Back to selection
71156-01 - Seminar: Practicing Epistemic Disobedience (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2024 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Lucy Koechlin (lucy.koechlin@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Epistemic disobedience is both a theoretical concept as well as a rallying cry for meaningful decolonial politics of knowledge. As a concept, it was coined by Walter Mignolo’s “Epistemic Disobedience and the Decolonial Option: A Manifesto” (2011), building on pluri-versal decolonial thinking of the last decades, indeed the last centuries. Epistemic disobedience allows us to think about knowledge-making that is liberated from an imperial structure of belief and truth: liberated from the Western “monocultures of the mind” (Vandana Shiva 1993) that classify knowledge, bodies, practices shaped by a (post)colonial matrix of power. The decolonial option means politically and epistemically de-linking from the hegemonic power/knowledge discourse. However, the concept of epistemic disobedience goes well beyond the body of decolonial critique. Mignolo argues passionately for decolonial thinking that places human lives and life in general first – local experiences, practices, knowledges, aspirations, needs that underpin dignified lives and meaningful well-being. This is the condensed backdrop of this seminar, upon which we will dwell in more depth in the course of the semester. The aim of the seminar is twofold: firstly, to understand the concept of epistemic disobedience and de-linking more fully; and, secondly, to develop practical approaches to epistemic disobedience. Subsequently, the first half of the seminar is devoted to texts engaging with selected aspects of epistemic disobedience, providing us with the analytic tools to think about epistemic de-linking in more discerning ways. In the second half of the semester we will be concentrating on practicing epistemic disobedience, starting with our own knowledge-making practices and extending it to different fields of knowledge. |
| Learning objectives | (1) to understand the concept of epistemic disobedience and decolonial de-linking more fully (2) to develop practical approaches to epistemic disobedience |
| Bibliography | Mignolo, Walter. 2009. Epistemic Disobedience, Independent Thought, and De-colonial Freedom. In: Theory, Culture & Society 26(7–8): 159–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276409349275 Mignolo, Walter. 2011. Epistemic Disobedience and the Decolonial Option: A Manifesto. In: Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, 1(2): 44–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.5070/T412011807 |
| Comments | Please contact me under lucy.koechlin@unibas.ch if you have any questions about the course programme or assignments. You must contact me if you are unable to take part in the first session of Monday, 26th of February. |
| Admission requirements | The number of participants is limited to 25 people. The places are assigned according to date of enrollment and subject of study. Priority will be given to the subjects listed under "modules". |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Monday | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 26.02.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Monday 04.03.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Monday 11.03.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Monday 18.03.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Monday 25.03.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Monday 01.04.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ostern |
| Monday 08.04.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Monday 15.04.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Monday 22.04.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Monday 29.04.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Monday 06.05.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Monday 13.05.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Monday 20.05.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Pfingstmontag |
| Monday 27.05.2024 | 14.15-16.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Modules |
Modul: Ethnographien (Bachelor's degree subject: Anthropology) Modul: Praktiken (Master's degree program: Cultural Techniques) Modul: Theory and General Anthropology (Master's degree subject: Anthropology) Modul: Transfer: Europa interdisziplinär (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Wissenschaftliche Vertiefung in der Ethnologie: Ethnographien (Bachelor's degree subject: Anthropology) Module: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Module: Methods for Analyzing Changing Societies (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Course assignments as well as the course programme will be discussed in the first session on Monday, 26th of February. Please contact me if you are unable to take part in the first session! |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Ethnologie |