14 February 2023
Theory / Knowledges / Politics RG
Our reading group works through influential and contemporary texts on postcolonialism, settler colonialism, and decoloniality, together with other work essaying critical and creative approaches to theory, knowledge and politics.
Theory / Knowledges / Politics
Our reading group works through influential and contemporary texts on postcolonialism, settler colonialism, and decoloniality, together with other work essaying critical and creative approaches to theory, knowledge and politics.
Our reading group works through influential and contemporary texts on postcolonialism, settler colonialism, and decoloniality, together with other work essaying critical and creative approaches to theory, knowledge and politics. Our goal across sessions is to work within the spaces between selected texts, experience and vital commitments.
IPCS convenors contribute to our project throughout the year, bringing vital perspectives and experience to our sessions.
The Theory/Knowledges/Politics reading group meets fortnightly, in-person, at the Institute of Postcolonial Studies, in the Phillip Darby Reading Room.
The reading group broadly subscribes to these principles, check out the following resources before joining:
- Code of Contact developed by the Feminist Autonomous Research Centre
- Safe Spaces Rules developed by the Way Over There Collective
Write to us if you would like join or propose an activity, contact us.
IPCS RG – February to June 2023
Tuesdays 4.30 to 6.30 pm
Semester 1: February – June
- Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, As We Have Always Done, Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance (Minnesota, 2017), 290 pages
- Talal Asad, Secular Translations: Nation-State, Modern Self, and Calculative Reason (Columbia 2018), 150 pages
- Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics (Duke, 2019), 190 pages
Semester 2: August – December
- Audra Simpson, Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States (Duke, 2014), 190 pages
- Saba Mahmood, Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report (Princeton, 2015), 200 pages
- Frank B Wilderson III, Afropressimism (Liverlight, 2020), 300 pages
IPCS RG – August to December 2022
Tuesdays 4.30 to 6.30 pm
Session 1 – 30 August 2022
On Coloniality, after ‘Man’
- Wynter, Sylvia (2003), “Unsettling the Coloniality of Being/Power/Truth/Freedom: Towards the Human, After Man, Its Overrepresentation–An Argument.” CR: The New Centennial Review 3:3, 257-337.
Session 2 – 13 September 2022
On Coloniality, after ‘Man’
- Nandita Sharma (2015), “Strategic Anti-Essentialism: Decolonizing Decolonization” in Katherine McKittrick (ed.) Sylvia Wynter: on being human as praxis, Durham: Duke University Press, 164-182.
Session 3 – 27 September 2022
Critique & Universality
- Buck-Morss, Susan (2000), “Hegel and Haiti” Critical Inquiry 26 (4):821-865.
Session 4 – 11 October 2022
- Mohanty, Chandra Talpade (2013), “Transnational Feminist Crossings: On Neoliberalism and Radical Critique.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 38(4): 967–91.
Session 5 – 25 October 2022
On Marxism and decoloniality
- Gianmaria Colpani (2022), “Crossfire: postcolonial theory between Marxist and decolonial critiques”, Postcolonial Studies, 25:1, 54-72,DOI: 10.1080/13688790.2022.2030587
Session 6 – 8 November 2022
On Marxism and decoloniality
- Arnall, Gavin. 2022. “The Many Tasks of the Marxist Translator: Approaching Marxism as/in/with Translation from Antonio Gramsci to the Zapatistas.” Historical Materialism 30(1): 99–132.
Session 7 – 22 November 2022
On Marxism and decoloniality
- Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne Amanda. 2016. “The Relationship between Marxism and Indigenous Struggles and Implications of the Theoretical Framework for International Indigenous Struggles.” Historical Materialism 24(3): 76–91.
Session 8 – 6 December 2022
Theorising Race
- Denise Ferreira da Silva (2013), “To Be Announced”, Social Text, 114:31, 43-62.
Session 9 – 20 December 2022
Race & Settler Colonialism
- Theoni Whyman, Cammi Murrup-Stewart, Michael Young, Adrian Carter & Laura Jobson (2021) ‘Lateral violence stems from the colonial system’, Postcolonial Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13688790.2021.2009213
IPCS RG – February to June 2022
Tuesdays 4.30 pm, February to June
Convened by Jasmine Barzani in 2022.
