** now with English and Dutch subtitles** (massive thanks to Sam de Vocht). In September 2019 I was blessed to sit down with Anthony Bosschem and Tom Mahy from Zwijgen is geen optie (‘Not speaking up is not an option’) – I forgot how gratifying it is to sit across from people who actually want to…
[Article] After Inclusion. Thinking with Julian Go’s ‘Thinking against empire: Anticolonial thought as social theory’
Earlier this year I published an article titled: After Inclusion. Thinking with Julian Go’s ‘Thinking against empire: Anticolonial thought as social theory’ It is part of a conversation on Julian Go’s BJS Annual Lecture titled “Thinking against empire: Anticolonial thought as social theory.“ The abstract reads as follows: “This contribution engages Go’s generative invitation to think…
“Congo” Commissie – why I will not participate in the expert group [NL/ENG]
21 July 2020 – On July 17th 2020 I was officially invited to become a member of the expert group that is to assist the Special Commission of the Belgian Parliament tasked with: “het onderzoek over Congo-Vrijstaat (1885 – 1908) en het Belgisch koloniaal verleden in Congo (1908-1960), Rwanda en Burundi (1919-1962), de impact hiervan…
IR Should Abandon the Notion of Aid, and Address Racism and Reparations.
3 July 2020 – Foreign Policy – I contributed to a collective analysis piece titled: Why is Mainstream IR blind to Racism? with the brilliant minds of BY GURMINDER K. BHAMBRA, YOLANDE BOUKA, RANDOLPH B. PERSAUD, VINEET THAKUR, DUNCAN BELL, KAREN SMITH, TONI HAASTRUP, SEIFUDEIN ADEM “Worldwide protests against police racism and brutality and the toppling…
[video] On the Ruins of Epistemicide
Decolonising Westernised Solidarity through Epistemic Blackness (JIAS Seminar) In Februari 2020 I embarked on a stimulating Writing Fellowship at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Studies (JIAS) in Johannesburg, South Africa. On 18 March 2020 I got the chance to present my work in progress – a monograph for the special book series Kilombo, of Rowman…
The corona pandemic blows the lid off the idea of Western superiority
Anticolonial Solidarity in times of Pest and Cholera [this op-ed was originally written in Dutch and published on March 23, 2020 by MO* Magazine here] Olivia U. Rutazibwa looks at the spread of the corona virus in Europe from a great distance as she is on a writing retreat at the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced…
[Article] Hidden in Plain Sight: : Coloniality, Capitalism and Race/ism as Far as the Eye Can See.
A while ago I was asked by Millennium Journal of International Studies to review a line up of amazing works: Christina Sharpe, In the Wake: On Blackness and Being (Durham: Duke University Press, 2016, 175 pp). Gloria Wekker, White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race (Durham: Duke University Press, 2016, 226 pp.). Robbie Shilliam and…
E-IR Black History Month Interviews
28 October 2019 — To celebrate Black History Month e-IR.info asked several scholars about race and IR: Do you think the discipline of IR has made important strides to equally incorporate the research, ideas and histories of People of Colour, both conceptually and institutionally? What could be done better? Below is the interview edited by…
[op-ed] What’s There to Mourn? Decolonial Reflections on (the End of) Liberal Humanitarianism
1 January 2019 – The first issue of the brand new open access Journal of Humanitarian Affairs is out! The focus is on Humanitarianism and the Liberal Order, with contributions from Juliano Fiori (ed), Mel Bunce, Stephen Hopgood, Mark Duffield, Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, David Rieff and José Luis Fiori I was asked to contribute with and…
On Babies and Bathwater – full TEXT
On December 7th 2017 I gave a Sussex Development Lecture in which I offer a conversation between personal experiences, reflections and decolonial scholarship to reflect on the fundamental, practical, institutional and epistemological implications of recognising the coloniality in the international development project. When we seek to part with the coloniality but not with the desire…
Understanding epistemic diversity // decoloniality as research strategy
[text based on a talk at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, NL, originally published on July 4th 2018 on their blog] How do we make sure that our efforts to diversify knowledge production go beyond a window-dressing/Benetton operation? How can we move beyond merely adding some colour and other markers of ‘diversity’…
[Video] On Babies and Bathwater: Decolonising Development Studies
In this Sussex Development Lecture (7 December 2017), I offer a conversation between personal experiences, reflections and decolonial scholarship to reflect on the fundamental, practical, institutional and epistemological implications of recognising the coloniality in the international development project. When we seek to part with the coloniality but not with the desire and imperative of global…
// Olivia U. Rutazibwa 