The fourth plenary to be announced for BAMC/BCE2021 is a keynote titled “Engaging with Culture: A Conversation on Decolonising the Future” from Professor Baden Offord & Dr Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes of Curtin University, Australia.
The BAMC/BCE2021 Organising Committees are currently calling for papers to be presented at the joint event. Submit your abstracts by October 8, 2021 to participate.
To participate in BAMC/BCE2021 as an audience member, please register for the conference. Registration for either conference will allow delegates to attend sessions in the other.
The interview will also be available for IAFOR Members to view online. To find out more, please visit the IAFOR Membership page.
IAFOR Journal of Education (Scopus Indexed Journal)
This conference is associated with the Scopus and DOAJ listed IAFOR Journal of Education.
Abstract
Engaging with Culture: A Conversation on Decolonising the Future
One of the key features of future humanities research and teaching will be to enable intellectual and creative spaces within and beyond institutional settings that critically explore knowledge-making from a decolonising perspective and approach. Palestinian scholar Edward Said regarded culture as a fundamental place to consider the interdependent relationship between established traditions and the complex diversities of the world. He advocated for public intellectual and creative spaces where the social responsibilities and priorities of writers, educators, artists, poets and intellectuals could emerge with their radical and transformative energies. Our conversation will take up Said's call by pivoting towards aspects of culture where knowledge-making might be radically decolonised as a priority for the future. We will draw on our scholarship and experience of epistemic violence regarding Ethiopian knowledge-making, as well as living as cultural "others" in western settler societies.
Speaker Profile
Professor Baden Offord
Curtin University, Australia
Baden Offord is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies and Human Rights at Curtin University, Australia. Born in Aotearoa/New Zealand of Māori and Pākehā heritage, he has lived most of his life in Australia, as well as several years in Spain, South India, and Japan. An internationally respected scholar in human rights, education, sexuality and culture, his latest book (co-edited with Fleay, Hartley, Woldeyes and Chan) is Activating Cultural and Social Change: The Pedagogies of Human Rights (London, Routledge: 2022).
Professor Offord has held academic appointments as the Dr Haruhisa Handa Chair of Human Rights in the Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University (2015-2020); as Chair (Visiting Professor) of Australian Studies, Centre for Pacific and American Studies at The University of Tokyo (2010-2011); as Visiting Professor at the University of Barcelona; and as Professor of Cultural Studies and Human Rights at Southern Cross University (1999-2014). He has also had visiting positions at Indiana University, the University of Auckland, and La Trobe University. In 2021 he was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) ‘for distinguished service in tertiary education in the field of human rights, social justice and cultural diversity.'
Professor Offord is a member of IAFOR’s Academic Governing Board. He is Chair of the Cultural & Area Studies section of the International Academic Advisory Board.
Dr Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes
Curtin University, Australia
Dr Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes is a Senior Lecturer, multidisciplinary researcher and writer based at Curtin University’s Centre for Human Rights Education, Australia. Drawing from the history, philosophy and experiences of marginalised people and communities, Yirga contributes critical insights for reimagining the future and addressing epistemic and racial injustices. He researches African experience and Ethiopian traditions and writes creatively on belonging and diasporic lives. He has won university and industry awards for his teaching, research, and creative writing. His publications include the sole-authored book Native Colonialism: Education and the Economy of Violence Against Traditions in Ethiopia (New Jersey: The Red Sea Press, 2017) and the forthcoming book (with Offord, Fleay, Hartley and Chan) Activating Cultural and Social Change: The Pedagogies of Human Rights (London: Routledge, 2022).