Decolonial approaches to studying history and linguistic-cultural heritage (research seminar) 3700-ISSC-24-DASH
Research in the humanities has been profoundly decolonized over the last several decades through the inclusion of postcolonial, Indigenous and Southern epistemologies. But how often do we ask ourselves to what extent have they decolonized us as researchers? How has it transformed our own research practices? Is our research meaningful for people who, as a result of colonialism and modern policies, have been deprived of their own sense of history and belonging to the past?
This multidisciplinary and collaborative research seminar embraces different areas and methods of inquiry as well as critical self-reflective approaches to history, linguistics and anthropology. Of special importance are engaged, participatory and decolonial forms of research and social engagement. The focus of the seminar are ethnic minoritized/Indigenous cultures and communities, including especially endangered language communities and speakers of contested languages from all over the world. The seminar will include the inclusion of severely underrepresented, ignored and/or misconstrued perspectives and contexts from the Global South as well as revisionist, critical approaches to studying the Global North. Participants will include MA and PhD students as well as researchers and activists representing different disciplines and fields of expertise. The seminar’s participants will actively engage in pursuing new studies, interpretations, understandings and uses of past and present realities in the multifaceted process of decolonization where the voices of Indigenous people and minority groups are often ignored. These voices have long been underrepresented and misrepresented not only in historical research but also in the cognate fields of anthropology, linguistics, sociology, and cultural or heritage studies. This can be efficiently challenged and transformed by more collaborative and empowering research paradigms, especially when they avail themselves of such powerful tools as local languages in which traditional knowledge, memory, concepts, and patterns are encoded, expressed, and transmitted. In order to address these challenges, the participants will be encouraged to develop and present their own critical research relevant for multidisciplinary inquiry into history as well as (socio)linguistic and cultural studies (broadly defined), from within decolonial and Southern perspectives.
One of the leading themes of the seminar will be equitable models of collaboration with native students and researchers have recently been advocated within the frameworks of Community-Based Participatory Research and related paradigms such as community-driven research and empowering research, including especially the principles of including especially the principles of including especially the principles of the TRUST Code, A Global Code of Conduct for Equitable Research Partnerships. These approaches have also been described as the transition from the more traditional non-cooperative research performed on communities and from patronizing models (applied research for a community) to a more cooperative and equitable paradigm: research with and by a community. The seminar is also grounded in the conviction that non-patronizing collaborative work with Indigenous people and members of local communities in general, when respected as subjects and agents rather than regarded as objects of research, can significantly enrich our scholarly work and understanding, overcoming some persistent methodological weaknesses and contributing to the decolonization of research. Despite growing expectations regarding the “interdisciplinarity” of research, knowledge-producing paradigms in academia continue to draw sharp distinctions between “natural” and “human” sciences and to divide human experience into distinct historical, cultural, political, social, economic, and psychological fields. By focusing on many forms of dialogues embracing Indigenous intellectual and historical traditions and local knowledge, this research seminar will also promote more decolonial research practices.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Development of critical and multidisciplinary tools for decolonial research (K_W07, K_W08, K_U01, K_K01)
Refining research methods and skills for studying linguistic-cultural heritage in the context of challenges created by the globalized world and neocolonial polices as well as accelerating sociocultural change (K_W02 , K_W03, K_W07, K_W08 , K_U01, K_U04)
Developing individual research projects and presentations or written essays related to the themes of the seminar (K_W01 , K_W02, K_U01, K_U04, K_U06, K_U07)
Acquiring contextualized knowledge about a significant number of case studies including European and non-European cultures and languages (K_W01 , K_W02, K_U04)
Depending the knowledge on theoretical and practical aspects of decolonizing research in the humanities (K_W02, K_W07)
Refining presentation, self-reflectivity and discussion skills (K_W08, K_K01 , K_K05, K_U06)
Assessment criteria
Each participant has to deliver at least one formal presentation based on original and critical research and participate actively in the discussions throughout the whole seminar cycle; alternatively, the approval of the seminar is possible through active participation in discussions and submitting an essay within the thematic scope of the seminar. Two absences (without formal justification) are permitted within each academic term (four for the entire course). Five or six absences require an individual approval of the seminar. Seven and more absences result in the lack of approval and the necessity to repeat the class.
No exam; approval based on active participation, presentation or written essay.
Bibliography
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Additional information
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