewed feminist takes in decolonial theory

Lugones, M. 2010. “Toward a Decolonial Feminism.” Hypatia, 25:4, 742-759.

Segato, R., & Monque, P. 2021. “Gender and Coloniality: From Low-Intensity Communal Patriarchy to High-Intensity Colonial-Modern Patriarchy.” Hypatia, 36:4, 781-799.

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If you would like to participate, or if you have any questions, please reach out to Lucas ([email protected]) or Victoria ([email protected]).