THI members Natalie Avalos and Dawa Lokyitsang are both featured speakers in a Tibet & Himalaya Lecture series on "Decolonzing Himalayan Studies" through Humboldt University.
The Zoom link to register is: https://hu-berlin.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5crcu6hrzkjHNIPeTxwYcvC61Ux0sf-DIhn
Decolonisation is a concern that is extending into various areas of academic discourse and knowledge production. In an institutional context decoloniality, as Walter Mignolo (2017) puts it, has the claim to de-link (detach) epistemologies from colonial hierarchies of knowledge in order to engage in an epistemic reconstitution. But also, in popular discourse, the term‚ decolonisation‘ currently receives an increasing amount of attention. Acknowledging this trend, the lecture series raises the question in what form decolonisation could come theoretically for the field of Himalayan studies and how the implementation could look like. Reflecting on this discourse, we have invited academics and experts from varying disciplines to share their experiences and thoughts on the matter. We hear about practical examples from their own research background and practice. Among them, some have already dealt intensively with the issue and have organized workshops and lectures addressing the issue, such as the session of the American Association of Religious Studies (2019). How do they encounter the concept of decolonisation in their specific context?
The aim is to listen and learn from each other and put the focus on Himalayan perspectives. In doing so, the lecture series seeks to stimulate a joint learning process.