Destroying Heritage and/or Building Knowledge: a View from the Colonial South

MOIRA PÉREZ

Poznan

Jornada; Geopolitics of Knowledge: Histories, Heritages and Futures; 2022

Adam Mickiewicz University

Anti-colonial thought around the world has long stressed the importanceof knowledge, including historical knowledge, as a part of the colonialproject. The “cognitive empire” (Ndlovu-Gatsheni) shapes not only ourepistemology but also the ontology we live in and by, and the “colonisation ofthe mind” (Thiong'o) rests, to a large extent, upon the task of suppressing thelocal memory and inserting a European narrative instead. “Western” culturebecomes the landmark and criteria against which everything else is measured;the rewriting of memory serves the legitimation and even glorification of abroader colonial project, including genocide; and colonized subjects continueto reproduce the imposed narratives, even after formal independence and underthe guise of progressive politics. This paper approaches such processes throughthe issue of monuments and recent debates on their destruction. Monuments arean important part of the “cognitive empire” of coloniality, objects that “dothings” with the past, in the present. Their removal and/or intervention could become a means to collectively create alternativeunderstandings of colonial history and our relationship to it. However, not allinterventions on monuments can effectively resisting the cognitive empire as itis expressed in our understandings of the past. This paper explores differenttraits such interventions should have in order to serve as a force against the“cognitive empire” as it is expressed and performed in public space.@font-face{font-family:"Cambria Math";panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:roman;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face{font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:swiss;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073697537 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal{mso-style-unhide:no;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:8.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:107%;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:PT-BR;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault{mso-style-type:export-only;mso-default-props:yes;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}div.WordSection1{page:WordSection1;}