143042 SE Tracing Colonial Continuities (2023S)

Context
As decolonization never takes place unnoticed and counteracts conditions of global social injustice that have become socially reinforced as a result of historical colonialism, approaches to decolonization of knowledge systems need a self-reflecting lens on how knowledge is stored and protected. It deals with the mechanisms of exclusion at institutional level, such as the braid of reinforcing practices in pedagogy, intellectuals, publications, publishing, archives and libraries, such as racism, the assertion of the superiority of a mindset shaped by the European Enlightenment, patriarchal structures, the division of regions and populations into "developed" and "underdeveloped," and includes theories that are not recognized, but excluded from the scientific canon.
Aacademic libraries, archives and collections process, manage and provide knowledge, that has been produced within the framework of colonial concepts, and play a key role in the decolonization process. In practice, the entire organization with its traces of racist and colonial mindsets on all layers become critically reflected. The collection itself, its accessibility, the staff, the organizational structures, the relationships with the relevant communities, the services, the program, and the design of the spaces, including the digital ones.

From the perspective of racism critique in the African studies, the decolonial view brings added value to the institution: It provides a stimulus to change perspectives, to think about inclusion and socio-political statement. Consequently, if academic and library staff members are familiar with forms of racism and colonial power relations that are transported via the books, antiracist strategies, new pathways and projects of decolonisation can be developed constructively.

Content
Based on the endeavor to detect racism and colonial patterns of thought in different knowledge systems, we will work in this seminar on a decolonial approach to analyze centers of knowledge, libraries, archives and repositories.
As the process of knowledge co-creation is collaborative, we will learn and work on real projects and examples of decolonization practices in a transdisciplinary context.
At the same time, the role of libraries as places of encounter, debate and interaction is of core interest.
In the spirit of transformative learning and teaching, this course will not only trace the complexity of colonial discourses, but also explore encounters with experiences of difference, limits of one's own perception, and irritation on the side of all participants. In the course, the library spaces of 3 Universities in Kenya and Austria will be used for a self-critical examination of structural racism. With its different areas of activity and actors, it serves as a field of investigation, training of reflexivity and at the same time as a place of critical learning.

Learning objective
The goal is to practice a critical examination of knowledge productions. Mechanisms of exclusion and the creation of differences are analysed on the basis of concrete examples of discourse. Furthermore, projects for action (and utopias) are to be developed together, to assume /to imagine how ordering mechanisms of power discourses can be broken through and epistemic violence in public institutions can be addressed. The students will collaboratively work on their projects.

Methods
Students decide in the first four weeks to work on a topic based on a case study of their choice. For the individual elaboration of the topic and processing of the case studies, qualitative social and cultural science research methods are in the foreground, complemented by joint discussions of key texts, excursions to museums and exchange with anti-racist projects and academic lectures.
They will be guided in submitting abstracts for international research conferences and developing their own project design and its implementation to present it to public audience.