Building upon the momentum of the inaugural decolonial summer university SIRA (Savoirs, Idées, Réseau, Archives), held on 28-29 May, 2024 at the University of Chicago's Paris Center, the second symposium aims to further engage with the theme of “Decolonial Routes, Knowledges, Spaces and Memories”. As with SIRA 1, this event, in collaboration with GIRCI (Interdisciplinary Research Group on Cultures and Identities), seeks to decentralize the hegemonic forms of knowledge by employing critical methodologies—whether anticolonial, postcolonial, or decolonial—in pursuit of epistemic justice. The selection of Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal, as the venue holds particular significance, as it embodies the decolonization of knowledge.
This symposium aims to rethink traditional perspectives and theoretical approaches concerning knowledge production. It seeks to foster dialogue across diverse media, formats (film, debate, memorial excursions), and spaces (museums, universities, memorial sites) to underscore the incommensurability of the various means by which knowledge is “woven” and produced, ultimately contributing to a more livable world.
Recognizing that decolonization may have different meanings across communities, times, places, and contexts, the symposium acknowledges that these meanings often intersect with issues of territory. Here, “territory” is understood in its most polyphonic and polysemous sense, encompassing a wide range of cosmogonies, bodies, languages, imaginaries, narratives, perspectives, and paradigms.
The symposium will critically examine what decolonization means and its implications in educational contexts. It seeks to challenge the power structures entrenched within academic institutions through a series of discussions that take place in spaces ranging from universities in the Global South to the Théodore Monod African Art Museum and the historic site of Gorée Island. These discussions aim to reconfigure the creative and resistant dynamics that continue to shape us. The connective movement between academic institutions and historically marginalized spaces—those imbued with histories of resistance—underscores the central thesis that “decolonization is not a metaphor.”
Proposals for the symposium may address, but are not limited to, the following areas:
1. Knowledge, power, and epistemic justice
2. Archives and cyberspace
3. Bodies, gender, and mental health
4. Stories, memories, imaginaries
5. Places, connections, relations
6. Language and power
Submission Guidelines
Proposals should be sent to ferduliszita.odomeangone@ucad.edu.sn and to lissell.quiroz@cyu.fr by December 15, 2024. Submissions should include the following: full name, institutional affiliation, email address, title of the paper, a 250-word abstract, and a brief biobibliographical note. The organizing committee will notify participants by January 15, 2025.
Practical Details
The languages of communication for the symposium will include Spanish, French, English, and various indigenous languages. Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation expenses for the event in Dakar. A publication of the contributions validated by an editorial committee and the recording of a documentary on SIRA 2 are planned at the end of the symposium.
Organizing Committee
Aminata Kane, Associate professor, EBAD-UCAD, LARSIC- GIRCI (UCAD) y GERiiCO
Babacar Mbaye Diop, Associate professor, GIRCI, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar
Fatiha Ajbli, PhD, EHESS, GIRCI
Fatoumata Keita, Associate professor, University of Bamako
Cheikh Mbacké DIOP, Associate professor, UCAD, GIRCI
Cheick Sakho, Full Professor, UCAD, GIRCI
Haydée Bangerezako, Teacher-researcher, University Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar
Hélène Quashie, Researcher, LARTES-IFAN / IMAF, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar
Herman Ghislain Ngoma, PhD student, University of Limoges - EHIC
Julia Borst, Associate Professor, University of Bremen
Leila Gómez, Full Professor, University Colorado Boulder
Lissell Quiroz, Full Professor, CY Cergy Paris University, AGORA, IUF
Mouhamed Abdallah Ly, Research Director, IFAN/UCAD, Museum Director of Musée des Civilisations noires (Dakar)
Nancy Brunelle Nyangui Boussougou, PhD student, University of Limoges - EHIC
Odome Angone, Associate professor, FLSH/CERROMAN/GIRCI, University Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar
Papa Abdou Fall, Associate professor, UCAD, GIRCI
Serigne Seye, Associate professor, FLSH/GIRCI, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar
Ulrich Metende, Fellow, Indiana University-Bloomington