PH 219 - Decolonizing the Mind

Credits: 4
This course grows from the juncture of decolonial studies and philosophy of mind. Students investigate theories of the mind in relation to processes of identity formation within colonial and postcolonial contexts. We will consider the nature of mental phenomena including emotions, imagination, creativity, subjectivity, and memory. We will also develop activist strategies for psychological liberation from colonial traumas and ways of being. Acknowledging the temptation to treat decolonization as a metaphor that can be applied to any attempt to expand freedom, this course is grounded in the study of concrete decolonial locations as they are described by thinkers such as Frantz Fanon, María Lugones, Sylvia Wynter, Chandra Mohanty, Paula Gunn Allen, Gloria Anzaldua, and Octavia Butler.

Liberal Arts Perspective(s): Ethics and Values, Global Diversity and Justice