{"id":671,"date":"2019-02-09T16:21:36","date_gmt":"2019-02-09T15:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.convivialthinking.org\/?p=671"},"modified":"2019-04-26T14:38:18","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T12:38:18","slug":"how-do-we-know-the-world-series-part-vi-thinking-with-and-not-about-the-global-south-challenging-eurocentrism-in-social-science-research-and-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/convivialthinking.org\/index.php\/2019\/02\/09\/how-do-we-know-the-world-series-part-vi-thinking-with-and-not-about-the-global-south-challenging-eurocentrism-in-social-science-research-and-teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"[How Do We Know The World Series] Thinking with and not about the Global South \u2013 Challenging Eurocentrism in Social Science Research and Teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sebastian M. Garbe<\/em><\/p>\n

As a result of political and intellectual efforts, post- and decolonial critiques have become more and more prominent during the last decades, but to counter Eurocentrism within the Social Sciences is still a big challenge. In this contribution, I would like to share some attempts of how I have been dealing with this challenge in my own research and teaching. Both experiences share the idea to decentralize and decolonize the own local context (the city of Giessen on the one, and the European solidarity movement, on the other hand) by confronting it with the history and present of (post)colonial entanglement as well as \u201cepistemologies of the South\u201d (Sousa Santos 2009).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Decolonizing Giessen through post- and decolonial thinking<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since 2013 I am a Research Assistant at the Institute of Sociology at the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen. As a member of the chair in General Sociology of Encarnaci\u00f3n Guti\u00e9rrez Rodr\u00edguez, I teach undergraduate courses for BA students in the \u201cSocial Sciences\u201d. The general aim of this course is to address and reflect on postcolonial issues and power imbalances on socio-political, cultural and epistemological levels. As part of the introductory module to sociological thinking, critiques of Eurocentrism from outside Europe are counter-posed to the orthodox canon of sociological theory, used to fill its Eurocentric gaps and contribute to decolonizing their underlying colonial epistemes.<\/p>\n

With these courses I aim to critically engage with parts of the German cultural memory that ignore the specific German history of racism and coloniality.\u00a0 This (post-)colonial amnesia is not only reproduced in German school education but also within German academic contexts and institutions. Through this amnesia, colonial history and the postcolonial present are perceived as something geographically and timely distant, which is not deemed to affect the socio-cultural positionality of white Germans. (Conrad and Randeria 2013; Zimmerer 2013) Another challenge in introducing post- and decolonial perspectives, is their level of academic abstraction combined with a problematic distance from historical and contemporary socio-cultural and political struggles (Guti\u00e9rrez Rodr\u00edguez 2016; Rivera Cuscanqui 2010). Post- and decolonial theories are thus sometimes perceived as expert knowledge and merely abstract innovations without being rooted in the everyday experiences of the students.<\/p>\n

These two phenomena pose specific challenges for teaching post- and decolonial perspectives in German academia. Inspired by my engagement within frankfurt postkolonial<\/em><\/a>[1]<\/a>, I chose a different approach for my seminar \u201cDecolonizing the Social Sciences\u201d in the winter term of 2016\/2017: the historical and theoretical engagement with post- and decolonial inquiries was combined with the implementation of a postcolonial city tour by posing post- and decolonial questions to the student\u2019s own context within Hess, Giessen and the Justus-Liebig University. Hereby the students managed to reinscribe their surroundings\u2019 history and present within a postcolonial context. At the end of the term, the students presented their research on two occasions as part of a public and interactive city tour through Giessen as well as through a project blog<\/a>. They hereby engaged not only with the local civil society, but also with local activist initiatives, such as the Initiative of Black People in Germany.<\/p>\n

The project giessen postkolonial<\/em> thus aims at localizing coloniality and racism within one\u2019s own socio-political context, dehistoricizes the colonial as something from the past, and finally contextualizes and situates the \u201cself\u201d within the (post-)colonial matrix by unveiling and challenging its privileged gaze (Matz, Knake, and Garbe 2017).<\/p>\n

