CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Esta pesquisa cartografa a emergÃncia de corporeidades singulares em um contexto hÃbrido atravessado por experimentaÃÃes nas artes cÃnicas e nas performances latino-americanas, como tambÃm, por experiÃncias xamÃnicas provenientes das AmÃricas central, do norte e do sul. A partir de relatos escolhidos de uma trajetÃria de oito anos como performer-pesquisador, esta pesquisa busca refletir acerca do ser-fazer decolonial e da arte como aÃÃo desterritorializante, questionando os paradigmas dominantes dos modos de viver na contemporaneidade. Tomando como eixo norteador desta pesquisa, o conhecimento-obtido-pela-experiÃncia e a prÃtica-como-pesquisa, apresentamos um corpus de memÃrias composto por diÃrios de bordo e performances recentes, procurando compreender, por meio de um conhecimento corporificado, os processos sensÃveis e intuitivos de investigaÃÃo que revelam outros modos possÃveis de existÃncia. Neste contexto, reconhecemos o artista-xamà como o catalisador da pesquisa.

The aim of this thesis is to centre three people’s stories, their experiences and un-­ derstandings of the Swedish planning framework for mining establishments. The sto-­ ries centred are from Sami people whom in different ways analyses, questions, chal-­ lenges and changes the diverse expressions of colonialism, racism and capitalism within this framework. Through centring indigenous and decolonial planning this the-­ sis tries to expose colonial planning practices and how indigenous knowledges, worldviews and perspectives are made marginalised. But at the same time it reformu-­ lates, reconstruct and reimagines planning where non-­hierarchical and relational thinking is centred. This thesis is made through guidance of (mainly) indigenous and decolonial theories, methodologies and methods.

This thesis examines the role of the helping imperative in Canadian foreign aid discourse. After weaving together post-development and decolonial theory and applying these theories to cosmopolitanism, I propose a reconstructed cosmopolitan theory - delinked cosmopolitanism - as a theoretical orientation for this analysis. In applying the discourse legitimation framework as an analytical tool, I conclude that the current discursive orientations of the Government of Canada are focused on helping while believing that Western ways of being, knowing and doing are the only way to live in the world. I then suggest possible applications of delinked cosmopolitanism and discourse analysis for future research, both in Canada and abroad, in order to support a possible shift in thinking and an improved ability to work across difference.

This thesis aims to provide a historical study of colonialism and coloniality in the period 1900-2003 through a comparison of the British invasion of Iraq at the start of the 1900s and the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 in order to identify continuities as well as changes. The study employs a comparative research method in order to demonstrate that there were significant similarities between the two invasions. However, comparing two colonial invasions in the same country in different time periods also has the potential to reveal significant changes over time in colonial strategies. The thesis compares the two invasions in terms of Quijano’s four spheres of the colonial matrix of power, namely the struggle for control of authority, the struggle for economic control, the struggle for hegemony of information and the transformation of gender relations. The thesis will demonstrate that the colonial strategies adopted by both imperial powers were strikingly similar. Moreover, the thesis will argue that these similarities were part of a continuation of a colonial system since many of the structures that were established by the British, such as tribalisation within an imposed nation-state, have remained in place and were reinforced by the U.S. Additionally, the same ways of seeing and representing colonised peoples that were present during the British invasion, were used to justify the American invasion. Every sphere of both invasions was thoroughly gendered. Not only did colonial invasions effect gender relations in Iraq considerably, but the ideologies used to justify the invasions were also based on gendered assumptions. Finally, in accordance with decolonial theory, the thesis calls for “a declaration of war against naturalised war." / Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Historical and Heritage Studies / MSocSci / Unrestricted

