Courses

Our bodies navigate the multiple layers of power concealed in modern ideas of neutrality and universality. “Race”, the social construct that dehumanizes people of color, is one of them. Despite their specificities, both in Latin America and the US, whiteness remains the standard of power while people of color are forced to "whiten" their body, culture, knowledge, history, and experiences to be "integrated".

Nevertheless, people of color in the Americas elaborate different strategies to nurture their humanity. This class will shed light on the work of Black and Brown intellectuals, artists, and activists who create counter-hegemonic analysis, political action, and transformative narratives that we name as decolonial. "Decolonial" is understood as embodied processes of knowledge, art, politics, and self-awareness that descentre whiteness. It understands knowledge as situated, and rational thinking arising from embodied practices. Black, and Brown lived experiences will be the core of our classes. We will address decoloniality as disruptive processes of thinking, acting, feeling, and existing, as embodied epistemologies.

We will explore the possible dialogues among Black feminisms, Chicana studies, Latin American studies, Performance Studies, Dance, and Africana studies, as well as narratives produced in multiple social fields such as academia, art and activism. Concepts as “activist research”, "escrevivência”, "amefricanity" among others will encourage students to unveil reality, acknowledge Brown and Black creations, and reflect on their position in power structures.

The course is based upon different kinds of materials (academic, literary, popular) in mediums, such as academic papers, novels, videodance, and documentaries. Interfaces between theory, practice, emotion, politics, the subjective, the collective, the local, and the global will be scrutinized. Topics discussed are constantly intertwined with our beliefs, knowledge and experience. Vulnerability may arise in the classes. We encourage you to embrace it as part of the learning process, engaging with our potential as producers of knowledge, while strengthening our roles as agents for social change in the classroom and in larger communities.