Decolonizing Europe

Françoise Vergès Image Credit: Anthony Francin - Berlin Southern Theory Lecture 2022 on December 15 with author and activist Françoise Vergès on what it means to "decolonize Europe" / Joint event between Freie Universität Berlin and Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient What do we mean when we use the term "decolonization"- What would it mean to decolonize Europe? Why is this struggle important? And what would a decolonial Europe look like? These are some of the questions that Françoise Vergès will address in the Berlin Southern Theory Lecture 2022. Given the prevalence and endurance of colonial ideologies, Vergès has taken inspiration from thinkers such as the French Afro-Caribbean writer Aimé Césaire (1913-2008), who once said that "'Europe' is morally, spiritually indefensible." She also references Frantz Fanon (1925-1961), one of the most influential anticolonial thinkers, who saw decolonization as a profound change to the order of the world and a "program of complete disorder." Vergès has been addressing the implications of these statements in her most recent work. Her talk in Berlin, "A Program of Total Disorder: Decolonizing Europe," will be held in English. This will be the fourth annual Berlin Southern Theory Lecture. The series, which focuses on highlighting academic perspectives from the Global South, is organized by the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Freie Universität Berlin and the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) in cooperation with the Ethnological Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Forschungscampus Dahlem, and co2libri.