Starting as a space to foster community and discussion among IPCS members, friends and visiting fellows, our Reading Group reconvenes in late February 2022
In line with IPCS’ aim to address the challenges of the present, our reading group works through influential and contemporary texts on postcolonialism, settler colonialism, and decoloniality, together with other work essaying critical and creative approaches to theory, knowledge and politics. Guest convenors contribute to this project, bringing vital perspectives and experience to our sessions throughout the year.
Our in-person reading group meets regularly in the Phillip Darby Reading Room (or online during Naarm/Melbourne lockdowns!). Numbers may be limited given public health regulations when meeting at IPCS.
If you would like to participate please write to Jasmine Barzani or Carlos Morreo.
READING PROGRAM
SESSION 1 – FEBRUARY 22
- Chelsea Watego (2021). Another Day in the Colony, University Queensland Press.
- Introduction, and
- Chapter 4: On Racial Violence, Victims, and Victors
- Critical Forum: On the Uses of Settler Colonial Studies (2021). Postcolonial Studies, 24:2, about 15 pages in total.
- Lorenzo Veracini (2021) Is settler colonial studies even useful?, Postcolonial Studies, 24:2, 270-277.
- Alice Te Punga Somerville ((Te Ātiawa/ Taranaki)) (2021) OMG settler colonial studies: response to Lorenzo Veracini: ‘Is Settler Colonial Studies Even Useful?’, Postcolonial Studies, 24:2, 278-282.
- J. Kēhaulani Kauanui (2021) False dilemmas and settler colonial studies: response to Lorenzo Veracini: ‘Is Settler Colonial Studies Even Useful?’, Postcolonial Studies, 24:2, 290-296.
SESSION 2 – MARCH 8
- Chelsea Watego (2021). Another Day in the Colony, University Queensland Press.Chapter 5: Ambiguously Indigenous
- Chapter 6: Fuck Hope
- Conclusion, A final Word … On Joy
SESSION 3 – MARCH 22
CRITICAL EDUCATION & SELF-DETERMINATION
GUEST CONVENOR: TASNIM SAMMAK
- Bob Morgan (2019). “Beyond the Guest Paradigm: Eurocentric Education and Aboriginal Peoples in NSW”, Handbook of Indigenous Education.
- Curry Mallott (2021) “How Amílcar Cabral shaped Paulo Freire’s pedagogy”, Liberation School.
Supplementary
- Henry A Giroux (2010). “Rethinking Education as the Practice of Freedom: Paulo Freire and the Promise of Critical Pedagogy.” Policy Futures in Education 8, no. 6 : 715–21.
SESSION 4 – APRIL 5
- Glen Sean Coulthard (2014). Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition, University of Minnesota Press.
- Introduction. Subjects of Empire, 1-24.
- The Politics of Recognition in Colonial Contexts, 25-50.
SESSION 5 – APRIL 19
- Glen Sean Coulthard (2014). Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition, University of Minnesota Press.
- Chapter 5, “The Plunge into the Chasm of the Past: Fanon, Self-Recognition, and Decolonization”, p.131-150.
- Conclusion. Lessons from Idle No More: The Future of Indigenous Activism”, p. 151-180.
SESSION 6 – MAY 3
DECOLONIAL TEMPORALITIES
GUEST CONVENOR: SCHEHERAZADE BLOUL
- Vergès, F. (2005) ‘Where to begin? ‘Le commencement’ in Peau noire, masques blanc and in creolisation’. In Black Skin, White Masks: New interdisciplinary essays, edited by Max Silverman. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 32-45.
- Abourahme, N. (2016). The productive ambivalences of post-revolutionary time: Discourse, aesthetics, and the political subject of the Palestinian present. In Time, Temporality and Violence in International Relations (pp. 129-156). Routledge.
- Tageldin, S. M. (2014). The Place of Africa, in Theory: Pan‐Africanism, Postcolonialism, Beyond. Journal of Historical Sociology, 27(3), 302-323.
Optional:
- Mbembe, A. (2011). Provincializing France? Public Culture, 23(1), 85-119.
SESSION 7 – MAY 17
GUEST CONVENOR: JACK KIRNE
MAKING PLACE IN A CLIMATE-CHANGED WORLD
- Val Plumwood (2008). “Shadow Places and the Politics of Dwelling”, Australian Humanities Review.
- Frederic Neyrat (2018). The Unconstructable Earth: An Ecology of Separation. New York: Fordham University Press.
- Introduction: Reconstructing the Earth?
SESSION 8 – MAY 31
CRITICAL DISABILITY
GUEST CONVENOR: SHAKIRA HUSSEIN & PAN KARANIKOLAS
- Readings TBC.
