University of Warwick Press: Journals
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Reclaiming the Food System: Agroecological Pedagogy and the IALA María Cano
Get PDFIndustrial agriculture has been one of the key contributors to global warming and consequent climate disasters worldwide. In 2014, 44-57% of global greenhouse gas emissions were produced by industrial food production; principally from deforestation, transportation of products, their processing and refrigeration (GRAIN, 2014). This paper will focus on the case of the Instituto Agroecologico Latinoamericano (IALA) María Cano in Colombia, which aims to use knowledge as resistance in an epistemo-political struggle against industrialised agriculture. The piece will theoretically outline the phenomenon of industrial agriculture, the impact this has on societies and ecologies, as well as the overarching epistemologies that maintain this
Por una Vida Digna: Science as Technique of Power and Mode of Resistance in Argentina
Get PDFTwo decades after the approval of the use of GMO seeds in Argentina, the devastating consequences of the use of agro-chemicals linked to genetically modified seeds are becoming painfully clear. Rural populations are increasingly becoming aware of the dreadful environmental and health impacts of the use of the ‘technological package’ that has fuelled the expansion of Argentina’s agribusiness. Importantly, this paper provides an insight into how this growing awareness has become translated into greater community organisation across the country, with the aim of not only questioning the implementation of the current agribusiness model, but also the different ways in which these practices are legitimised. Her analysis of the movement for a Ciencia Digna (‘a dignified science’) demonstrates the epistemological battles that are fought in the everyday resistance organised by these communities
In the key of south: Latin American political ecology and critical thinking
Get PDFere I attempt to think about the insertion of a recent theoretical-political field and diverse and branching development—that of Latin American Political Ecology—into a plural framework with very specific characteristics—the tradition of Latin American critical thinking. A first version of this obsession was recently published (Alimonda, 2015). Perhaps it would be redundant to clarify that I do not intend to sketch an itinerary in the open field of formal history of ideas in Latin America, among what has been thought and written in this corner of the world. Instead, I attempt to identify Latin American ideas as a critical, perhaps one could say ontological, reflection about its own existence. We will be delimiting diffuse pathways in a very steep and foggy territory, full of spectres, among which the new passengers will choose their ancestors or kill the dead, as Derrida said (1994: 119
Baianas de Acarajé against FIFA: Coloniality Nowadays
Get PDFThis article presents the case of the conflict between the baianas de acarajé and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Football Associations – FIFA), in Salvador, Brazil, analyzed in my master dissertation developed between 2013 and 2015. Due the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014, baianas de acarajé, a productive group of black women whose craft is considered immaterial patrimony of afro-Brazilian culture, faced the possibility of being prohibited to work during the games of the championship. Starting in 2012, baianas de acarajé started a struggle against FIFA and the Brazilian state through demonstrations on the streets, collection of signatures via virtual petition and negotiation with the state. After this struggle, some baianas of the Association of Baianas de Acarajé (ABAM) were able to work in the Arena Fonte Nova of Salvador, in the city of Salvador (Brazil), in accordance with FIFA requirements. However, as evidenced by the ethnographic work, most of them had their right to work violated, and had to find other means of obtaining income in the period. It presents some results of the investigation about this struggle, undertaken in Salvador de Bahia between 2013 and 2014, based on the following questions: How did the relationship between baianas de acarajé and FIFA form and develop? How did the baianas de acarajé reacted and what did this dispute mean for the performance of their craft? In this scenario, it was possible to identify an amefrican pattern of resistance and survival of baianas de acarajé, with the circumstantial mobilization of the category of heritage as well as other strategies of struggle. From this case, the characteristics of the current pattern of exploitation and domination of capitalism and how the coloniality of power, of being and of knowledge are manifested can be analyzed
Harnessing the Storm: Searching for Constitutive Moments and a Politics of Ch’ixi after the Pink Tide
Get PDFFollowing the end of the progressive cycle in Latin America, new social movements and transformative social forces have emerged. This article develops a decolonial reading of the work of Bolivian Marxist René Zavaleta Mercardo (1937–1984) through the work of his most significant student, Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui (1949–), in order to offer a way to search for forward forwards future transformative projects. I argue the concept of ‘constitutive moments’ gives us pointers as to which historical threads to pick up and trace forwards and backwards through the contours of history to better grasp what is going on and what is at stake. Moreover, Lo abigarrado and ch’ixi, concepts elaborated by Zavaleta and Rivera Cusicanqui to theorise the heterogeneous character of Latin American social formations, create space for thinking through futures drawn from both beyond and outside capitalism and within its contradictions
Fighting racism in monocultural university systems and institutions in Latin America: Advances, tensions, and challenges
