Sergio Calderón-Harker | Birkbeck College, University of London (original) (raw)

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Papers by Sergio Calderón-Harker

In this paper I argue that a critical thinking of and for our postcolonial time must gravitate ar... more In this paper I argue that a critical thinking of and for our postcolonial time must gravitate around the convoluting relationship between politics and identity. In the following pages I examine this relationship by exploring, comparing, and problematizing the notions of race and violence in the works of Frantz Fanon and Jacques Rancière. Theorizing the relationship between identity and politics through Fanon and Rancière allows us to understand contemporary postcolonial societies as communities of interruptions, i.e. societies characterized as irregular, unstable, and ever-changing political communities. To argue this, I begin by contextualizing the conceptual tools utilized throughout this paper, such as postcolonial, politics, identity, and violence. Following this, I delve into Fanon and Rancière’s perceptions on the issue of race. They show how the modern/postcolonial state constructs a typology of alterity, highlighting the state’s necessity to identify its subjects and articulate mechanisms to categorize and police difference and alterity. Lastly, I discuss Fanon and Rancière’s intricate readings of sovereign and aesthetic violence, respectively. Although they diverge when it comes to evaluating violent resistance, I suggest that their understandings of violence should not be read as competing but rather as complementary.

Pensamiento al margen , 2019

El propósito de este ensayo es presentar un análisis crítico sobre el estado nación en América La... more El propósito de este ensayo es presentar un análisis crítico sobre el estado nación en América Latina a partir de las herramientas conceptuales enmarcadas en los llamados estudios pos/decoloniales. Para conllevar esta tarea, se llevarán a cabo dos pasos. Primero, se formulará una breve genealogía del concepto de la colonialidad del poder. En dialogo con Jacques Rancière, se mostrará cómo la colonialidad es un elemento constituyente y constitutivo del estado nación poscolonial en América Latina, al representar un reparto de lo sensible y la generación de una población excluida ‘sin parte’. Finalmente, se presentará el caso de la Regeneración en la Colombia del siglo XIX como una imagen histórica donde la colonialidad conllevó un reparto de lo sensible al actualizarse y transformarse para consolidar las herencias cognitivas del colonialismo.

The purpose of this essay is to present a critical analysis about the nation state in Latin America by utilizing the conceptual tools originating in so-called post/decolonial studies. To accomplish this task, two steps will be carried out. First, a brief genealogy of the concept of the coloniality of power will be formulated. In dialogue with Jacques Rancière, it will be shown how coloniality is a constitutive element of the post-colonial nation state in Latin America, representing a partition of the sensible and therefore the generation of an excluded population 'without part'. Finally, the case of ‘la Regeneración’ in nineteenth-century Colombia will be offered as a historical image where coloniality led to a partition of the sensible, as it updated and transformed itself to consolidate the cognitive legacies of colonialism.

The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts, 2017

Debates within critical educational theory and its relation to capitalism have often been heavily... more Debates within critical educational theory and its relation to capitalism have often been heavily influenced by the tradition of critical social theory. For instance, Jürgen Habermas' (1984; 1987) communicative action approach has proven to be a valuable theory that combines both analytical considerations regarding the conflict between the 'lifeworld' and 'system', and a decisively normative theory for deliberative and democratic discourse. However, Habermas' communicative action is not without problems, as a critical linguistic approach may prove. As such, in this paper I attempt to analyse the issues of communicative action in the context of anti-capitalist discourse and debate within and about higher education. To do this, I first outline Habermas' (1984) and Fleming's (2008) theories on the colonization of higher education, followed by a critique by means of Wittgenstein's (1968) philosophy of language. As such, I argue that, in order to decolonize higher education from the logic of capital, we must reflect upon the language-games used when speaking about education.

On February 13th, 2015, a group of students under the name of De Nieuwe Universiteit (DNU) decide... more On February 13th, 2015, a group of students under the name of De Nieuwe Universiteit (DNU) decided to occupy the Bungehuis, the home of the humanitites faculty of the University of Amsterdam. Evidently, this action aimed to respond to the neoliberalisation and financialization of Dutch higher education, which concretised in a variety of reforms including budget cuts, the restructuring of the humanities curriculum, and the privatization of university buildings and facilities into luxury hotels. In this paper I aim to explore the case study of DNU, analysing how the movement attempted to oppose global neoliberalism in higher education. By looking at the notion of radical and performative democracy as found primarily in the works of Arendt (2003) and Mouffe (2009), I argue that DNU constituted a counter-hegemonic movement and a democratic revolt that attempted to confront the logic of global neoliberalism in higher education. Particularly, focusing on the movement’s discourse I analyse the ideas of deliberation as political creation, agonistic pluralism as a counter-hegemonic and inclusive praxis, and popular sovereignty and assemblyism as the basis for the legitimation of socio-political structures. Ultimately, I argue that to resist and subvert against the structural hegemony of global neoliberalism in higher education, educational actors must reconfigure both the practices and discourses underlying political expression, as well as questioning the purpose of the public sphere in the context of a democratic society.