This thesis responds to the dearth of detailed studies of pioneering African modernists; and the need for fresh theoretical frameworks for the interpretation of their art. Building on recent scholarship that applies decolonisation as an epistemic framework, it argues that a productive decolonial discourse needs to consider concurrent forms of nationalism and cultural agency in both the anti/colonial and postcolonial periods. Central to this approach is an analysis of the aesthetic responses of artists to the experiences and legacies of colonialism. This thesis is grounded in a study of Malangatana Valente Ngwenya (1936-2011), Mozambique’s most celebrated artist. It draws substantially on archival material and rare publications, mostly in Portuguese. The artist’s career is located within changing social and political contexts, specifically the anti/colonial period, and the promise and collapse of the postcolonial revolutionary project, with the pervasive influence of the Cold War highlighted. Following the advent of globalisation, the artist’s role in normalising postcolonial relations with Portugal is foregrounded. Parallel to his contribution to Mozambican art and society, Malangatana features prominently in surveys of modern African art. The notion of the artist fulfilling divergent social roles at different points in time for evolving publics is linked to an analysis of his emergence as a composite cultural sign: autodidact; revolutionary; cultural ‘ambassador’; and global citizen. The artist’s decolonial aesthetics are positioned in relation to those of his pan-African peers, with four 6 themes elaborated: colonial assimilation; anti-colonial resistance; postcolonial dystopia; and the articulation of a new Mozambican identity. Key to this analysis is an elaboration of the concept of the polemic sign, initially proposed by Jean Duvignaud (1967), adapted here to interpret the artist’s predilection for composite visual signs that, in their ambivalence and often provocative significations, resist processes of definitive translation. It is argued that through a juxtaposition of disparate forms of signs, and the simultaneous deployment of semi-realist and narrative pictorial strategies, the artist develops a complex, eclectic and evocative aesthetic that requires critical and open-ended engagement. The thesis concludes with provocative questions regarding the extent to which the artist’s aesthetics reflect hegemonic national narratives, or act to unsettle these. of a new Mozambican identity. Key to this analysis is an elaboration of the concept of the polemic sign, initially proposed by Jean Duvignaud (1967), adapted here to interpret the artist’s predilection for composite visual signs that, in their ambivalence and often provocative significations, resist processes of definitive translation. It is argued that through a juxtaposition of disparate forms of signs, and the simultaneous deployment of semi-realist and narrative pictorial strategies, the artist develops a complex, eclectic and evocative aesthetic that requires critical and open-ended engagement. The thesis concludes with provocative questions regarding the extent to which the artist’s aesthetics reflect hegemonic national narratives, or act to unsettle these.

Matrices of Vision is a sonic deconstruction of a higher education dataset compiled by the influential Swedish higher education authority Universitetskanslersämbetet (UKÄ). The title Matrices of Vision and project theme is inspired by Indigenous cyberfeminist, scholar and artist Tiara Roxanne’s work into data colonialism. The method explores how practical applications of sound and theory can be used to meditate on political struggles and envision emancipatory modes of creation that hold space through a music-making practice. The artistic approach uses just intonation as a system, or grid of fixed points, which it refuses. The pitch strategy diverges from this approach by way of its political motivations: it disobeys just intonation’s rigid structure through practice and breaks with its order as a way to explore its experiential qualities. The approach seeks to engage beyond the structures designed to regulate behaviors and ways of perceiving and rather hold space for a multiplicity of viewpoints which are explored through cacophony, emotion and deep listening techniques.

This essay explores how, for many minoritized peoples, cyborg ontology is experienced as dehumanizing rather than posthumanizing. Rereading Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto through a decolonial, transfeminist lens, it explores the implications of Haraway’s assertion that cyborg subjectivity is the “illegitimate offspring of militarism and patriarchal capitalism” by examining the modern/colonial development and deployment of microprosthetic hormonal technologies–so often heralded as one of the technologies ushering in a queer, posthuman, post-gender future–as mechanisms of gendered and racialized subjective control operative at the level of the biomolecular.

Comment penser l’écologie depuis le monde caribéen ? Quelles sont les spécificités d’une conceptualisation des enjeux écologiques depuis les sociétés postcoloniales caribéennes ? Cette thèse est une réponse à ces questions à partir d’une approche interdisciplinaire. Elle débute par une enquête historique sur les fondations politiques et écologiques du monde colonial caribéen dans son rapport aux humains et aux non-humains. Elle se poursuit par une enquête sociologique de conflits écologiques contemporains dans la Caraïbe. Celle-ci comprend une étude approfondie des enjeux politiques et philosophiques de la contamination de la Martinique et de la Guadeloupe par des pesticides utilisés dans les bananeraies, dont le chlordécone. L’analyse des critiques et des mobilisations collectives locales révèle une pensée de l’écologie qui remet en cause une constitution coloniale du monde caribéen : une écologie décoloniale. Par ailleurs, une attention est portée à certaines politiques de préservation écologique qui exacerbent les discriminations politiques et les inégalités sociales, à l’instar de projets de reforestation en Haïti, et de la réserve naturelle de Vieques à Porto Rico. Enfin, une enquête littéraire montre comment un discours écologique global s’articule à un imaginaire de l’esclavage colonial et ses figures, telles le navire négrier et le Nègre Marron, qui structurent des rapports à la terre, à la nature et au monde. Ces trois approches esquissent les caractéristiques d’une écologie caribéenne cherchant à habiter la terre et à faire monde. Ces expériences me permettent de proposer une pensée de l’écologie qui a le monde comme horizon : une écologie-du-monde. / How can we conceptualize ecological issues from the Caribbean world? What are the specificities of an ecological thought from the postcolonial societies of the Caribbean? This thesis tackles these questions with an interdisciplinary approach. It starts with an historical investigation on the foundation of the colonial Caribbean world and its relations to humans and non-humans. It follows with a sociological study of contemporary ecological conflicts in the Caribbean. This includes an in-depth study of the political and philosophical issues of the contamination of Martinique and Guadeloupe with pesticides used in banana plantations, such as chlordecone. The analysis of the critical discourses and the collective mobilizations shows an ecological thought that challenges the colonial constitution of the Caribbean world: a decolonial ecology. Besides, a focus is put on certain ecological policies that exacerbate political discriminations and social inequalities, as in the case of certain reforestation projects in Haiti, or the Wildlife Refuge of Vieques in Puerto Rico. Finally, a literary study reveals how a global ecological discourse encounters an imaginary of slavery and its main figures, such as the slave ship and the Maroon, that structure relations to the land, to nature and to the world. These three approaches draw the main characteristics of a Caribbean ecology that strives to inhabit the earth and to found a world. These experiences enabled me to propose an ecological thought that has the world as the horizon: a world-ecology.

