The seminar critically engages with the colonial legacies in Africa, exploring the complex relationship between de/coloniality, conflict, and resolution. We examine colonial roots of conflict dynamics and look at how (post-)colonial path dependencies shape understandings of state, governance, law, and conflict resolution. Our exploration encompasses various dimensions of coloniality of power and knowledge from sociolegal and postcolonial perspectives. Case studies will illustrate (dis)continuities of dependence and domination, appropriation and contestation, as well as resistance in the context of asymmetric global power relations. Key questions focus on the (un)making and (un)doing coloniality in the fields of transition justice, governance & statehood, (rule of)law, land & property, border, gender across different contexts.
Throughout our journey, we will gain a deeper understanding of contemporary globalised plural legal and political orders in their interconnectedness and historical contexts, with particular consideration for their multiple colonial roots and path-dependencies. We will also discuss the productions of (in)justice and (in)equality as well as decolonial and de-centred approaches to conflict resolution aiming at disrupting the vicious cycle of coloniality and conflict.
- Trainer/in: Seidel Katrin