CEPH5200

CEPH

5200

Postcolonialism, Decolonialism, & Dharma A Dialogue

This is a methodology course that looks at current scholarship at the intersection of colonialism/neocolonialism and the Study of Religion. The traditions of the other-than-Western world have been examined and articulated for centuries using lenses developed in European intellectual cultures. The discipline of the Study of Religion developed in the colonial era and has been deeply influenced by these norms. The course focuses on the contemporary efforts to rediscover the internal lens for the study of religious cultures and thought systems that arose in the global South. The main focus will be on the hermeneutics of Decoloniality Studies with a critical evaluation of Postcolonialism. From Decoloniality's critique of European Modernity emerges a critique of political, economic, social and cultural thought constructions influenced by European epistemic criteria and a call for the construction of a new epistemology of/by the global South and its diasporic traditions. Postcolonial Studies-which emerged from the writings of Edward Said, who focused on the Middle East, and Homi K. Bhabha and Gayatri C. Spivak who focused on India & South Asia-addressed issues situated in the material, socio-economic, and cultural spheres. In contrast, Decoloniality Studies emerged from the work of, amongst others, the sociologists Anibal Quijano, María Lugones, and the philosopher Walter D. Mignolo, whose work in situated in critical Latin American Studies. Postcolonialism for maintaining European points of reference (such as Cartesian dualism) that no longer serve a diverse world, and asserts the need to decolonialize Postcolonialism itself. After studying the methodology, we will examine current efforts to reimagine scholarship in Indic Studies. This course is appropriate for advanced MA and PhD students interested in understanding the critically important methodologies of Decoloniality Studies and Postcolonialism. The course will be of high methodological significance for all CDS-affiliated students. [Faculty Consent required]

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San Francisco Theological Seminary

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