From July 1-5, I took classes on decolonizing knowledge and power in Barcelona. The lectures were taught by amazing faculty Ramón Grosfoguel, Linda Alcoff, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and Nelson Maldonado-Torres, and took place from 9am to 6:30pm, with a workshop/open discussion until 7:30pm.
It was the prime environment for pursuing intellectual curiosity and discovering what exactly I want to be more curious about. For instance, there were conversations about navigating how universalist and localized approaches, in tandem, can create, not justice-monism, but justice-enhancement in the world. I also learned about the importance of contextualizing patriarchy, colonialism, and more to combat the false universalisms of Western Enlightenment philosophy and Western models used to perpetuate and justify imperialism and control. We can see manifestations of this in the neoliberal and militarist interventions of missionary feminism—ex: feminists’ support of the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. (I recommend Decolonizing Universalism: A Transnational Feminist Ethic by Serene Khader.)
There was so much to take in: the historical origins of being/nonbeing, the decolonial nature of praxis-centered collectives around the world, and critiques of Western epistemologies. I had never been in an educational space where intellectual norms (such as the fact that the predominant philosophers and thinkers revered in universities originate from the same five countries) and borders (literal borders of the nation-state) are challenged. The school is not tied to any government or university, which was reflected in the freedom we had in learning, questioning, and conversing.
Not to mention the friends I met throughout the week, who are doing research on knowledge and violence, guiding artists in Paris’ creative spaces, making and showing films about sexuality in Berlin. There was not a copy-and-paste idea of who would be interested in decolonizing. People came from academia, arts, and activism, or all. Even after classes were done for the day, I would have dinner and stroll around Plaça del Sol with friends, continuing these same discussions until nearly midnight.
Please check out Diagolo Global’s website for more information about the classes they offer, and various ways of educating yourself in a collaborative environment outside of the Institution.
