SG Highlights | Decolonising Knowledge

Every week until the start of the second semester, we will post a selection of highlights from the past year so you can enjoy our events from home, as on-campus events are currently not possible. Stay safe and healthy and best of luck with your exam preparations!

For our previous highlights, please take a look at our blogs.

Decolonising Knowledge

This series of events explores the legacy of colonial power structures in society.  Decolonisation, roughly put, is a social movement and academic project that seeks to empower knowledge, cultures, and peoples marginalized by the  legacy of colonialism and its power structures. This movement also reflects critically on the historical role of universities and Western knowledge production in relation to colonialism. It encompasses issues of race, gender, land ownership, ways of knowing, reparations, resource extraction, rights and representation, and more. 

Monday: What is decolonisation?

For better or worse, Western European culture has managed to impact and dominate much of the world for centuries. In this introductory lecture, learn about the decolonisation movement and the peoples and cultures it seeks to empower.

Tuesday: Decolonising Design & Engineering

Applying the perspective of decoloniality to design and engineering provides a way to rethink the Western model of how we shape and give meaning to our world.

Wednesday: TU Delft and the Colonial History of the Dutch East Indies

At the turn of the 20th century approximately one-third of all engineers that finished their studies in Delft went to the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia) to pursue a career in the Dutch colony. In this way they became part of the Dutch colonial context. Why were these engineers so well-fitted to the Dutch colonial project?

Thursday: How To Combine Ancient and Modern Wisdom

Humans have survived and thrived around the world for tens of thousands of years, using various ingenious technologies suited to their environment. What sort of traditional knowledge is still available to us?

Friday: (De)kolonisatie en de universiteit

Welke rol speelden universiteiten in de koloniale maatschappij? Wat is daar nu de erfenis van, en hoe gaan universiteiten om met de roep om dekolonisatie?

Saturday: Decolonising Sustainability: When Engineering Meets Indigenous Philosophies and Resistance

Indigenous protectors and decolonial researchers present important arguments on the shortcomings of sustainability as it is practiced today.

Sunday: Non-Western Narratives and Experiences with Climate Change

On the experiences of indigenous peoples and cultures around the world who face the worst consequences of climate change and environmental racism.