Thinking about (de)coloniality in Abya Yala/Americas: decolonial theories and practices

The colloquium is part of the publication of the book co-authored by Philippe Colin and myself entitled Pensées décoloniales. An introduction to critical theories of Latin America (La Découverte, 2023). It aims to analyze the contributions and issues proposed by the critical and decolonial theory of Abya Yala (indigenous name of the Americas). The Latin American critical thought is old and has important figures such as the Peruvian José Carlos Mariátegui, the Mexican Guillermo Bonfil Batalla or the Bolivian Fausto Reynaga, who have reflected on the colonial legacies of the social problems of the Americas and above all on the way they should be solved.

During the two days of the International Colloquium, the aim will be to produce a cartography and a genealogy of the decolonial thought of the Americas and of Latin America in particular. It will be a question of thinkers, but also of decolonial practices. For the notion of decoloniality is not to be taken simply from a theoretical point of view, for praxis is a fundamental dimension of Latin American critical thought, even more so than in the fields of Subaltern Studies and Postcolonial Studies.

The conference will be held in Paris and will bring together researchers from all over the Americas.