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UQ hosts Indigenous decolonisation conference
by Carlos Santana 2 November 2015
I
ndigenous scholars from Australia and Latin America will present keynote papers to The South-South Dialogues Conference at The University of Queensland on Thursday and Friday this week. Prominent Indigenous scholars of the caliber of Professor Irene Watson, Professor Martin Nakata and Professor Reinaldo Fleuri, among others, will be delivering public lectures. The aim of the conference is to bring together researchers, scholars and intellectuals who are actively engaged in developing critical thinking situated in the South. The focus of the conference is to open a space and a conversation with traditional and contemporary critical thinking in Australia and Latin America in order to find pathways toward developing decolonial epistemologies and practices from a Southern perspective. Professor Irene Watson, Research Professor of Law at the University of South Australia, will present her paper on Beyond assimilation, reAboriginalising place, what are the possibilities? Professor Reinaldo Fleur, Senior Professor at the Instituto Federal Catarinense (IFC), Brazil, will speak on Sustainability and intercultural relations: New challenges for decolonial perspectives. “There is now a growing tendency within research
Professor Martin Nakata. Image: Nura Gili
institutions to confront scientific and technological knowledge with other knowledges, such as those of indigenous peoples, with the expectation that this dialogue will lead to the creation of new epistemic communities,” Professor Fleur said. “In my keynote, I will consider the complexities and ambivalences produced in these encounters between different cultures and knowledges, discussing comparative studies between the Latin American and Australian contexts about the intercultural challenges posed to scientific and technological education and the responsiveness of these emerging epistemic communities,” Professor Martin Nakata, Director of Nura Gili at the University of New South Wales, will offer his reflection on Indigenous efforts in Australia to achieve alignment between the goals of Indigenous selfdetermination, Indigenous Studies programs, and decolonizing theory. He hopes his keynote address Difficult dialogues in the South:
Questions about our practice will help set the context for an open and critical dialogue at this year’s South-South Dialogues Conference. Other Indigenous scholars speaking at the two day conference includes Gordon Chalmers who will speak on Contesting Universalism. Entering Interculturalism and Stephen Hagan, who will speak on Problematising Dominating Representations The South-South Dialogues Conference is jointly hosted by the Coloniality/Decolonial Collective, the Latin American Studies forum and the Office of the Pro Vice Chancellor (Indigenous Education) of The University of Queensland. The 5th of November Professor Irenne Watson will be speaking at 9am, Professor Reinaldo Fleuri at 3:30 pm and Professor Martin Nakata the 6th of November at 2:30 pm followed by a plenary session. All public lectures will be held at the Sir Llew Edwards building (14), room 212. For more information contact us at southsouthdialogues@ uq.edu.au
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