Paper short abstract:

The presentation examines the complicated path to decolonizing European practices of reproducing colonial cannons of knowledge. Expanding from my ethnographic encounters with self-identified indigenous individuals, I discuss how to raise greater awareness of our colonial anthropological practices.

Paper long abstract:

I want to start the conversation reflecting on some ideas from Tuck and Young (2012): ‘decolonization is incommensurable’ (p. 31), and ‘Decolonization is not and “and.” It is an elsewhere.’ (p.36). I find these ideas inspiring starting points to look for common avenues to tackle the ongoing reproduction of colonial practices within European anthropological cannons of knowledge. First, we need to contextualize and address what European Anthropology is and how we position ourselves within it/them, as there are many Europe-s with different traditions. Secondly, there is an ongoing trend to add decolonial everywhere as an adjective to redeem guilt without addressing the infrastructures of power in which the colonial knowledge is kept almost untouchable. This refusal is related to the significant academic enterprise that encourages the fast production of scholarly articles at a young intellectual age and allows more creative writing at the end of the academic career. I draw from my ethnographic encounters. I tried to understand how self-identified indigenous individuals navigate some mechanisms within the United Nations (UN) system, how they encounter colonial expectations of being indigenous and non-indigenous in these settings, and UN knowledges. In these locations, decolonization is part of the narrative of the UN General Assembly (in 1960, the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, also known as the Declaration on Decolonization, was adopted). I reflect beyond my ethnographic encounters on how the idea of decolonization is not taken seriously and is becoming a buzzword in our discipline.