SESSION 9 – JUNE 21
KNOWING AT THE LIMITS OF JUSTICE, RACE AND CRITIQUE
- Denise Ferreira da Silva, “An End to This World”, Texte Zur Kunst, 2019, 9 pages.
- Denise Ferreira da Silva, “Reading Scenes of Value Against the Arrow of Time”, Unpayable Debt, Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2022, selection.
Optional
- Lecture: Unpayable Debt, A black feminist reading of the scenes of value.
- El-Taki et al, “The Value and Uses of Blackness: A Conversation with Denise Ferreira da Silva”, Periskop, 2021, 25, 7 pages
- Denise Ferreira da Silva (2013), “To Be Announced”, Social Text, 114:31, 43-62.
TBC
ACADEMIC ABOLITION (ONLINE VIA ZOOM)
GUEST CONVENORS: CAROL QUE & KALIYAH KINGI
- Joy James, Idris Robinson, Shemon Salam, and Wendu Trevino (2021). “On the George Floyd Uprising & the Agency of Abolition“, Red May TV.
- Joy James (4 June 2021). “New Bones, Abolitionism, Communism, and Captive Maternals“, Verso Blog.
READING PROGRAM 2021
Convened by Eda Seyhan & Muhib Nabulsi in 2021.
AUGUST – DECEMBER 2021
Session 1
#3August
- Mahmood Mamdani, Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020.
- Introduction & Chapter 3: Settlers and Natives in Apartheid South Africa
- Optional audio – Welcome? Podcast, episode “Nubian Nostalgia: Part 1” https://welcomepodcast.wordpress.com/nubian-nostalgia/
Session 2
#17August
- Mahmood Mamdani, Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020.
- Chapter 4: Sudan: Colonialism, Independence, and Secession – TBD
- Conclusion: Decolonizing the Political Community – TBD
Session 3
#31August
- Chi Chi Shi, Defining My Own Oppression: Neoliberalism and the Demands of Victimhood, Historical Materialism 26:2, 2018.
- Open discussion (current issues, questions of strategy/practice/activism, anything else that participants want to raise about their work or topics that have been previously discussed)
Session 4
#14September
- Nikki Moodie (2018), “Decolonising Race Theory: Place, survivance and sovereignty” in The Relationality of Race in Education Research, eds. G. Vass, J. Maxwell, S. Rudolph and K.N. Gulson, Routledge.
- Lilly Brown, Odette Kelada & Dianne Jones (2021) ‘While I knew I was raced, I didn’t think much of it’: the need for racial literacy in decolonising classrooms, Postcolonial Studies 24:1, 82-103.
Session 5
#28September
Guest convenor – Zuleika Arashiro on ‘Colonialism & Okinawa’
BREAK
Session 6
#26October
- Samir Amin, The Long Revolution of the Global South, NY: Monthly Review Press, 2019 – Prologue only
- Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2021) Revisiting Marxism and decolonisation through the legacy of Samir Amin, Review of African Political Economy 48:167, 50-65
- Open discussion
Session 7
#9November
- Brenna Bhandar, Colonial Lives of Property: Law, Land, and Racial Regimes of Ownership, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018.
- Introduction & Chapter 1: Use
Session 8
#23November
- Brenna Bhandar, Colonial Lives of Property: Law, Land, and Racial Regimes of Ownership, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018.
- Chapter 2: Propertied Abstractions & Chapter 3: Improvement
Session 9
#7December
Guest convenor – Lily Malham Spake on ‘Indigenous languages and discourses of ‘endangerment’’
Session 10
#21December
- Aileen Moreton-Robinson (2021), “Incommensurable sovereignties: Indigenous ontology matters”, in Routledge Handbook of Critical Indigenous Studies, ed. Brendan Hokowhitu, Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, Chris Andersen, Steve Larkin
- Audio: IGOV Indigenous Speaker Series – Dr. Audra Simpson’s “Mohawk Interruptus” https://youtu.be/FWzXHqGfH3U
- Open discussion
PROGRAM FEBRUARY – JULY 2021
Session 1
9 FEB AND 16 FEB
- Anibal Quijano (2000). “Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America”, Nepantla: Views from South 1.3, 533-580.
- Patrick Wolfe (2006), “Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native”, Journal of Genocide Research, 8:4, 387-409.
