Decolonial Embodied Transformative Learning

EasyChair Preprint 13413

Abstract

In response to the challenges presented by polycrisis, there is a need to bring into practice the deep leverage points for societal transformation. The polycrisis has its roots in colonialism and entangled capitalism with a history of domination over both other human beings and the natural world per se. Drawing inspiration from Fanon's insights (1961) that colonization extends beyond bodies to encompass minds, this exploration prompts a call for an embodied "Epistemic Disobedience," as termed by Mignolo (2009). Our bodyminds subjected to interlocking systems of oppression and colonization and shrivelled into narrow emotional, epistemological and ontological corsets call for a radical, embodied and relational approach to decolonization.

In this paper, we present the development of such an approach, the DecolonizeBODYMinds (DBM) method (which draws from transformative learning theory and Movement for Life) and present its application in the form of two workshops on the topic of decolonization as part of the Deal with It exhibition exploring the colonial legacy of the city of Basel, Switzerland. The approach is then theorised and critically examined. DBM method puts theory into practice through an embodied approach. This approach intentionally triggers emotions like fear, shame, guilt, etc and diminutive states of embodiment such as powerlessness and hopelessness which are present in bodyminds experiencing internalized oppression and works through them through creative and relational embodied expression and release using dance, partner work, art-making and generative dialogue. In a safe enough space, it allows us to embrace liminality and have a collective space where new meaning making and shift of action can be catalyzed. It opens up the space to de-link our ways of knowing and allows for onto-epistemological shifts that are deep levers of systems change. It thus puts decoloniality both as a means to an end and an end in itself.

Keyphrases: Decoloniality, Epistemic Disobedience, embodiment, emotional engagement, leverage points, transformative learning

@booklet{EasyChair:13413,
  author    = {Anaïs Sägesser and Naveen Shamsudhin},
  title     = {Decolonial Embodied Transformative Learning},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 13413},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2024}}