International Seminar: Towards Decolonizing Futures - Languages, Culture, Art, and Nature Under and Against Settler Colonialism

November 11-12, 2023
Meio University, Okinawa Japan

In order to encourage collaboration for decolonisation between researchers and artists, and between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, the organising committee of the International Seminar in Okinawa welcomes you to submit your abstract as the application to present at this seminar outlined below.

When Christopher Columbus “discovered the New World” in 1492, humanity entered the era of colonialism, entangled with racism and capitalism. Today, colonialism still smoulders in the former colonies and perpetuates across the world in the form of settler colonialism. Indigenous peoples have resisted the injustices that come with settler colonialism - ongoing oppression, continuous discrimination, and exploitation of nature - for centuries. Meanwhile, mainstream academia has been complicit with colonialism. This seminar aims to challenge those authorities, and search for ways to emancipate Indigenous, minority, and other marginalised peoples from the remnants of (settler) colonialism and and to support their initiatives to revitalise and reclaim their languages, culture, art, and nature towards decolonizing futures. In addition, it aims to create discussion on how new decolonizing approaches in academia can be utilised to support decolonization struggles worldwide.

The number of words in the abstract is limited to 150. Authors must include the title, affiliation, email-address, and 4-5 keywords in the abstracts. The completed abstract should be submitted to Madoka Hammine at: m.hammine@meio-u.ac.jp. before 30th September, 2023.

A draft programme will be released in the middle of October 2023 at the website of CEMiPoS (https://cemipos.org/).

Organising Committee:

Madoka Hammine, Associate Professor, Meio University
Hiroshi Maruyama, Professor Emeritus, Muroran Institute of Technology                             Risako Sakai, PhD Candidate, Oregon State University
Tomoko Arakaki, Professor, Okinawa Christian University
Masahide Ishihara, Professor, The University of the Ryukyus
Chihiro Komine, Associate Professor, Okinawa Christian University
Antonie Frank Grahamsdaughter, Contemporary artist, journalist and curator                   Meindert Boersma, Graduate student, University of Cambridge
Carles Jornet, PhD student, The University of Sydney
Sylwia Dobkowska, Assistant Professor, University of Gdańsk