Epistemicide: The Coloniality Acts of Killing knowledge by Prof. Budd L. Hall

Summary

The speaker discusses the concept of 'epistemicide'—the killing of knowledge systems—highlighted by Boaventura de Sousa Santos. Four historical instances from the 16th century are outlined: the conquest of Al-Andalus, the colonization of Latin America, the slave trade, and the persecution of women as witches. These events deeply colonized and spread European knowledge worldwide. The speaker calls for action in higher education to decolonize curricula, promote diversity, and build new academic cultures that respect and appreciate difference, ending with a quote from Rabindranath Tagore on the importance of idealism over market-driven values.

Takeaways

• 📚 The script discusses the concept of 'epistemicide', the killing of knowledge systems, as introduced by Boaventura de Sousa Santos.
• 🌏 It highlights four major epistemicides of the 16th century: the conquest of Al-Andalus, the conquest of indigenous peoples in Latin America, the slave trade, and the persecution of women accused of witchcraft.
• 🏛 The conquest of Al-Andalus refers to the Arab influence in the Iberian Peninsula, which was later eradicated by the Catholic Spanish, including the destruction of Arabic architecture and expulsion of Muslims and Jews.
• 🛑 The systematic destruction of indigenous knowledge in Latin America, such as the Codex of the Inca people, is emphasized as a form of epistemicide.
• 🔍 The slave trade is noted for not only the physical violence but also the dehumanization and demonization of African knowledge systems.
• 🧙‍♀️ The persecution of women as witches is identified as another form of epistemicide, where women's knowledge was silenced and their contributions to intellectual life were suppressed.
• 🌐 The speaker argues that these historical events have deeply colonized knowledge and contributed to the global spread of European-centric perspectives.
• 🏛️ The script mentions the burning of 500,000 books in Cordoba, a center of knowledge during the Al-Andalus Empire, to illustrate the scale of epistemic violence.
• 🌱 It calls for a decolonizing agenda in higher education, including the democratization of education and the inclusion of diverse epistemologies and methodologies.
• 🔑 The importance of hiring indigenous scholars and creating inclusive institutional cultures that respect and appreciate difference is underscored.
• 🤔 The speaker poses introspective questions about how to decolonize, deracialize, demasculinize, and support the opening of intellectual spaces for diverse knowledge systems.
• 🎭 The script concludes with a quote from Rabindranath Tagore, emphasizing the importance of poets and idealists over the noise of the marketplace in the pursuit of knowledge.

Q & A

What is the term 'epistemicide' as used in the script?

Epistemicide, a term first encountered and used by Boaventura de Sousa Santos, refers to the killing or suppression of a knowledge system, where 'epistemology' pertains to the study of knowledge, and '-cide' implies the act of killing or ending something.

How many epistemicides are mentioned in the script, and what are they?

Four epistemicides are mentioned in the script: 1) The conquest of Al-Andalus and the expulsion of Muslims and Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, 2) The conquest of indigenous peoples in Latin America and the destruction of their knowledge systems, 3) The slave trade and the dehumanization of enslaved people which included the denigration of their knowledge systems, and 4) The persecution of millions of Indo-European women under the charge of witchcraft.