Past activities
Tuesday 20 October 2020
Webinar on decolonizing ecological relations
Time: 19h - 21h
Decolonizing ecological relations just like decolonization in general is such as a complex and politically charged issue that should involve people affected the most by colonialism. As such there is no single solution and a blueprint to decolonizing ecological relations.
In talking about colonialism and ecological relations, it’s important to note that any economic and political discussion has an ecological reference to it. The global societal relations we create are in fact ecological relations as well. Current colonial and capitalist modes of production and consumption are not separate entities but rather intricate processes that transform nature. The relationship with nature has resulted in historical processes that are today mostly vivid through the global environmental crisis that affects mainly poor and racialized communities in the world.
Decolonization is tied to the histories of domination and exploitation funded upon a vivid struggle between colonizers and colonized. Because it is about looking at historical and geopolitical multi-scalar relations that continue to exist, it has always to be contextualized to a specific geography and history of violence and dispossession. As such, it is about tackling the process of dispossession, violence and death that happened and continues to happen to racialized groups. These actions need to engage with structural injustices and judicial reform that go beyond economic pay-outs.
Decolonization is assuming social and ecological relations not as natural facts but as other forms of economic production and reproduction that are the result of the collective memory of societies. Rather than unlearning and deconstructing western knowledge or critiquing modernity, it is more about a serious discussion on how to symbolically and materially dismantle colonial, racial, gender and class oppression historically imposed and permanently reinforced upon people through social institutions. This dismantling starts in daily practices and extends to multiple scales of action and movement.
In sum, decolonization is subject to contradictions. It is a struggle, it is in dispute and it is unfinished.
Register here
Tuesday 27th and Thursday 29th of october lunch-time
Launch Green Impact - get started with the climate strategy
Recently, our university has launched its climate strategy, with the objective to become climate neutral by 2030 and completely fossil-free by 2050. In order to achieve these goals together, we invite all staff to participate in Green Impact, a project in collaboration with GreenOffice and SOS International. Green Impact translates specific goals from the climate strategy in more than 100 ready-to-go actions, to be implemented in the workplace or in the home working environment. As a participant, you receive all necessary support and access to a university-wide network of like-minded people to create a sustainable impact together. Moreover, you can win a nice prize for your efforts.