15-19 August, 2016, PhD Summer School, Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies
The past and the present are full of concurrences. Events happen simultaneously in the same place as well as in different places, and are interpreted differently by those who experience them. But what does this really mean to researchers of the humanities and the social sciences? How do we bring broader contexts and connections, which may not have been initially visible, into our re-understandings of these same events? What difference do different interpretations make to what we had initially known and how might we know differently in light of those different interpretations?
This one-week summer school for PhD students will explore key concepts and paradigms within the Humanities and Social Sciences from postcolonial and decolonial perspectives. Such arguments have been most successful in their challenge to the insularity of historical narratives and historiographical traditions emanating from Europe. This has been particularly so in the context of demonstrating the parochial character of arguments about the endogenous European origins of modernity in favour of arguments that suggest the necessity of considering the emergence of the modern world, and its associated categories and concepts, in the broader histories of colonialism, empire, and enslavement.
The broad themes to be covered in the summer school include:
- Challenging Knowledge: Postcolonial and Feminist Provocations
- Contesting the Time(s) of History
- Black Europe & the Politics of Knowledge Production
- Citizenship, Migration, Race, and Justice
- Towards a Decolonial Social Science
The summer school is oriented to examining theoretical claims and frameworks that are in everyday use and rethinking them using the resources of critical scholarship. It will also provide space for thinking through contemporary social and political issues that require urgent engagement. It is organised in terms of an opening conversation among established colleagues in the field followed by general discussion of the themes set out. There will also be facilitated workshops on key texts, independent work spaces where students are given the opportunity to present their own research for comment by other scholars, and a closing conversation that will bring together the themes of each day.
The following scholars will be among those present during the workshop: Professor Gurminder K Bhambra; Dr Nathaniel Coleman; Dr Sara Edenheim; Dr Barzoo Eliassi; Professor Peter Forsgren; Professor Gunlög Fur; Dr Ylva Habel; Professor Peo Hansen; Professor John Holmwood; Dr Robbie Shilliam.
