Walter Mignolo | ICRRA Conference 2021: Cooperation in a Fragmented World

Keynote Presentation: Walter Mignolo (William H. Wannamaker Professor and Director of the Center for Global Studies and the Humanities, Duke University)
Welcome and Introduction: Lynda Jessup (North American Cultural Diplomacy Initiative, Canada)

Colonial and Imperial Differences: A Hindrance to Inter-National Cultural Cooperations

There are several issues that need clarification when addressing the topic of International Cooperations. The keynote will focus on two of them. One is the sphere of the State (inter-State rather than inter-National relations) and the other is the public sphere (e.g. the enclosure of the civil society facing immigration and flight) in conflict with the State. The other are the colonial and imperial differences that are hidden under the word 'cultural differences'. Racial, sexual, religious, national, etc. discriminations are preventing today's inter-State and inter-National (the public sphere) relations and cooperations. Colonial and imperial differences are always entangled in power differentials, while cultural differences disguise the imperial differences that today are shaping inter-State conflicts (cf. US/EU – China) and the colonial differences that today divide the domestic relations of the public sphere.

This key note was held in the framework of the ICRRA Online Conference 2021: "Cooperation in a Fragmented World"

More about ICRRA: https://www.ifa.de/en/research/icrra/