Guest lecture Dr Antony Pattathu

We cordially invite you to join Antony Pattathu's presentation on 

Monday, 7 December, 12.15 – 13.45, via Zoom (invitation timely via email)
Institut für Ethnologie
Oettingenstraße 67
80538 München

Dr Antony Pattathu (University of Tübingen)

Decolonizing Anthropology – Perspectives and Potentials for Transformational Change

Since the Rhodes Must Fall movement in South Africa in 2015 increasing numbers of decolonizing movements and students around the globe push towards decolonial theory and practice, gaining more visibility in academia and society. Students are demanding an Anthropology they can relate to and which not only represents their ways of knowing and thinking, but also critically addresses racism and diversity within the structures of the university and the discipline. While Anthropology has critically addressed its colonial heritage and the colonial relations that were an integral part of establishing the discipline, the discomforting heritage nurtures the decolonizing demands. This talk takes a deeper look at the movements, debates and what it means for the discipline of Anthropology to decolonize. How can decolonizing anthropology be achieved and what are the primary access points to think about this process? Reflecting on the start of this debate almost 20 years ago with the groundbreaking book Decolonizing Anthropology by Faye Harrison, and looking into new and current approaches to the topic, the talk wants to open up a space for discussion. What does decolonizing mean for the localities of German Anthropology Departments?

Short bio:
Dr. Antony Pattathu is a research fellow at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology and a founding member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Global South Studies at Tübingen University. He received his PhD from Heidelberg University as a member of the Collaborative Research Center 619 for Ritual Dynamics with a thesis on the topic „Filmic Funerals and the Discourse of the Good Death - A Subject-Related and Programmatic Approach for Religious Studies Film Analysis“. He has been a Visiting Researcher at the Department of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley and a Center for Advanced Studies Fellow at the Center for Historical Studies at the JNU in Delhi. His other research interests are institutional history of anthropology in Tuebingen, transnational religion and migration with a focus on members of the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala and Germany, medical anthropology and ayurveda in India and Germany and decolonial theories and methods.