BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//Grails iCalendar plugin//NONSGML Grails iCalendar plugin//EN VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260606T050240Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210305T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210305T120000 SUMMARY:Coping with Epistemic Trauma UID:20260611T012625Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-bd7db559-gt5qm TZID:America/New_York LOCATION:Asheville\, United States DESCRIPTION:

This presentation discusses how W.E.B Du Bois\, Frantz Fanon\, and Ngūgī Wa Thiong&rsquo\;o diagnose &ldquo\;epistemic trauma&rdquo\; affecting Black humanity after centuries of Eurocentric &ldquo\;epistemic violence.&rdquo\; Epistemic violence\, according to Gayatri Spivak\, is an obliteration of knowledge of the Other by dominant ideologies. By &ldquo\;epistemic trauma&rdquo\; I mean the psychic consequences of epistemic violence\, in which dominant language and systems of knowing continue to fail to properly represent an inclusive humanism or a value system that prioritizes the welfare\, worth\, and dignity of specific groups of human beings\, throwing them into an existential downward spiral. \;W.E.B Du Bois\, for instance\, diagnoses a &ldquo\;double consciousness&rdquo\; affecting African-Americans\, reproduced by the &ldquo\;color line\,&rdquo\; while prescribing the praxis of &ldquo\;spiritual striving&rdquo\; and a concrete meaning of humanism as a restorative mechanism. Fanon identifies &ldquo\;violence&rdquo\; as a condition to which the colonized are reduced\, prescribing &ldquo\;political decolonization&rdquo\; and &ldquo\;epistemic decolonization&rdquo\; as acts that trigger a &ldquo\;psycho-effective equilibrium.&rdquo\; Wa Thiong&rsquo\;o calls for &ldquo\;decolonizing the mind&rdquo\; by reclaiming repressed indigenous languages as a way of repairing the &ldquo\;mental colonization&rdquo\; affecting representation\, particularly\, of African consciousness\, which predominantly continues to be represented through European languages. Du Bois\, Fanon\, and Wa Thiong&rsquo\;o envision a new humanism founded on decolonization or disavowal of harmful effects of colonialism and assertion of repressed African bodies\, knowledges\, and systems of knowing\; thus\, moving beyond Eurocentric racialized ideals of humanity.

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