In this class, we engage decolonial theory and praxis by taking as our focus rhetorics of difference. We will begin by detecting the ways in which we are constructed as discursive subjects in the colonial matrix of power. What are our privileges as these relate to modern imperial legacies of knowing and being? What are our baselines for normalcy and difference as these relate to modern imperial legacies of knowing and being?
 
The second part of the course asks us to name and epistemically delink from rhetorics of difference. We will learn to unlearn the ways in which we are written by imperial pasts and presents. In what ways might the consumption and production of rhetorics of difference contribute to sustaining imperial legacies of power? In what ways might we as discursive subjects embody and practice social, linguistic, racial, and epistemic differencing? What is to be done?
 
The third part of the course introduces decolonial methodology and methods to oppose and unsettle the creation of difference. We will imagine and propose decolonial projects of doing, making, and being as we take up the questions: How can we unsettle the production of difference in our teaching, research, and day-to-day practice of knowing and being? How might we as students, scholars, teachers, and citizens of earth engage in decoloniality and create together pluriversal possibilities?
 
Finally, we will present the initial results of our praxis projects as we attempt to create alternatives to rhetorics of difference. What projects might we propose to recuperate suppressed epistemologies or to imagine alternatives to the hierarchical structures of everyday life or to help our students learn to unlearn? Assignments will include original scholarship and analyses, presentations, a project proposal and initial results.

ENGL 7395: ST:Decolonial Theory &amp; Methods

ENGL 7395: ST:Decolonial Theory & Methods