In this thesis I explore the theoretical, ethical, and practice-based implications of doing research with Indigenous, racialized, and LGBT2SQ+ youth and young people. This research traces participant conceptualizations of decolonial love, through arts- and land-based methods, within the context of ongoing settler colonialism. Through an Indigenous-led and participatory research project called Sisters Rising, I engaged in intimate conversations and facilitated research workshops with young Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) who reflected on their understandings of decolonial love as related to their own experiences, knowledges, and teachings. Their conceptualizations of decolonial love as inextricably tied to land, sovereignty, and resurgence disrupt settler colonial narratives that attempt to violently displace and disenfranchise BIPOC communities and undermine Indigenous intellectual knowledges as inferior or simplistic, particularly in Euro-Western academia. Through this research BIPOC young people’s understandings of decolonial love guide my praxis and ongoing learning as a frontline practitioner who is committed to cultivating and nurturing a politicized ethic of decolonial love in my child-, youth-, and family-centered praxis. / Graduate / 2022-07-05

Thesis advisor: Roberto S. Goizueta / Classical formulations of liberation theology appropriated the biblical narrative of the exodus as a paradigmatic image of a God who sides with the oppressed and acts in history to transform situations of injustice. Recognition of this foundational narrative as a preeminent expression of God’s partial love for the victims of history prompted liberation theologians to begin analyzing the contemporary significance of the exodus theme in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The paradigmatic reception of the exodus in black and Latin American liberation theologies exhibits the pivotal role of the narrative in the emergence of theological reflection guided by the preferential option for the poor. In the late 1980s, however, theologians who were revisiting the exodus narrative in light of the complex realities of settler-colonial power, the mechanics of erasure, and experiences of social invisibilization began to reevaluate the meaning of the exodus in connection with its troubling underside—namely, the envisioned invasion, dispossession, and destruction of the indigenous inhabitants of Canaan. Consequently, the paradigmatic conception of the exodus was critiqued and the enduring value of the exodus as a liberative resource was called into question, especially in relation to contexts and histories of suffering which can be identified in certain ways with biblical representations of the Canaanites. Catalyzed by Osage, Palestinian, and womanist theologians, this important shift in the conversation on the relationship between the exodus tradition and God’s relation to the oppressed brought into sharp focus the harmful dimensions of a biblical narrative which had come to signify the effective justice of God amid dehumanizing conditions. In addition, this renewed attention to the exodus demonstrated how its entanglement with the theme of conquest intersects with challenges of complicity in structural violence and exclusionary legacies in the United States as well as in the larger context of global geopolitics. This dissertation advances the conversation on the theological appropriation of the exodus in several ways. The project first examines the liberation theologies of Gustavo Gutiérrez and James Cone as exemplary of the paradigmatic model. The discussion of critical departures from the exodus paradigm addresses the contributions of Naim Stifan Ateek, Delores S. Williams, and Robert Allen Warrior. Finally, a constructive response to the question of the role of the exodus in theological reflection grounded in the option for the poor is put forth. This response first introduces key insights from scholars in the field of settler colonial studies as a framework for placing Ateek and Warrior in dialogue with each other as indigenous interpreters of the biblical narrative. The results of this dialogue are then developed in relation to important theological perspectives discussed earlier in the project in order to reimagine the contemporary significance of the exodus in a manner that renders audible the cries of the Canaanites. To neighbor what has been relegated to absence, to disrupt the forgetfulness of what lies buried in both text and world, to sit with broken narratives and encounter God in their disregarded victims—this is central to the challenges facing readers who turn to the exodus in the spirit of liberation today. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.