Contribution short abstract:

How to decolonize universities while working in this colonial, neoliberal institution shaped by intersectional inequalities? This contribution focuses on the resistant (everyday) practices of scholar activists within contradictory and precarious academic working conditions.

Contribution long abstract:

Universities play a central role in the legitimization, production and circulation of knowledge. These processes are political and involved in various forms of (re)production of intersectional inequalities and colonial continuities. Moreover, the ongoing economization of universities worldwide, further reinforce these power asymmetries despite a supposed institutional commitment to social justice and diversity.

Decolonial and feminist social movements and (academic) activists have been demanding and shaping a transformation of the higher education system for decades. But how is it possible to advocate for a more just transformation of society and science within an institution whose foundations, logics and practices repeatedly contradict this concern?

In my doctoral project, I approach this paradox from the perspective of marginalized early career academics at German universities who try to advocate for a Decolonization of science and higher education as “scholar activist” (Collins 2017) while "deal[ing] with the dialectics of un/doing epistemic violence" (Brunner 2023) in their academic work. More specifically, the focus of the research lies on the resistant strategies and (everyday) practices that these actors develop in the conflicting academic field of ethical contradictions, (colonial) power asymmetries and unequal working conditions. The role that un/communalizing decoloniality can play in this context will be discussed for this workshop.

The project is based on a qualitative intersectional approach that includes problem-centered interviews and participatory workshops. The aim is to collect and jointly develop limits and possibilities for political interventions as well as everyday resistant thinking and action strategies within, outside and against the neoliberal university.