Decolonizing solidarity through critical Mapuche thinking<\/strong> <\/u><\/p>\n

As part of my PhD thesis I am currently investigating contemporary expressions of solidarity in Europe with the struggle of the indigenous Mapuche in Wallmapu<\/em>, today\u2019s Chile.<\/p>\n

Solidarity movements in the Global North with socio-political struggles in the Global South have been mostly interpreted as part of transnational social movements, where certain agendas become internationalized (Keck and Sikkink 1998) or internationalist and political commitments between heterogenous groups are forged (Featherstone 2012). But theoretical tools from social movements sometimes also reproduce Eurocentric assumptions of modern social sciences (Guti\u00e9rrez Rodr\u00edguez, Boatc\u0103, and Costa 2016; Lander 2005) about cultural difference (Bhabha 2010) or historical progression (Chakrabarty 2000). While dealing with othered <\/em>social groups, like indigenous peoples, social movement theories privilege models that diffuse from the Global North to the Global South, situate agency within the West and among Westernized populations, homogenize a movement\u2019s social composition and political ideology and miss out on the agency and influence of \u201cThird World\u201d actors or People of Color in general (Land 2015; Mahrouse 2014; Slobodian 2012).<\/p>\n

These decolonial critiques of social and solidarity movements challenge to look for different ways to grasp the expressions and relations of solidarity formed in my case study. Inspired by the idea of an \u201cecology of knowledges\u201d (Sousa Santos 2009:160\u2013209), I propose to work with Mapuche social and political thinking to understand the transnational solidarity efforts with their struggle. I hereby relate to ideas of autonomy that reverberate in Mapuche history and contemporary struggles in order to understand the transnational solidarity with the Mapuche today. Ideas of autonomy not only appear constantly in the historical experience of the struggle of the Mapuche against the Spanish Crown and the Chilean state but are also discussed in contemporary critical Mapuche thinking (Antileo Baeza et al. 2015; Marim\u00e1n 2012; Marim\u00e1n et al. 2006; Nahuelpan Moreno et al. 2013).<\/p>\n

In this way, I aim to understand the transnational solidarity efforts by Mapuche and non-Mapuche by departing from a specific notion of autonomy, that originates from the historical experience and contemporary critical thinking of the Mapuche by engaging with its critical, decolonial, epistemic potential.<\/p>\n

Sebastian Garbe is a research assistant and PhD student at the faculty of social and cultural sciences at the Justus-Liebig-Universit\u00e4t Giessen. His research interests are the relationships and connectedness of Latin America\/the Caribbean and Europe, post- and decolonial theory, global history, critical epistemology with a focus on sociology and anthropology as well as social and protest movements, especially indigenous movements, internationalism and global solidarities. He is also active in the political-pedagogical project frankfurt postkolonial. Sebastian is happy to be contacted at sgar[at]sowi[dot]jlug[dot]de<\/em><\/p>\n

References<\/u><\/p>\n

Antileo Baeza, Enrique, Luis C\u00e1rcamo-Huechante, Margarita Calf\u00edo-Montalva, and Herson Huinca-Piutrin. 2015. Aw\u00fckan Ka Kuxankan Zugu Wajmapu Mew – Violencias Coloniales En Wajmapu<\/em>. edited by Comunidad de Historia Mapuche. Temuco: Comunidad de Historia Mapuche Ediciones.<\/p>\n

Bhabha, Homi K. 2010. The Location of Culture<\/em>. 2. London and New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n

Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2000. Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference<\/em>. Princeton [u.a.]: Princeton Univ. Press.<\/p>\n

Conrad, Sebastian, and Shalini Randeria, eds. 2013. Jenseits Des Eurozentrismus\u202f: Postkoloniale Perspektiven in Den Geschichts- Und Kulturwissenschaften<\/em>. 2.,\u00a0 A. Frankfurt [u.a.]: Campus-Verl.<\/p>\n

Featherstone, D. 2012. Solidarity: Hidden Histories and Geographies of Internationalism<\/em>. London: Zed Books.<\/p>\n