Drafts by Sergio Calderón-Harker

How can postcolonial Europe be characterized? It is from this fundamental question that others sp... more How can postcolonial Europe be characterized? It is from this fundamental question that others spring up, like a rhizome. In the following essay, I try to answer this question by focusing on a specific time and space: postcolonial Paris/France as depicted in Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine. Within this time and space, I analyse the issue of violence as central to understanding Kassovitz’s depiction of contemporary France. I address this issue by looking at two particular types of violence shown in La Haine: oneiric violence and necropolitics. First, I explore the oneiric violence embodied in Vinz’s character. I understand oneiric not merely as referring to a dream or dream-like state, but to the constant fantasization of violence that Fanon (2001; 2008) examines. Following this, I utilize Mbembe’s (2003) concept of necropolitics to illuminate the role of the French state and its relation to the banlieue characters in the film. Ultimately, I argue, as Fanon and others have done, that La Haine makes us question the omnipresence of violence as a mechanism of oppression and marginalization. Beyond this, the film helps us unravel the ways through which legitimate/illegitimate violence dichotomies are constructed, leading us to ask whether violence might be an inescapable fact of our shared postcolonial modernity.

In the following pages, I support the view of various authors who argue that modern secularizatio... more In the following pages, I support the view of various authors who argue that modern secularization has not produced a definitive separation between religion and politics (Beaman, 2003, 2016; Bellah, 2005; Cristi, 2001; Gentile, 1990, 2003; Mosse, 1991). In doing this, I argue that this separation is ‘blurry’ and ambiguous as both spheres share a common element: the symbolic. To demonstrate this, I outline two processes often characterized as ‘inverse’. I begin by outlining the so-called ‘sacralization of the secular’, primarily relying on the works of Cristi (2001), Gentile (1990, 2003), and Mosse (1991). Secondly, I expand on Beaman's (2003, 2016) analyses on the ‘secularization of the sacred’. To illustrate this, I draw upon the recent case of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. The case in question allows us to see how the sacred and the secular are the result of socio-political processes of meaning; that being, instances of conflict and negotiation about what ‘secular’ and ‘sacred’ mean. Ultimately, this unmasks the inherent politicization of the sacred in secular modernity.

In this paper I argue that a critical thinking of and for our postcolonial time must gravitate ar... more In this paper I argue that a critical thinking of and for our postcolonial time must gravitate around the convoluting relationship between politics and identity. In the following pages I examine this relationship by exploring, comparing, and problematizing the notions of race and violence in the works of Frantz Fanon and Jacques Rancière. Theorizing the relationship between identity and politics through Fanon and Rancière allows us to understand contemporary postcolonial societies as communities of interruptions, i.e. societies characterized as irregular, unstable, and ever-changing political communities. To argue this, I begin by contextualizing the conceptual tools utilized throughout this paper, such as postcolonial, politics, identity, and violence. Following this, I delve into Fanon and Rancière’s perceptions on the issue of race. They show how the modern/postcolonial state constructs a typology of alterity, highlighting the state’s necessity to identify its subjects and articulate mechanisms to categorize and police difference and alterity. Lastly, I discuss Fanon and Rancière’s intricate readings of sovereign and aesthetic violence, respectively. Although they diverge when it comes to evaluating violent resistance, I suggest that their understandings of violence should not be read as competing but rather as complementary.

Pensamiento al margen , 2019

El propósito de este ensayo es presentar un análisis crítico sobre el estado nación en América La... more El propósito de este ensayo es presentar un análisis crítico sobre el estado nación en América Latina a partir de las herramientas conceptuales enmarcadas en los llamados estudios pos/decoloniales. Para conllevar esta tarea, se llevarán a cabo dos pasos. Primero, se formulará una breve genealogía del concepto de la colonialidad del poder. En dialogo con Jacques Rancière, se mostrará cómo la colonialidad es un elemento constituyente y constitutivo del estado nación poscolonial en América Latina, al representar un reparto de lo sensible y la generación de una población excluida ‘sin parte’. Finalmente, se presentará el caso de la Regeneración en la Colombia del siglo XIX como una imagen histórica donde la colonialidad conllevó un reparto de lo sensible al actualizarse y transformarse para consolidar las herencias cognitivas del colonialismo.

