Conversation « Decolonizing Decoloniality » with Peggy Levitt — Vendredi 10 juin 2022, 9h-13h, Campus Condorcet, Aubervilliers

Presen­ta­tion

Across the world, calls for greater equity in the halls of academia, museums, and publi­shing houses are loud and clear. They demand more “diver­sity” and “inclu­sion,” or that the univer­sity should be “globa­lized,” “deco­lo­nized,” or “decen­tered.” Why, then, if everyone agrees that busi­ness as usual is no longer acceptable—and that a wider range of voices needs to be heard—is change so slow ? How is it that progres­sive insti­tu­tions created as the solu­tion are now part of the problem ?

One issues is that what it actually means to deco­lo­nize or decenter, and what that is meant to accom­plish, varies in different parts of the world. We have to empi­ri­cally examine rather than assume what kinds of intel­lec­tual and insti­tu­tional changes are being called for and what they amount to. During my time at the ICM, I am inter­ested in lear­ning more about how these discus­sions are playing out in France and in the Fran­co­phone world more gene­rally. I am inter­ested in how the globa­li­za­tion and neo-libe­ra­li­za­tion of higher educa­tion drives forward and limits change. Who is behind efforts to deco­lo­nize the curri­culum, what are they asking for, and whose inter­ests do they serve ? How does what is happe­ning in France affect what is happe­ning in France’s former colo­nies ? What is the rela­tion­ship, if any, between discus­sions about “globa­li­zing” educa­tion and diver­si­fying the national curri­culum to reflect France’s chan­ging demography ?

A second place to explore these ques­tions is by looking at cultural insti­tu­tions. The “offi­cial” aspects of economic and poli­tical colo­nia­lism have ended, although their afte­ref­fects are still alive and well, espe­cially in the cultural sector. We see this in former colo­nial powers’ refusal to repa­triate or pay resti­tu­tion for the cultural patri­mony they still hold from their former subjects and are only now reluc­tantly, and pains­ta­kingly slowly, giving back. What is the diffe­rence between how France approaches these issues in compa­rison to other former Euro­pean powers ? What is going on when prominent looted objects, like the Elgin Marbles or the Benin Bronzes, become part of the national culture of the coun­tries that now hold them ? What does that tell us about the current unders­tan­ding of the nation and its place in the world ?

We hope to meet for an informal conver­sa­tion about these and other issues as a first step toward iden­ti­fying common inter­ests that might lead to colla­bo­ra­tions in the future.

Loca­tion : Salle 2.023, Bâti­ment Recherche Sud, Campus Condorcet, Aubervilliers