Tag: CLACSO

Living well and quilombo teachings

The concepts of living well, of the indigenous peoples, and of quilombo teachings, born out of the resistance of the black peoples, afford lived experiences and organizations that are distinct from the colonial and capitalist modernity. Both challenge the logic underlying modern exploitation by proposing new forms of coexistence that are based on ecological harmony and collectiveness. This article explores how these two traditions, originating in different contexts, converge by ‘re-signifying’ the relation between human beings and nature and by promoting more just, sustainable, and inclusive societies, all the while keeping alive teachings and practices that transcend the colonial logic.

Justice from Below

In the form of a dialogue, this piece explores the diverse and contested meanings of justice, and how these meanings shift when justice is understood as a collective and grassroots endeavour. It foregrounds the role of emotions in shaping concepts of justice, and frames people’s justice as a situated, relational practice that operates across multiple scales, drawing together different knowledges and ways of feeling.

Colonialities of Power and Peace in Cameroon

This article makes the case that the militarised model of peace favoured in the discourse around Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis falls within a hegemonic, liberal/Western conception of peace shaped by the coloniality of power. This top-down perspective makes no space for a pluriversal dialogue, which is essential for resolving the crisis. Drawing on the concepts of decolonial peace and coloniality (of power), the article outlines several pathways for enshrining peace in Cameroon – and in Africa more broadly – within African peoples’ systems of values and knowledge. The core argument is that lasting peace in Cameroon and other conflicts on the continent requires a decolonial and Indigenous approach to peace.

Women’s Land Rights as a Pathway to Positive Peace

In India, land rights continue to be structured according to colonial systems of tenancy and ownership, which ensures the persistence of discrimination against women. Through the lens of structural violence and positive peace (Galtung, 1969), this entry discusses the central importance of the decolonisation of land rights in the creation of sustainable peace. Using India’s Gujarat-based Working Group for Women and Land Ownership (WGWLO) as a case study, the analysis demonstrates how achieving positive peace requires a transformation of fundamental power relations through economic justice, social transformation and institutional change.

Sumak Kawsay

Nonviolent actions that advocate for new rights and challenge dominant discourses and practices of progress and development disrupt the colonialities of power, knowledge and being. These forms of resistance, particularly in the defence of nature’s rights and community sovereignty, remain largely unacknowledged within civil resistance studies. This paper explores how buen vivir, or Sumak Kawsay, contributes to nonviolent resistance in Ecuador by identifying areas of convergence, divergence and complementarity between these two concepts and their practical implications. It underscores the decolonial perspective of Sumak Kawsay in reclaiming being, knowledge and power, arguing that its integration into nonviolent resistance studies could foster a more inclusive and culturally responsive approach to Indigenous struggles.

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