Session 2
23 FEB & 2 MARCH
- Yin Paradies (2020), “Unsettling truths: modernity, (de)coloniality and Indigenous futures”, Postcolonial Studies, 23:4, 438-456.
- María Lugones (2007), “Heterosexualism and the Colonial / Modern Gender System”, Hypatia 22:1, 186-209.
Session 3
9 MARCH & 16 MARCH
- Introduction (p3-23) of Dipesh Chakrabarty (2000), Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. New Jersey: Princeton University Press
- Robbie Shiliam (2019), “From Ethiopia to Bandung with Fanon”, Bandung: Journal of the Global South, 6(2), 163-189
Session 4
23 MARCH & 30 MARCH
- Dipesh Chakrabarty (2000), Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. New Jersey: Princeton University Press – Read Chapter 1
- Juliette Singh (2018), Unthinking Mastery: Dehumanism and Decolonial Entanglements. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Read Chapter 1
Session 5
6 APRIL & 13 APRIL
- Alexis Shotwell (2016) Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times. University of Minnesota Press – Read Introduction & Conclusion.
- Clare Land (2015) Decolonizing Solidarity: Dilemmas and Directions for Supporters of Indigenous Struggles. Zed Books – Chapter TBC
Session 6
20 APRIL & 27 APRIL
Goolarabooloo Futures
Special session on Stephen Muecke and Paddy Roe’s The Children’s Country: Creation of a Goolarabooloo Future in North-West Australia (2020).
- Introduction, chapter 1, chapter 6, chapter 9 (and chapter 5 as additional)
Session 7
4 MAY & 11 MAY
Abolition & Decoloniality
Convenors: Jasmine Barzani & Eda Seyhan
- Dylan Rodríguez, “Abolition As Praxis Of Human Being: A Foreword”, 132 Harvard Law Review 1575
- Angela Davis (2003) Are Prisons Obsolete? Seven Stories Press – Chapter 6: Abolitionist Alternatives
- Skim/take a look at: Creative Interventions Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Stop Interpersonal Violence: Chapter 4F – Taking Accountability (available at: https://www.creative-interventions.org/tools/toolkit/)
Session 8
18 MAY & 25 MAY
Abolition & Decoloniality (cont.)
Convenors: Jasmine Barzani & Eda Seyhan
With guest speakers for discussion on ‘abolition in practice’
Session 9
1 JUNE & 8 JUNE
- Larissa Behrendt (2013), “Aboriginal Sovereignty: A Practical Roadmap”, in Sovereignty: Frontiers of Possibility, Edited by Julie Evans, Ann Genovese, Alexander Reilly, Patrick Wolfe, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 163-180.
- Adrian Little, ‘The Politics of Makarrata: Understanding Indigenous–Settler Relations in Australia’, Political Theory 48(1), 2020, pp 4–29.
Session 10
22 JUNE / 29 JUNE
The world is cumbia: the politics of creolisation
Moses Iten (Cumbia Cosmonauts / PhD Candidate, RMIT)
Creolisation is a phenomenon largely studied by scholars of linguistics and literature, but Martinican poet-philosopher Edouard Glissant has discussed music as a prominent example of ‘creolisation’. The session seeks to explore the nuances of defining cumbia as hybrid, mestiza (“mixed race”), or creolising, and to consider more broadly the place of music as a practice of decolonisation.
This week’s readings start with listening to (and watching) how the sound of Colombian cumbia has shifted from 1940s to the present day. Starting as a folk music recorded for export by the burgeoning Colombian music industry, to it becoming associated with urban ghettos across Latin America, and ultimately its circulation as a hip global club sound. This story is summarised in a short video documentary focused on the case of cumbia in Peru.
In addition to the audio files and short documentary video, we have two texts. A lecture on creolisation by Glissant himself, in which Glissant proposes that creolisation is applicable to the whole world beyond its usual Caribbean identification, and a critical and ethnomusicological history of cumbia as genre.
