Book Symposium: Indigenous, Modern and Postcolonial Relations to Nature

CLUE+ invites you to a symposium celebrating the publication of Angela Roothaan’s book Indigenous, Modern and Postcolonial Relations to Nature (Routledge, 2019).

Date: 22 January 2020
Time: 15:00-17:00
Location: HG-11A33

Angela Roothaan discusses how initiatives to tackle environmental problems cross-nationally are often challenged by economic growth processes in postcolonial nations and further complicated by fights for land rights and self-determination of indigenous peoples.

For these peoples, survival requires countering the scramble for resources and clashing with environmental organizations that aim to bring their lands under their own control. The author explores the epistemological and ontological clashes behind these problems.

This volume brings more awareness of what structurally obstructs open exchange in philosophy world-wide, and shows that with respect to nature, we should first negotiate what the environment is to us humans, beyond cultural differences. It demonstrates how a globalizing philosophical discourse can fully include epistemological claims of spirit ontologies, while critically investigating the exclusive claim to knowledge of modern science and philosophy.

Program

15.00 Opening and intro Angela Roothaan
15.15 Talk by David Ludwig
15.45 Talk by Pius Mosima
16.15 – 17.00 Reply by Angela Roothaan plus discussion

Speakers

Dr. Pius Mosima (University of Bamenda, Cameroon) specializes in African & Intercultural Philosophy and Political Philosophy with a focus on Africa. He is the author of Philosophic Sagacity and Intercultural Philosophy (Leiden 2016) and many articles in the mentioned fields.

Dr. Angela Roothaan (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is the author of Indigenous, Modern and Postcolonial Relations to Nature. Negotiation the Environment (NY/London 2019). Her research focuses on African and Intercultural Philosophy, Spirit Ontologies and Politics of Epistemology.