The Decolonial Summer School

In 2010 the inaugural Decolonial summer school took place at the University College Roosevelt (University of Utrecht) in cooperation with the Centre for Global Studies and the Humanities at Duke University. Opening the university to life’s diversity and other knowledges, Walter Mignolo and Rolando Vázquez bring together students, activists, scholars, and artists in the academic setting. Addressing the danger of the single story in the Modern/Colonial world order, the course invites participants to learn about the decolonial option. Participants and lecturers collectively explore creative alternatives to global (un)justice by critically engaging local histories to challenge global designs. Situating ourselves in the town of Middelburg, we discuss global social justice, connecting at the legacy of European slave trade and the Jewish holocaust. The question becomes how to make visible the pluriversality of experiences subsumed under the hegemonic design of the modern/colonial world order. We speak of ethics and tolerance while learning to listen and engage with one another with respect.

Faculty

Portrait of Hira inside a softly lit setting with a striped, collared shirt and glasses
Sandew Hira (Dew Baboeram), Director, International Institute for Scientific Research (IISR), Netherlands.
black and white portrait of dancer with long curly hair looking off camera
Fabián Barba, Artist and Performer
Black and white portrait of scholar in a collared shirt, a cardigan, long hair and glasses smiling
Gurminder K Bhambra, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Social Theory Centre, University of Warwick.
Broeck stands at a podium with a blackboard in the background. She has a water bottle on the podium, some papers, and there is a large macintosh screen to her left.
Sabine Broeck, Professor of American Studies, University of Bremen
Portrait of black scholar Artwell Cain smiling in front of a painting
Artwell Cain, Director, Institute for Cultural Heritage and Knowledge
Portrait of Captain in a magenta shirt and a black blazer with long black hair
Dr. Esther Captain, Historian and Director of Research, National Committee for the Remembrance of WWII; Associated researcher, The National Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies
 
Jean Casimir, Faculty des Sciences Humaines, Université d’État d’Haïti (UEH)
Black and white portrait of the black female artist jeanette ehlers with her long dread locs in a high ponytail looking at the camera at an angle and a high turtleneck sweater
Jeannette Ehlers, Artist
Portrait of the artist looking upward with a white background
Quinsy Gario, Cultural critic Member, Pan African Artist Collective State of L3
Portrait of Gomez against a black background, she looks directly at the camera with long brown hair and gold hoop earrings
Macarena Gómez-Barris, Associate Professor of American Studies & Ethnicity and Sociology, University of Southern California
Portrait of a the black scholar Lewis Gordon with a grey and white beard, long dread locs, a black blazer over a black knit sweater and a black collared button-down shirt. He stands against the background of a green magnolia tree.
Lewis Gordon, Professor of Philosophy and African American Studies, The University of Connecticut
Black and white portrait of Icaza looking at the camera with curly hair, glasses, and a necklace
Rosalba Icaza, Senior lecturer, Institute for Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Black female artist Patricia Kaersenhoot stands in a gallery wearing a blue shirt with her long dread locs
Patricia Kaersenhout, Artist
Portrait of the curator in a Purple, blue, and white printed dress, pearl earrings, with a wire necklace and short cropped hair.
Alanna Lockward, Author, Critic, Independent curator, Founding director, Art Labour Archives
Maria Lugones with a pair of brown-rimmed glasses on, in the middle of speaking. She had short cropped hair.
Maria Lugones, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Philosophy, Interpretation, and Culture and of Philosophy and Women’s Studies, Binghamton University in New York.
A black and white CGSH Director walter mignolo in a black leather jacket looking at the camera.
Walter D. Mignolo, Co-organizer, Decolonial Summer Course in Middelburg; William H. Wannamaker Professor Literature and Romance Studies, Duke University
Black and white photograph of the black artist with a jean jacket and a dark knit beanie hat
Patrice Naiambana, Artist, Sierra Leone
Portrait of black scholar Robbie shilliam with dread locs and a beard
Robbie Shilliam, Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Queen Mary University of London; Co-convener, British International Studies Association’s Colonial/Postcolonial/Decolonial working group; Member, International Advisory Board of the Transnational Decolonial Institute; Advisor, Rastafari Global Council
Portrait of Slabodsky looking at the camera in a dark shirt and smiling
Santiago Slabodsky, Assistant Professor of Ethics of Globalization, Claremont School of Theology
Portrait of the philosopher Ovidiu Tichindeleanu in a grey collared shirt, in the midst of talking; there are books in the background
Ovidiu Tichindeleanu, Philosopher and Cultural Theorist
Maria Tlostanova sits in a grey suit jacket and a brown shell necklace with short curly hair and glasses. She looks to her right.
Madina Tlostanova, Critical culture theorist, Professor of philosophy, Russian Presidential Academy of national Economy and Public Administration
Black and white photograph of Rolando Vazquez. With a short beard and a dark shirt, he looks straight at the camera and smiles.
Rolando Vázquez, Co-organizer, The Decolonial Summer School; Assistant professor of Sociology, University College Roosevelt of Utrecht University