Montag, 27. Juni, 13:00 - 14:30 Uhr, Raum 4.06, Breitscheidstraße 2
Democracy is usually understood as a community of self-governing, “autonomous” individuals or groups. Particularly for critical theorists, this ideal of self-governance is deeply intertwined with assumptions about emancipatory processes. In this talk, I shall take stock of existing theoretical notions and argue that contemporary decolonial, feminist and intersectional perspectives challenge us to reconsider established concepts that primarily have their roots in “armchair theorizing” conducted by (white, Western, male) academics. Hence, I propose a methodological turn: normative theorizing should be “grounded” in understandings resulting from diverse peoples’ lived experiences, perspectives, and beliefs. I briefly outline the methodological rationales that underly my approach and point to exemplary empirical results of exploratory studies (predominantly semi-structured interviews) that I conducted in East African communities. I briefly outline potential consequences for the overarching goal to rethink and reconceptualise emancipatory practices beyond the white and Western gaze.