Get PDFRacism, as both the founding ideology and regime of power constitutive of the Modern World, is a crucial cause of pervasive inequalities in all Latin American societies. As it happens to other social fields, racism intrinsically marks hegemonic monocultural Higher Education policies, systems, and institutions. Eradicating racism in university systems and institutions demands transforming the whole field to make it completely intercultural, an ambitious and long-run mission that currently involves the practices of numerous and highly diverse social agents. Meanwhile, some of these agents and others with less transformative agendas have been implementing concrete measures to content or fight racism in monocultural university systems and institutions. This article discusses diverse initiatives that seek to content or fight racism in monocultural Higher Education in some Latin American countries. Some of these initiatives have implemented “affirmative action” and other programs to ensure access and fruitful trajectories for Afro-descendant and indigenous people students in monocultural universities. Others have set up programs that articulate the goal of strengthening the educational experiences of these two groups of students with activities that seek interculturalizing monocultural universities. The article shows that although most of these modalities of action have achieved valuable advances, they also confront similar tensions and challenges. These issues are focal points in the work of some regional networks that integrate agents from these initiatives with others participating in other forms of fighting racism in higher education, such as those developed in/from intercultural and Afrodecendant´s and indigenous peoples´ universities
Exploring student and demonstrator perspectives of the teaching and learning provided by demonstrators during undergraduate laboratory practical sessions
Get PDFGraduate teaching assistants (GTAs) such as demonstrators are integral to higher education teaching. However, undergraduate student perceptions on the impact of demonstrators to their teaching and learning is understudied. Similarly, demonstrator perceptions on the quality and value of their teaching also remains largely unexplored. We addressed both students’ and demonstrators’ perceptions of demonstrator teaching and learning within undergraduate Biology practical sessions at a UK research intensive university. We combine quantitative and qualitative data to explore students’ ideas around where their learning and feedback comes from, and the effectiveness of demonstrators during their practical sessions. This was paired with analogous data from demonstrators derived from the same concepts, thereby helping to assess their dynamic. Most students considered demonstrators to be important for teaching and learning in the laboratory setting by delivering high quality pedagogy, creating a positive learning environment and by being their primary source of feedback. Conversely, a small number of students raised issues regarding demonstrator consistency and lack of knowledge when compared with a lecturer. Students largely considered demonstrators to have sufficient knowledge and to be more approachable than lecturers. Demonstrators also recognised their valuable contribution to teaching and learning and largely mirrored the ideas undergraduate students had about effective demonstrators. Many demonstrators believe they need to be allocated more paid time to fully prepare for teaching and maximise their potential. Finally, we reflect on lessons learnt from both students and demonstrators regarding how demonstrators can improve their teaching and how universities can support this. 
Designing and delivering teaching to facilitate a decolonising of the classroom: Reflections from a Black Bahamian male
Get PDFGlobal conversations about racial inequities have grown significantly, including in the United Kingdom. These conversations include critical discourse about the impact of colonialism and its legacy that manifests in physical, socio-cultural, and political structures and our higher education institutions. Many of these structures are still apparent in formerly colonised countries such as The Bahamas, which gained independence from England in 1973. This made teaching a module which aims to unravel the making of our current global systems particularly relevant and of critical importance.
This article reflects on the experience of teaching an undergraduate module in Politics and International Studies about the impact of colonialism and its legacy from a Black Bahamian male perspective. It highlights how reflection as praxis, choice examples and studies, and feedback can be used in the delivery and design of teaching to facilitate a decolonising of the classroom.
As higher education institutions consider ways to decolonise, teachers must be deliberate in the tools and techniques used to enact necessary change. 
“Sorry, you’re muted!”: The challenges and opportunities when using drama as a language learning tool online
Get PDFThe COVID-19 crisis is an unprecedented tragedy that has affected the education sector worldwide in a way that no one has probably ever imagined before. The ongoing lockdowns had forced schools and higher education institutions (HEIs) to close, and this has had a huge impact on us as we were planning for our drama modules for language learning to be conducted face-to-face. In this reflective piece, we recollected not only the challenges that we faced along the way, but also the opportunities that we saw whilst navigating drama in this whole new online world. 
Using Google Images, Maps and Earth to teach critical thinking: Decolonising the curriculum and beyond
Get PDFIn this article I outline how Google Images and Google Earth can be used to visualise to students the constructed nature of legal and political concepts in law and international relations. The method consists of asking students to critically discuss the gendered and racialised nature of Google results when googling such legal, geographical, and political concepts as “drug trafficker”, “international development”, “Great Britain”, or “Brazil”, as well as discovering the different layers of natural, cultural and political boundaries and connections that crisscross the world by using Google Earth.
As an innovative method for technology-assisted teaching this method can be used in both face-to-face and virtual learning situations to teach students critical thinking in a way that is both interactive and multimodal, while drawing on technology that students know from their everyday lives. The method can be applied creatively by both students and teachers, and ideally should allow for students to become their own critical researchers, able to uncover the ways in which apparently neutral concepts are shaped by and shape global structures of inequality