Itinerary
A listening and reading recommended itinerary might go like this: listen to some Cumbia, then watch the short doco, and finally do the readings:
- Versions of the song Cumbia Sampuesana (only need to listen to a bit of each video)
- 1940s Colombian folk music version by Conjunto Tipico Vallenato (featured in a Mexican film of the 1950s): https://youtu.be/AjGNMy-yneU
- 1990s Mexican sound system version by Sonido La Changa (song starts at 1:27): https://youtu.be/6NVFMOh2bUk
- 2000s Argentine ghetto cumbia version by Damas Gratis: https://youtu.be/8LBnl-49BKo
- 2010s Australian digital cumbia version by Cumbia Cosmonauts: https://youtu.be/hxRcxONwHDs?t=269
- ‘Making Digital Cumbia in Peru’ on YouTube. Video (7min18sec). Published 2014. https://youtu.be/6mZ3EY6-r2U
- D’Amico, Leonardo. ‘Cumbia Music in Colombia: Origins, Transformations, and Evolution of a Coastal Music Genre’ in Fernández L’Hoeste, Héctor and Pablo Vila (Edited by). 2013. Cumbia! Scenes of a Migrant Latin American Music Genre. Durham and London: Duke University Press. pp. 29-48.
- Glissant, Edouard. 2020. ‘Creolizations in the Caribbean and the Americas’ in Introduction to a Poetics of Diversity. Translated by Celia Britton. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. pp. 3-17
Session 11
6 JULY / 13 JULY
- Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang (2012), “Decolonization is not a metaphor”, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1:1, 1-40.
- Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui (2012), “A Reflection on the Practices and Discourses of Decolonization.” South Atlantic Quarterly 111:1, 95-109.
MEMBER INITIATIVES
See our other member-led initiatives for 2021.
IPCS READING GROUPS
Tuesdays 4.30 pm, February to June
Convened by Eda Seyhan & Muhib Nabulsi in 2021.
Starting as a space to foster community and discussion among IPCS members and friends in 2019, and shifting online amidst the tumult of 2020, the IPCS Reading Group returns in 2021 with in-person and online formats taking place on alternating weeks.
As seen in the program below, each discussion will engage with two texts. As well as a careful discussion around individual texts, our goal in the reading group meetings is also to work within the spaces between chosen texts, connecting questions and problems beyond the Institute and academy.
In line with IPCS’ aim to address the challenges of the present, the reading group aims to link influential texts on postcolonialism, settler colonialism, and decoloniality with works attending to the everyday pragmatics of resisting and creating alternatives to these enduring structures. Guest convenors will contribute much to this project, bringing experiences and vital perspectives and experience to our sessions throughout the year.
IPCS READING GROUP IN-PERSON
The in-person reading group meets regularly in the Phillip Darby Reading Room. Numbers may be limited given public health regulations.
IPCS READING GROUP ONLINE
Online reading groups present a number of challenges. However, they also make possible new modes of engagement. The online reading group is by no means simply an attempt at rehearsing the in-person experience in digital confines. Rather, in consultation with online attendees, we will develop approaches by which to make creative use of Zoom’s constraints, as well as collectively decide on guest convenors in order to harness the significant possibilities opened up by remote engagement.
Both our in-person and online reading group work with the same texts, sharing a sense of purpose and shaping our community (while also offering in-person attendees a second opportunity to participate should they miss the in-person meeting).
If you would like to participate either in the in-person or online reading groups, please write to Eda Seyhan, Muhib Nabulsi or Carlos Morreo.
IPCS Reading group program
Session 1
9 Feb and 16 Feb
- Anibal Quijano (2000). “Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America”, Nepantla: Views from South 1.3, 533-580.
- Patrick Wolfe (2006), “Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native”, Journal of Genocide Research, 8:4, 387-409.
Session 2
23 Feb & 2 March
- Yin Paradies (2020), “Unsettling truths: modernity, (de)coloniality and Indigenous futures”, Postcolonial Studies, 23:4, 438-456.
- María Lugones (2007), “Heterosexualism and the Colonial / Modern Gender System”, Hypatia 22:1, 186-209.
Session 3
9 March & 16 March
- Introduction (p3-23) of Dipesh Chakrabarty (2000), Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. New Jersey: Princeton University Press
- Robbie Shiliam (2019), “From Ethiopia to Bandung with Fanon”, Bandung: Journal of the Global South, 6(2), 163-189
Session 4
23 March & 30 March
- Dipesh Chakrabarty (2000), Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. New Jersey: Princeton University Press – Read Chapter 1
- Juliette Singh (2018), Unthinking Mastery: Dehumanism and Decolonial Entanglements. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Read Chapter 1
Session 5
6 April & 13 April
- Alexis Shotwell (2016) Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times. University of Minnesota Press – Read Introduction & Conclusion.
