Decolonial Dialogues: An International Colloquium in Literature, Linguistics and Education

 Dates: June 27-29, 2024

Despite the decolonization processes of the twentieth century, minds, institutions and knowledge practices around the globe continue to be shackled by colonial logic. “Decoloniality” identifies and engages with ongoing patterns of coloniality. It unlocks new institutional, pedagogical, curricular and interdisciplinary avenues. Beyond the implementation of inclusion and reparation measures, it inspires radical new ways of being and thinking. “Decolonial Dialogues” provides a space of encounter between multiple perspectives. We are interested in how “decoloniality” pertains to both research and lived experience, as it exists in different regions of the world, and as it is constantly reinvented in the entwined fields of literature, linguistics and education.

Within this framework, the decolonization of knowledges and the decentering of thought processes are not only deconstructive endeavors, but also founts of renewed approaches to languages and cultures. How might we renew knowledge by dismantling the ideological constructs rooted in a prevailing coloniality? What new critical toolkits and conceptual frameworks allow us to trace contemporary evolutions in thought? Ultimately, how might these interrogations enable the (re)evaluation of identities from cultural and intellectual perspectives?

In addition to academic panels, this colloquium will include an "unconference” day and several outings and activities in order to foster connections beyond the confines of traditional academic structures.

Contributions may be in English or French, and may include theoretical, practical and experiential perspectives, as well as critical analysis. Presentations will be organized around the following three clusters below and the (non-exhaustive) list of proposed topics:

Decolonial approaches to literatures

- Rethinking postcolonial and decolonial identities

- Postcolonial poetics

- Deconstructing imaginaries and knowledge

- Representations of Indianness, Creolity and Chineseness

- Feminism in postcolonial and decolonial theories

- Migration and diaspora literature

- Indigenous literatures

Linguistic decolonization

- Language planning policies

- Ideologies and language and cultural planning

- Language revitalization

- Decolonization of language programs courses

- Role of ancestral languages

- Translation in the era of decolonization

Decolonization of knowledge & curriculum

- Decolonizing mental spaces in a postcolonial contexts

- Principles and practices of equity, diversity and inclusion in academia

- Unlearning and relearning processes

- Cultural studies and historical approaches Cultural sites of independence and decolonization Role of individuals and institutions in cultural practices

KEY DATES

November 30, 2023: 

Abstract submission deadline. 200-300 words in English or French via this link (https://forms.gle/Jhx8cq9bssWHRPEGA). For any questions, please contact nikhita.obeegadoo@ubc.ca

December 10, 2023: Notification of acceptance

February 15, 2024: Tentative program

June 27-29, 2024: In-person conference (no virtual attendance permitted)

Organizing Committee

Dr. Nikhita Obeegadoo, University of British Columbia

Dr. Patricia Lee Men Chin, Dalhousie University

Dr. Kumari Issur, University of Mauritius

Collaborators

Dr. Yvette Marie-Edmée Abouga, Unviersity of Yaoundé I

Dr. Sushma Dusowoth, University of Hearst

Dr. Evelyn Kee Mew Wan Khin, Mauritius Institute of Education

Dr. Karen Ragoonaden, University of British Columbia

Dr. Ritu Tyagi, Pondicherry University