The purpose of this essay is to present a critical analysis about the nation state in Latin America by utilizing the conceptual tools originating in so-called post/decolonial studies. To accomplish this task, two steps will be carried out. First, a brief genealogy of the concept of the coloniality of power will be formulated. In dialogue with Jacques Rancière, it will be shown how coloniality is a constitutive element of the post-colonial nation state in Latin America, representing a partition of the sensible and therefore the generation of an excluded population 'without part'. Finally, the case of ‘la Regeneración’ in nineteenth-century Colombia will be offered as a historical image where coloniality led to a partition of the sensible, as it updated and transformed itself to consolidate the cognitive legacies of colonialism.

The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts, 2017

Debates within critical educational theory and its relation to capitalism have often been heavily... more Debates within critical educational theory and its relation to capitalism have often been heavily influenced by the tradition of critical social theory. For instance, Jürgen Habermas' (1984; 1987) communicative action approach has proven to be a valuable theory that combines both analytical considerations regarding the conflict between the 'lifeworld' and 'system', and a decisively normative theory for deliberative and democratic discourse. However, Habermas' communicative action is not without problems, as a critical linguistic approach may prove. As such, in this paper I attempt to analyse the issues of communicative action in the context of anti-capitalist discourse and debate within and about higher education. To do this, I first outline Habermas' (1984) and Fleming's (2008) theories on the colonization of higher education, followed by a critique by means of Wittgenstein's (1968) philosophy of language. As such, I argue that, in order to decolonize higher education from the logic of capital, we must reflect upon the language-games used when speaking about education.

On February 13th, 2015, a group of students under the name of De Nieuwe Universiteit (DNU) decide... more On February 13th, 2015, a group of students under the name of De Nieuwe Universiteit (DNU) decided to occupy the Bungehuis, the home of the humanitites faculty of the University of Amsterdam. Evidently, this action aimed to respond to the neoliberalisation and financialization of Dutch higher education, which concretised in a variety of reforms including budget cuts, the restructuring of the humanities curriculum, and the privatization of university buildings and facilities into luxury hotels. In this paper I aim to explore the case study of DNU, analysing how the movement attempted to oppose global neoliberalism in higher education. By looking at the notion of radical and performative democracy as found primarily in the works of Arendt (2003) and Mouffe (2009), I argue that DNU constituted a counter-hegemonic movement and a democratic revolt that attempted to confront the logic of global neoliberalism in higher education. Particularly, focusing on the movement’s discourse I analyse the ideas of deliberation as political creation, agonistic pluralism as a counter-hegemonic and inclusive praxis, and popular sovereignty and assemblyism as the basis for the legitimation of socio-political structures. Ultimately, I argue that to resist and subvert against the structural hegemony of global neoliberalism in higher education, educational actors must reconfigure both the practices and discourses underlying political expression, as well as questioning the purpose of the public sphere in the context of a democratic society.

How can postcolonial Europe be characterized? It is from this fundamental question that others sp... more How can postcolonial Europe be characterized? It is from this fundamental question that others spring up, like a rhizome. In the following essay, I try to answer this question by focusing on a specific time and space: postcolonial Paris/France as depicted in Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine. Within this time and space, I analyse the issue of violence as central to understanding Kassovitz’s depiction of contemporary France. I address this issue by looking at two particular types of violence shown in La Haine: oneiric violence and necropolitics. First, I explore the oneiric violence embodied in Vinz’s character. I understand oneiric not merely as referring to a dream or dream-like state, but to the constant fantasization of violence that Fanon (2001; 2008) examines. Following this, I utilize Mbembe’s (2003) concept of necropolitics to illuminate the role of the French state and its relation to the banlieue characters in the film. Ultimately, I argue, as Fanon and others have done, that La Haine makes us question the omnipresence of violence as a mechanism of oppression and marginalization. Beyond this, the film helps us unravel the ways through which legitimate/illegitimate violence dichotomies are constructed, leading us to ask whether violence might be an inescapable fact of our shared postcolonial modernity.

In the following pages, I support the view of various authors who argue that modern secularizatio... more In the following pages, I support the view of various authors who argue that modern secularization has not produced a definitive separation between religion and politics (Beaman, 2003, 2016; Bellah, 2005; Cristi, 2001; Gentile, 1990, 2003; Mosse, 1991). In doing this, I argue that this separation is ‘blurry’ and ambiguous as both spheres share a common element: the symbolic. To demonstrate this, I outline two processes often characterized as ‘inverse’. I begin by outlining the so-called ‘sacralization of the secular’, primarily relying on the works of Cristi (2001), Gentile (1990, 2003), and Mosse (1991). Secondly, I expand on Beaman's (2003, 2016) analyses on the ‘secularization of the sacred’. To illustrate this, I draw upon the recent case of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. The case in question allows us to see how the sacred and the secular are the result of socio-political processes of meaning; that being, instances of conflict and negotiation about what ‘secular’ and ‘sacred’ mean. Ultimately, this unmasks the inherent politicization of the sacred in secular modernity.