Living decoloniality – Details, episodes & analysis

This episode needs an introduction: we defend the spontaneity of podcasts and we think that linking professionality to the use of expensive technical means is yet one more attempt to keep power and resources in the hands of those few who can afford them.
Nevertheless we are conscious that the sound of this episode is especially disturbing.
Thank you for keeping supporting us, your support is our strength!


Join us as we conclude the second season of this podcast. We explore the essence of decolonial practices, reflecting on our journey.
We try to pull the threads of the practices discussed: reconnecting with nature, challenging binaries and imagining a more equitable future.  

What does it mean in a world where humanitarian and development actions are more needed than ever?
What does it mean for people working in our sector? 
How can we practice decoloniality and remain relevant?

Until next time, stay engaged, curious and decolonial.

The transcript is available here.

In this episode we dive into thought-provoking conversations with Karishma Shafi, who is working with One Future Collective, a feminist organization dedicated to social justice in India. From challenging colonial legacies to reimagining knowledge systems, Karishma shares invaluable insights that resonate across disciplines, suggesting alternative practices through examples provided by her work at OFC.

The transcrip is available here

Sources: 

• Colonial legacies, postcolonial ‘selfhood’ and the (un)doing of Africa
• One Future Collective
• Precolonial Intellectuals and the Production of Colonial Knowledge
• The Production of Colonial Knowledge and the Role of Native Intellectuals: The Case of Kavali Borraiah
• How we see the world: use of maps in transnational policies
• Coloniality of Knowledge and the Challenge of Creating African Futures
• Coloniality of power and de-colonial thinking

In this episode of Living Decoloniality, Carla interviews Themrise Khan.
Themrise is an independent professional in international development, based in Pakistan, who is working to develop what she calls “a new ecosystem for international aid”.
Themrise is not interested in using the framework of coloniality, although what she says echoes very much concepts and theories discussed in this podcast so far. She aims at creating a new roadmap that each country -and she stresses the national dimension of her plan – changes the way they live, provide, and ask for international aid.

Resources:
Themrise’s website
Keynote speech at the 2023 Humanitarian Leadership Conference

How was it recorded? zoom interview for Themrise. studio recording for Carla

This episode is focused on cooperation among universities.
This kind of cooperation, fostered by programs and funds called “cooperation North-South” or “triangular cooperation”, sits on a number of unspoken colonial dynamics that Carla will start unpacking through her interview.

The guests of this episode are three researchers: Adriana Moreno Cely, Kewan Mertens and Viola Nyakato. Through the story of how they personally met and decided to have open-ended transformative dialogues to iteratively unveil coloniality in their life and work, the 3 researchers share with us their decolonial practices and the methodology they are developing to tackle their own coloniality.

Resources:
Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Decolonization, Decoloniality, and the Future of African Studies: A Conversation (by Duncan Omanga)
Morgan Ndlovu, Coloniality of Knowledge and the Challenge of Creating African Futures
Kewan Mertens, Reassembling disaster risk: towards a more self reflexive and enabling geography

How was it recorded? first interview through whatsapp messages, second interview on zoom

In this episode Carla Vitantonio interviews Karishma Shafi (she/her)
Karishma is a program manager at One future collective.
She is an activist and researcher in the field of gender, media and culture. She aims to understand and address gender-based oppression along the axes of power and privilege. Her work at OFC focuses on shifting public narrative and policy with a social justice orientation.

One Future Collective is a feminist social purpose organisation with a vision of a world built on social justice, led by communities of care. We exist to nurture people’s feminist and rights-based leadership and influence their micro-communities and ecosystems to achieve social justice: through an alt school, advocacy lab and feminist justice project.

Starting from a definition of coloniality, Karishma shares her lived experience as a woman grown up in India, and brings us to reflect on coloniality in several realms, insisting on coloniality of knowledge. She explains how projects are often built on knowledge and practices that are not related to the knowledge and practices of the community that participates into the project.

When asked about her decolonial practices, she especially focuses on community work, and challenges concepts as “service provision”, proposing alternatives through examples from OFC’s work.

