Violence, Resistance, and Decoloniality: Rage Against the Machine

The topic of the 2026 University of Alberta Graduate Philosophy Conference to be help Friday May 1 - Saturday, May 2 is political philosophy concerning political violence, resistance, and themes in decoloniality. With the pervasiveness of news outlets reporting on a seemingly relentless flow of geopolitical and civil unrest worldwide, issues continue to arise that incite philosophical perspectives including theories of justice, the role of the state, and duties of authority figures, among others. This raises several important questions about what citizens and individuals can do in the face of the abuse of power, how to work on decolonizing oppressive power structures, where researchers should focus their investigations to address this unyielding era of political violence, and more generally, the role academia plays in theorizing and acting against oppressive forces. The aims of this conference include:

• Discussing and analyzing the rise in political violence in North America;

• Exploring the desensitization to violent acts that may occur through the dissemination of graphic videos, photographs, and stories via social media platforms;

• Examining and understanding tools for decoloniality and their application to the various colonized territories and peoples around the world;

• Considering the role of political institutions in moderating the escalation of abuses of states’ power;

• Discussing what forms resistance may take and what forms of resistance may be justified in differing contexts; and

• Proposing actions people can take to resist injustice and surveying the potential of historical tactics and/or successful solutions people have adopted in response to breaches of the social contract or human rights infringements.

The lenses through which we intend to think critically about these issues pertain to but are not limited to, ethics, Indigenous philosophies and methodologies, epistemology, political theory, the philosophy of law, feminist theories, and continental accounts of violence, grief, and loss.

Keynote Presentations

Dr. Jérôme Melançon, University of Regina.

‘Title TBA’

 Dr. Nathan Kowalsky, St Joseph’s College, University of Alberta. 

‘Title TBA’