{"id":151864,"date":"2023-03-14T17:10:42","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T16:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=151864"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:41","slug":"iss-students-learn-about-colonial-power-in-art-during-lecture-decoloniality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/03\/14\/iss-students-learn-about-colonial-power-in-art-during-lecture-decoloniality\/","title":{"rendered":"ISS students learn about colonial power in art during lecture Decoloniality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students and researchers at the International Institute of Social Studies discuss the power system and coloniality in art. “Universality is a Western narrative. With it, the West determines what is beautiful and what is not.”<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cIt\u2019s early, isn\u2019t it!\u201d Lecturer Rosalba Icaza Garza welcomes her students at the door on the third floor of the building on Kortenaerkade in The Hague. It is nine in the morning and not all students are inside yet. Two students arrive hurriedly with a hot cup of tea in their hands.<\/p>\n

In the room, purple, green and orange chairs are placed in a circle. After all students have settled in, Icaza Garza introduces today\u2019s guest lecturer: Rolando V\u00e1squez from the University College Utrecht, who specialises in decolonial thinking.<\/p>\n\t

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College<\/strong>: Decoloniality in the Development Research Context (Mondays 9 am, room 3.39 in the ISS building, The Hague)<\/p>\n

Lecturer<\/strong>: Rosalba Icaza Garza hosts the lectures, each week she invites a different guest lecturer.<\/p>\n

Topic<\/strong>: How do you recognise coloniality and break through the colonial power relationship in art?<\/p>\n

Audience<\/strong>: Over twenty students and researchers who just woke up and arrived a little late, but then enthusiastically joined the discussion.<\/p>\n

Reason to follow<\/strong>: It is a safe space. Students are given space to share personal experiences. Because the students come from different cultural backgrounds, all kinds of perspectives are discussed.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

Decoloniality in art<\/h2>

V\u00e1zquez begins the lecture by explaining decoloniality: it is about breaking a colonial power system based on unequal power structures that were normalised and then made universal by the West.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\u2018It is more about what you don\u2019t see, because the practice of colonialism lies mainly in the erasure of the historical context\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cBut how do we recognise coloniality in art?\u201d asks a student in a black sweater. \u201cYou can usually clearly see the coloniality in representation,\u201d V\u00e1zquez replies. \u201cWhen you go to an exhibition or walk into a museum, for example, you can ask yourself whose\u00a0aesthetic ideals an artwork represents, how power structures are represented and in what ways are we being taught to see.\u201d According to V\u00e1zquez, it is more about what you don\u2019t<\/em> see, because the practice of colonialism lies mainly in the erasure of the historical context. \u201cFor example, the ethnography museum in Paris has a huge collection of musical instruments from all over the world. But its historical context is missing, because there is no narrative on how these instruments got to the museum and what their role is in local cultures. Also, they are no longer being played, they\u2019ve become only an object.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Important<\/h2>

During the break, students Alan and Jonathan discuss the first part of the lecture. \u201cIt is very important that we discuss this topic, especially since this faculty has many students from all over the world. Thanks to this lecture, we can learn how to treat different backgrounds and knowledge respectfully,\u201d says Alan. Jonathan agrees. \u201cDiscussing decoloniality is not really specified in academia yet. We think that colonialism is something of the past, but our Western society is rooted in coloniality and it affects the global society.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Universality<\/h2>

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The subject captivates Anima, who is also a dancer. The story of cultural expressions being erased of their context is recognisable to her. \u201cAs a person of colour in the Western world, I struggled with it,\u201d she tells the group in the second part of the lecture. She was born and raised in the Netherlands and is of Surinam-Indian-Dutch descent. Since she was little, she wanted to learn dancing, but she didn\u2019t feel that she belonged in the dominant dance forms. \u201cI felt that in the Netherlands there wasn\u2019t much room for other kinds of dancing than ballet. If you want to become a dancer here, you just have to make do with ballet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a perfect example of universality,\u201d responds teacher V\u00e1zquez. With the concept of universality, he says, the West creates a dominant and unified model not only for aesthetics but also for civilisation. \u201cNot only in the Netherlands, but almost throughout the world, ballet is seen as the norm, the pinnacle of dance aesthetics.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

When Anima tried North-Indian kathak dance, she was finally able to feel connected to the dance. She eventually went to India to learn the dance. \u201cBut once there, I learned that the dance also uses Western ballet techniques,\u201d she says with a sense of irony. The class laughs.<\/p>\n

The fact that white people delve into the Indian art is not a problem, she says, but sometimes it leads to the erasure of the cultural context. \u201cMost white dance teachers can teach the techniques very well, but sometimes they do not understand the meaning and historical context of the dance, because they have different experiences and references. This could change the meaning of the dance and how the dance comes across,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

V\u00e1zquez nods. \u201cI understand what you mean. When it comes to traditional art, Western artists may have mastered the technique, but nine times out of 10 they don\u2019t understand the essence of the local art.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What to do<\/h2>

At the end of the lecture, students discuss what they could do to decolonise aesthetics. \u201cWe need to break the concept of universality,\u201d says one student. \u201cExactly, because universality is a Western narrative. With that, the West determines what is beautiful and what is not,\u201d V\u00e1zquez responds. \u201cIf we give a stage to non-Western narratives, we can create a world where different art forms and beauties coexist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t