Resources:
One future collective
Fairshare of women leaders, on Feminist Leadership
Nokuthula Hlabangane, The underside of modern knowledge: an epistemic break from western science
Nazanin Zadeh-Cummings, Through the looking glass: Coloniality and mirroring in localisation Srilatha Batliwala, All about power

How was it recorded? whatsapp messages for Karishma, and improvised studio for Carla’s voice

In the first episode of Living Decoloniality, Carla Vitantonio shares with us the story of the podcast and the reasons that moved her to create it.
She introduces us to the doubts (or, as a social scientist would say, the research questions) that animated her research and to the answers she found: She shares the reference framework used through the episodes, briefly talking about the concept of coloniality, and she suggests ways to use and enjoy the podcast.

Resources:
Anibal Quijano, Colonialidad Eurocentrismo y America Latina
Nelson Maldonaldo Torres, On the coloniality of being
Maria Lugones, The coloniality of Gender
Eugene Bardach, The extrapolation problem


How was it recorded? studio

Mara Tissera Luna, a polyglot international consultant with over a decade of expertise in protection and forced migration, delves into the critical intersection of inclusive research and societal engagement. Explore how Mara's unique blend of skills in social anthropology and public administration informs her work in addressing root causes and developing policies for displaced populations across Latin America, the US, and Europe. Discover the power of decentering knowledge hierarchies, amplifying marginalized voices, and fostering a more equitable world.

The transcript is available here


Sources: 

• Mara Tissera Luna 
• Epistemic decentering in education for responsibility: revisiting the theory and practice of educational integrity
• Decentering academia through critical unlearning in transdisciplinary knowledge production 
• Possibilities and complexities of decolonising higher education: critical perspectives on praxis
• Living Decoloniality, S01 E03- Adriana, Kewan and Viola 

In this episode I’ll have a transformative chat with Patrick and Suhee, artists based in Daejeon, South Korea.
We delve into their journey to reconnect with nature, challenging societal norms and embracing ecological respectability.
Discover the essence of their creative studio, City as Nature, and their rebellion against coloniality. Explore the power of finding a place, recognizing your existence, and giving yourself permission to engage with nature deeply.
Can we bring any of these practices to our daily work?

Tune in for an inspiring conversation breaking free from conventional norms. 

The transcript is availeble here.

Sources: 

• Placing diverse knowledge systems at the core of transformative climate research , 
• Representation of Indigenous peoples in climate change reporting, 
• El Buen Vivir y los saberes ancestrales frente al neo-extractivismo del siglo XXI, 
• Implementing ‘Vivir Bien’: Results and Lessons from the Biocultura Programme, Bolivia, 
• City as Nature

In this episode I address one of the implicit narratives of coloniality: the narrative that  separates humans from nature, giving the firsts power over the second.
I delve into the concept of 'coloniality of being' and its impact on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). 

In an insightful interview with two members of the Feminist Hiking Collective, I explore their research triggers, and learn how they rebel against colonial perspectives, and navigate the intersection of nature, humanity, and decoloniality.


The transcript is available here

FHC - Feminist Hiking Collective is a feminist non-profit organisation formed in January 2020 and registered in Italy.    Their aim is to contribute to transformative system change through feminist popular education, research and resource co-creation; and to build collective feminist leadership and power through hiking.


Sources: 

• A decolonial feminism 
• All about power
• Achieving Transformative Feminist Leadership 
• Feminist Hiking Collective

In this episode of 'Living Decoloniality,' I engage in a thought-provoking conversation with Charles Kojo Vandyck.
From challenging colonial mindsets to reshaping narratives in the aid sector, Charles shares his journey and introduces 'Alternative Convos,' a podcast aiming to amplify diverse voices in international development.
Join me as I delve into the complexities of decolonizing minds and practices, redefining leadership, and creating spaces for alternative narratives. 


The transcript is available here



Sources: 

• Decolonizing Knowledge: From Development to Dialogue
• Beyond the Master's Tools?: Decolonizing Knowledge Orders, Research Methods and Teaching
• Epistemic Decolonization: A Critical Investigation into the Anticolonial Politics of Knowledge
• Alternative Convos