„Epistemic Reparations: Attending to the Grievances and Harms of the Colonial/Racial/Capital“

When discussing property frameworks and conflicts in the contemporary moment, scholars are faced with the significance of what Denise Ferreira da Silva terms the ‘Colonial/Racial/Capital’ (Ferreira da Silva 2022)—the confluence of juridical, economic, symbolic and ethical histories that constitute the global present. Rather than addressing the nexus of colonialism, raciality and capitalism, which requires acknowledging the epistemic violence (Afeworki Abay 2023; Habiyaremye in Houston, Kanyane and Davids, eds. 2022; Ngugi wa Thiong’o 1986; Spivak 1988; Fanon 1961) of post-Enlightenment ontological hegemony, one response to the Colonial/Racial/Capital in white academic contexts tends to be a disavowel of the Colonial/Racial in favor of analysis of Capital.

Epistemic reparations, the theme of this workshop, entails “[s]etting the terms of the debate” (Sultana in Funk and Negron 2023) in informing decolonization—“the restoration of the total value expropriated from Native lands and Slave bodies under total violence” (Ferreira da Silva 2022, p. 273). This workshop is an invitation to attend to the grievances and harms of slavery and colonialism. Participants in the workshop will engage with the coloniality of human hierarchy as well as specific possibilities for collective redress. Focusing in particular on the banning of Black Studies across the United States, keynote speaker K. Bailey Thomas will argue that acknowledgement and acceptance are integral to epistemic reparations. The workshop will culminate in a discussion of the significance of Ubuntu as a reparative, decolonial framework and praxis.

Timetable

9:30 a.m. WELCOME with Helen Gibson and Felix Krämer

10:00 a.m. KEYNOTE TALK “Epistemic Reparations: Questions and Applications”
                   Keynote speaker: K. Bailey Thomas (Dartmouth College)
                   Moderator: Helen Gibson (Universität Erfurt/SFB)

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Lunch break

12:30 p.m. INVITED TALK “Epistemic Decoloniality: Transcending Epistemic Violence and Centering Southern Knowledges in Academia”
                   Speaker: Robel Afeworki Abay (Alice-Salomon-Hochschule Berlin)
                   Moderator: Florian Wagner (Universität Erfurt)

1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Coffee break

2:00 p.m. INVITED TALK “Universalizing Localized Knowledge Systems: Ubuntu as a Reparative Praxis for Collective
                                               Re-imagination, Rebuilding and Renewal”
                 Speaker: Yanda Bango (independent scholar)
                 Moderator: Felix Krämer (Universität Erfurt)

2.30 p.m. Wrap-up discussion