Political Spaces, Representation and Decentralisation in the Postcolonial State

Recommended Prerequisites

Proficiency in Portuguese and English. Consolidated knowledge in Social Sciences’ field, with enhancement for Sociology, Anthropology and History

Teaching Methods

Teaching is based on inclusive and active methodologies. Sessions start with an interpretative explanation and contextualization by the professor, who sets the terms of the debate. Throughout the Seminar, theoretical texts and cases studies will be assigned to students, to be presented and discussed in the seminars. The second part of the seminars is dedicated to these presentations. The seminars end with a systematization of the debate by the professor.  Students are encouraged to elaborate a research work/report whose subjects are defined in accordance with the professor and students’ goals.

Learning Outcomes

This Seminar aims to give the students the capacity, through the study of relevant authors and the essential concepts, to participate in relevant postcolonial debates. It critically focus on a set of sociological, epistemological and political issues that tend to this day to structure significantly the knowledge produced about Africa, as well as the kind of relation established with the Continent. It aims to deconstruct hegemonic representations of Africa that reflect the epistemic privilege attributed to the West. On the other hand, it aims also to critically reflect on the issue of power through an intercalary analysis. This will make visible the complex relations between power, institutions, politics and discourses that go through the local, national and global dimensions. In this context, it will focus on State, Democracy and Citizenship issues according to the Epistemologies of the South and in coherence with the acknowledgement of the world’s epistemological diversity

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1.To Democratize History: (1) critique of historical metanarratives based on the colonial library; (2) decolonization of cognitive referentials; (3) historical analysis of processes of resistances and tensions that challenge eurocentric modernity and hegemonic globalization
2.To Democratize Citizenship: (1) citizenship’s analysis as a contested regime of acknowledgement, belonging and law in postcolonial contexts; (2) critical analysis of colonialisms’ legacies and power/political practices; (3) critical analysis of the effects of citizenship neoliberal reconfiguration
3.Decentralisation: (1) critique of conventional analysis; (2) analysis of the intercalary dynamics of power relations between groups, actors and institutions, and of State and Society interactions; (3) critique of State’s representation as a homogeneous space and analysis of the decentering and recentering processes and construction of the heterogeneous State; (4) analysis of empirical experiences of decentralisation

Head Lecturer(s)

Catarina Sofia Esteves Antunes Morais Gomes

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Oral presentations : 15.0%
Participation in class discussions: 15.0%
Final paper : 70.0%

Bibliography

Dussel, Enrique (org) (2000), La colonialidad del saber: eurocentrismo y ciencias sociales. Buenos Aires: CLASCO.

Gentili, Annamaria (1998), O leão e o caçador: uma história da Africa sub-sahariana dos séculos XIX e XX. Maputo: Arquivo Histórico de Moçambique.

Mudimbe, V. Y. (1988), The invention of Africa. Gnosis, philosophy and the order of knowledge. London: James Currey.

Oxhorn, Philipe et al (org.) (2004), Decentralization, democratic governance, and civil society in comparative perspective. Africa, Asia and Latin America. Baltimore/London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Santos, Boaventura de Sousa (2002), A crítica da razão indolente. Contra o desperdício da experiência. Porto: Afrontamento.

Santos, Boaventura de Sousa (2006), A gramática do tempo. Para uma nova cultura política. Porto: Afrontamento.

Santos, Boaventura de Sousa (org.) (2007), Another Knowledge is possible. Beyond northern epistemologies. London: Verso