Guti\u00e9rrez Rodr\u00edguez, Encarnaci\u00f3n. 2016. \u201cDecolonizing Postcolonial Rhetoric.\u201d Pp. 49\u201370 in Decolonizing European Sociology. Transdisciplinary Approaches<\/em>, edited by Encarnaci\u00f3n Guti\u00e9rrez Rodr\u00edguez, Manuela Boatc\u0103, and S\u00e9rgio Costa. London and New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n

Guti\u00e9rrez Rodr\u00edguez, Encarnaci\u00f3n, Manuela Boatc\u0103, and S\u00e9rgio Costa. 2016. Decolonizing European Sociology. Transdisciplinary Approaches<\/em>. 2nd ed. edited by Encarnaci\u00f3n Guti\u00e9rrez Rodr\u00edguez, Manuela Boatc\u0103, and S\u00e9rgio Costa. London and New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n

Keck, Margaret E., and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. Activist Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics<\/em>. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.<\/p>\n

Land, Clare. 2015. Decolonizing Solidarity: Dilemmas and Directions for Supporters of Indigenous Struggles<\/em>. London: Zed Books.<\/p>\n

Lander, Edgardo, ed. 2005. La Colonialidad Del Saber: Eurocentrismo y Ciencias Sociales<\/em>. Buenos Aires: CLACSO.<\/p>\n

Mahrouse, Gada. 2014. Conflicted Commitments – Race, Privilege, and Power in Transnational Solidarity Activism<\/em>. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen\u2019s University Press.<\/p>\n

Marim\u00e1n, Jos\u00e9 A. 2012. Autodeterminaci\u00f3n: Ideas Pol\u00edticas Mapuche En El Albor Del Siglo XIX<\/em>. Santiago de Chile: LOM.<\/p>\n

Marim\u00e1n, Pablo, Sergio Caniuqueo, Jos\u00e9 Millal\u00e9n, and Rodrigo Levil. 2006. \u00a1…Escucha, Winka…!! Cuatro Ensayos de Historia Nacional Mapuche y Un Ep\u00edlogo Sobre El Futuro<\/em>. Santiago de Chile: LOM.<\/p>\n

Matz, Eugenia, Sebastian Knake, and Sebastian Garbe. 2017. \u201c\u00bbGibt\u2019s Das Auch in Postkolonial?\u00ab\u202fGlobales Lernen Vor Dem Hintergrund Postkolonialer Kritik”.\u201d Pp. 91\u2013109 in Mit Bildung die Welt ver\u00e4ndern? Globales Lernen f\u00fcr eine nachhaltige Entwicklung<\/em>, edited by Oliver Emde, Uwe Jakubczyk, Bernd Kappes, and Bernd Overwien. Leverkusen: Verlag Barbara Budrich.<\/p>\n

Nahuelpan Moreno, H\u00e9ctor et al. 2013. Ta I\u00f1 Fijke Xipa Rakizuameluw\u00fcn – Historia, Colonialismo y Resistencia Desde El Pa\u00eds Mapuche<\/em>. 2nd ed. edited by Comunidad de Historia Mapuche. Temuco: Comunidad de Historia Mapuche Ediciones.<\/p>\n

Rivera Cuscanqui, Silvia. 2010. Ch\u2019ixinakax Utxiwa: Una Re Exio\u0301n Sobre Pra\u0301cticas y Discursos Descolonizadores<\/em>. Buenos Aires: Tinta Lim\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

Slobodian, Quinn. 2012. Foreign Front\u202f: Third World Politics in Sixties West Germany<\/em>. Durham [u.a.]: Duke Univ. Press.<\/p>\n

Sousa Santos, Boaventura de. 2009. Una Epistemolog\u00eda Del Sur<\/em>. Mexico City: CLACSO\/Siglo XXI.<\/p>\n

Zimmerer, J\u00fcrgen. 2013. Kein Platz an Der Sonne: Erinnerungsorte Der Deutschen Kolonialgeschichte<\/em>. edited by J\u00fcrgen Zimmerer. Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verl.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Since 2015, within this political-pedagogical project we offer postcolonial city tours through Frankfurt and engage with other actors and collectives in debates about postcolonial continuities and memory politics in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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