- Clare Land (2015) Decolonizing Solidarity: Dilemmas and Directions for Supporters of Indigenous Struggles. Zed Books – Chapter TBC
Session 6
20 April & 27 April
Goolarabooloo Futures
Special session on Stephen Muecke and Paddy Roe’s The Children’s Country: Creation of a Goolarabooloo Future in North-West Australia (2020).
- Introduction, chapter 1, chapter 6, chapter 9 (and chapter 5 as additional)
Session 7
4 May & 11 May
Abolition & Decoloniality
Convenors: Jasmine Barzani & Eda Seyhan
- Dylan Rodríguez, “Abolition As Praxis Of Human Being: A Foreword”, 132 Harvard Law Review 1575
- Angela Davis (2003) Are Prisons Obsolete? Seven Stories Press – Chapter 6: Abolitionist Alternatives
- Skim/take a look at: Creative Interventions Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Stop Interpersonal Violence: Chapter 4F – Taking Accountability (available at: https://www.creative-interventions.org/tools/toolkit/)
Session 8
18 May & 25 May
Abolition & Decoloniality (cont.)
Convenors: Jasmine Barzani & Eda Seyhan
With guest speakers for discussion on ‘abolition in practice’
Session 9
1 June & 8 June
- Larissa Behrendt (2013), “Aboriginal Sovereignty: A Practical Roadmap”, in Sovereignty: Frontiers of Possibility, Edited by Julie Evans, Ann Genovese, Alexander Reilly, Patrick Wolfe, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 163-180.
- Adrian Little, ‘The Politics of Makarrata: Understanding Indigenous–Settler Relations in Australia’, Political Theory 48(1), 2020, pp 4–29.
Session 10
22 June / 29 June
The world is cumbia: the politics of creolisation
Moses Iten (Cumbia Cosmonauts / PhD Candidate, RMIT)
Creolisation is a phenomenon largely studied by scholars of linguistics and literature, but Martinican poet-philosopher Edouard Glissant has discussed music as a prominent example of ‘creolisation’. The session seeks to explore the nuances of defining cumbia as hybrid, mestiza (“mixed race”), or creolising, and to consider more broadly the place of music as a practice of decolonisation.
This week’s readings start with listening to (and watching) how the sound of Colombian cumbia has shifted from 1940s to the present day. Starting as a folk music recorded for export by the burgeoning Colombian music industry, to it becoming associated with urban ghettos across Latin America, and ultimately its circulation as a hip global club sound. This story is summarised in a short video documentary focused on the case of cumbia in Peru.
In addition to the audio files and short documentary video, we have two texts. A lecture on creolisation by Glissant himself, in which Glissant proposes that creolisation is applicable to the whole world beyond its usual Caribbean identification, and a critical and ethnomusicological history of cumbia as genre.
Itinerary
A listening and reading recommended itinerary might go like this: listen to some Cumbia, then watch the short doco, and finally do the readings:
- Versions of the song Cumbia Sampuesana (only need to listen to a bit of each video)
- 1940s Colombian folk music version by Conjunto Tipico Vallenato (featured in a Mexican film of the 1950s): https://youtu.be/AjGNMy-yneU
- 1990s Mexican sound system version by Sonido La Changa (song starts at 1:27): https://youtu.be/6NVFMOh2bUk
- 2000s Argentine ghetto cumbia version by Damas Gratis: https://youtu.be/8LBnl-49BKo
- 2010s Australian digital cumbia version by Cumbia Cosmonauts: https://youtu.be/hxRcxONwHDs?t=269
- ‘Making Digital Cumbia in Peru’ on YouTube. Video (7min18sec). Published 2014. https://youtu.be/6mZ3EY6-r2U
- D’Amico, Leonardo. ‘Cumbia Music in Colombia: Origins, Transformations, and Evolution of a Coastal Music Genre’ in Fernández L’Hoeste, Héctor and Pablo Vila (Edited by). 2013. Cumbia! Scenes of a Migrant Latin American Music Genre. Durham and London: Duke University Press. pp. 29-48.
- Glissant, Edouard. 2020. ‘Creolizations in the Caribbean and the Americas’ in Introduction to a Poetics of Diversity. Translated by Celia Britton. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. pp. 3-17
Session 11
6 July / 13 July
- Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang (2012), “Decolonization is not a metaphor”, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1:1, 1-40.
- Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui (2012), “A Reflection on the Practices and Discourses of Decolonization.” South Atlantic Quarterly 111:1, 95-109.
Member Initiatives
See our other member-led initiatives for 2021.
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