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Global Challenges
Issue no. 10 | October 2021
Decolonisation:
A Past That Keeps Questioning Us
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Articles for this issue
Global Challenges
Issue no. 10 | October 2021
Decolonisation: A Past That Keeps Questioning Us

Today, we observe a renewed interest in the theme of decolonisation in three interrelated fields: in the academic world which opens new areas of research and teaching (e.g. decolonisation studies; decolonising the curriculum), in the practice of professionals and international actors who are revisiting their way of working, as well as in the vocabulary and activism of civil society targeting the remnants of colonial times such as street names, statues or museum objects. The renewed focus on decolonisation brings forth underlying issues such as the lingering of Eurocentrism, continued oppression of indigenous people, cultural relativism, the ongoing materiality of colonialism, the guilt of the West or, more generally, “the darker side of Western modernity”. While decolonisation has had a lasting impact on the political scene (with the decolonisation movements of the 1960s) and theoretically in the realm of academia, it lags behind in practice as processes, mentalities and epistemes are still permeated by “coloniality”. The present issue puts therefore decolonisation into historical perspective and provides fresh analytical perspectives on its epistemologies and methodologies as well as its practical application and consequences in various fields.

This issue has been coproduced by the Graduate Institute’s Department of International History and Politics and the Research Office. It also includes contributions from other research centres and departments of the Institute.

Articles for this issue

Decolonisation:
A Past That Keeps Questioning Us
  • I
     
    Lisbon, Portugal - April 20, 2016: a fragment of mappa mundi as part of The Monument of the Discoveries which celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery (or Age of Exploration)

    Decolonisation: The Many Facets of an Ongoing Struggle

    Reading time: 6 min
  • 1
     
    Old map of world hemispheres by Frederick de Wit, published In Amsterdam, 1668.

    Varieties of Decolonisation

    Reading time: 5 min
  • 2
     
    Wooden masks for sale in a shop in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

    Decolonisation: Too Simple a Term for a Complicated History

    Reading time: 5 min
  • 3
     
    Map of the word made from different kinds of spices.

    Decolonisation and Regionalism

    Reading time: 5 min
  • 4
     
    Bristol, UK. Statue of Edward Colston with blindfold before it was taken down by protestors. 6 May 2020.

    Decolonising International Politics

    Reading time: 5 min
  • 5
     
    Rendering of planet Earth chained and locked with padlock as global lockdown metaphor.

    Decolonising the Global

    Reading time: 5 min
  • 6
     
    The Hague, Netherlands. Logo of the bench of the International Court of Justice in the Peace Palace. 18 December 2019.

    Decolonisation and International Law

    Reading time: 5 min
  • 7
     
    Rainbow coloured flag and LGBT community demonstration with hearts.

    Gender and Decolonisation

    Reading time: 6 min
  • 8
     
    Stamp printed in the Guinea-Bissau, 1985.

    Decolonisation and Humanitarianism

    Reading time: 4 min
  • 9
     
    Incomplete Earth globe puzzle near medical face masks and airplane model on wooden background.

    Decolonisation and Global Health

    Reading time: 5 min
  • 10
     
    African American academic students at Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tennessee, ca. 1899.

    Decolonising Education

    Reading time: 4 min
  • 11
     
    Concept of social networking service.

    Three Decolonial Questionings of the Digital

    Reading time: 5 min
  • O
     

    Selected Publications from the Graduate Institute about Colonisation and Decolonisation

    Reading time: 4 min
Other Issues
Issue no. 6 | November 2019
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Endangered Earth
Global Challenges
Issue no. 6 | November 2019
Endangered Earth

Soil is an essential component of the Earth's ecosystem. It contributes to and fulfills a wide range of environmental and societal functions such as food production, water filtering, carbon storage and the preservation of biodiversity essential to the survival of the human species. While soils have witnessed significant environmental degradation in recent decades, lands have been the object of increased economic competition and financial speculation. The commercial and financial scramble for land has never been more intense as transnational actors and governments such as the Chinese seek large scale bids for land in the Global South that have been likened to new forms of neocolonialism. The consequences of this double tension include the loss of biodiversity, floods, climate change, famines, forced migration and conflict. 

It is the assumption of the present Dossier that issues such as large scale exploitation of land and natural resources, soil degradation, biodiversity, food security and climate change are closely interdependent and cannot be treated in isolation. Seeking to explore and better understand the interlinkages between the material degradation of soils and the increased extractive, commercial and speculative pressure on lands, the Dossier aims to address some of the broader stakes the Anthropocene is currently facing: How irreversible is the damage that has been caused to earth's soils? Have we reached a point of no return? How many people is the earth able to feed and for how long? Are we trapped in a Malthusian logic? How will climate change depend and interact with changing patterns of soil distribution and depletion? What is the impact of large scale deforestation and natural resource extraction on the environment, particularly the soils? What are the governance patterns and technological solutions emerging to address land depletion and scarcity? What are some of the cybernetic loops and mechanisms of autoregulation through which the earth reacts to human interference? 

Issue no. 1 | February 2017
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South China Sea:
War on the Horizon?
Global Challenges
Issue no. 1 | February 2017
South China Sea: War on the Horizon?

While the global balance of power, under the impetus of the steady rise of China, is shifting towards the Asia-Pacific, and because the future of US policy is uncertain after the election of Donald Trump, tensions in the South China Sea have once again become a major strategic concern. The South China Sea is witnessing a series of sovereignty disputes between littoral states defending rivalling claims to maritime rights and boundaries. Adding weight and urgency to the disputes are the significant natural resources found in the coveted archipelagos and sea beds as well as the rising national sentiments in many of the claimant states. The geostrategic dimension of these quarrels is largely transcending the region and the involvement of external powers such as the United States further complicates the equation. The recent legal victory of the Philippines over China can be seen as a supplementary cause for anxiety in a latent conflict that may at any time escalate into a regional or global confrontation. Henceforth the search for a negotiated solution becomes crucial as military budgets continue to soar in the region.