Annotation
European science presents itself as universal, but it does so by claiming the European perspective as a universalist one - and thus, it becomes rather Eurocentric. Therefore, we see decolonial thought as a global challenge to problematise the historical impact of colonialism and power politics on formation of knowledge, often still rooted in the dichotomic relationship of the Centre and its Periphery. Through connecting academics already involved in decolonial debates, and proposing decolonial thinking to those who yet haven't, we aim to tackle the problem in an interdisciplinary framework. Decolonial thought directly unites research with the third role of university, i.e., its active involvement in looking for solutions to global economic, social, and environmental problems. This accords with how the place of university in today’s society is understood by contemporary postcolonial scholars like Achille Mbembe, Sara Ahmed or Walter Mignolo.
The notion of European superiority has been embraced by missionaries, rulers, and intellectuals, and it survives to this day – on both micro and macro scales. It is present in international politics, treatment of minorities, in humanitarian aid etc. So, colonialism can be seen as a shared European experience, regarding not only colonial empires, but also the countries that didn't have proper colonies. Here as well discussions on acquiring colonies took place, often following the formation of new national states. How can we collectively therefore decolonise European universities? The challenge of decolonisation confronts us with other questions. Is university truly inclusive to students from all backgrounds? Who is excluded from the discussion and which narratives are given attention which not?
This course was supported by the 4EU+ Student Mini-grants 2022 within the project Decolonisation Challenge (members: Bc. Tereza Hrdlička and Mgr. Anna Řičář Libánská) solved at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in the cooperation with Uniwersytet Warszawski and Università degli Studi di Milano.