210035 LK BAK5: Theoriegeschichte und Theoriedebatten (2019W)

Counterdiscourse: European Liberalism, Colonialism, and Latin America

PART A: We will establish a link between the liberal and emancipatory ideas of 17th and 18th century liberalism and the justification or rejection of European colonialism and expansion . We analyze the texts of enlightenment writers like Adam Smith, Rousseau, and Hegel. In addition, the ambivalent ideas on colonialism of Karl Marx are examined. PART B: The Latin American and Caribbean counter-speech, which partly refers to the above-mentioned European philosophers, will be critically analyzed. We will look at the anti-imperial texts by Simón Bolívar and José Martí. In the twentieth century, we discuss the canonical texts of the Caribbean authors Aime Cesaire and Frantz Fanon who both will be important authors of the postcolonial discourse. Finally, we look at the anti-colonial debate in Latin America