Walter Mignolo

William H. Wannamaker Professor of Romance Studies in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences; Center for Global Studies and the Humanities, Duke University, USA

台灣聯合大學系統&國立交通大學文化研究國際中心邀請美國杜克大學Walter Mignolo教授來台進行短期訪問，並配合交大社文所暨文化研究國際中心中長期特色計畫「衝突與解殖：平等共同體的探索」進行專題講座發表。

Walter Mignolo是杜克大學文學系以及文化人類學系教授，曾擔任該校全球研究與人文中心（Center for Global Studies and the Humanities）主任。

Mignolo教授成長於阿根廷，七〇年代於法國社會科學高等學院獲得博士學位，著有符號學相關的博士論文。Mignolo是當代重要的文化理論與文化批評學者。他的研究領域和論述方向主要關注在現代性與殖民性議題、地緣政治與知識結構、地理疆界和世界主義的批判性反思、與文化、權力、知識系統相關的解殖民議題，以及多元世界觀。Mignolo長期以來的研究著述成果相當豐碩，著有Local Histories/Global Designs: Coloniality, Subaltern Knowledges, and Border Thinking（1999），The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality and Colonization（1995），The Idea of Latin America（2005），The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options（2011）等。Mignolo的著作曾經獲得多項學術榮譽，包含1996年Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize（MLA），以及Frantz Fanon Prize（Caribbean Philosophical Association）等。其著作目前在全世界已被翻譯為德文、義大利文、法文、瑞典文、羅馬尼亞文、西班牙文、葡萄牙文、中文、韓文，其在當代全球學術和知識界的影響力可見一斑。

Mignolo此次來台訪問預計進行三場講座，講題包含：一、解殖後的解殖性；冷戰後的去西方化（Decoloniality after Decolonizaiton; Dewesternization after the Cold War），二、終結西方霸權，而非資本主義（The End of Western Domination, not of Capitalism），三、永續發展的迷思與承諾（The Myth and Promises of Sustainable Development）。這幾場演講一方面讓我們理解Mignolo如何由全球地緣政治的具體歷史地理脈絡，批判當代由西方主導的殖民性、現代性，和發展主義的政治經濟思維。另一方面，則是Mignolo如何由西方主導的知識論框架中轉移，來建立一個不同於帝國/殖民性的認識論系統；通過對於全球知識系統的重構和移轉，以開啟一種對於西方進行「解殖」（decolonial）和「解連結」（de-linking）的知識路徑。

Mignolo出身自阿根廷的成長背景，和其對於拉丁美洲殖民現代性和歷史脈絡的深入理解，以及他長年以來對於全球地緣政治、地理疆界，和對於當代知識權力結構的深刻批判，通過他此次的來台訪問，將更進一步和本地知識界所關注的亞洲現代性、殖民性與解殖民的歷史脈絡和文化批判議題，激起不同地緣關係的交互理解與參照，以及更進一步的理論和思想性對話。

Mignolo’s research and teaching have been devoted, in the past 30 years, to understanding and unraveling the historical foundation of the modern/colonial world system and imaginary since 1500. In his research, modern/colonial world system and imaginary is tantamount with the historical foundation of Western Civilization and its expansion around the globe. His research stands on four basic premises: a) the there is no world-system before 1500 and the integration of America in the Western Christian (European) imaginary; b) that the world-system generated the idea of “newness” (the New World) and of modernity and c) that there is no modernity without coloniality—coloniality is constitutive no derivative of modernity; d) the modern/colonial imaginary was mounted and maintained on the invention of the Human and Humanity that provided the point of reference for the invention of racism and sexism together with the invention of nature.

Briefly stated, Mignolo’s research has been and continues to be devoted to exposing modernity/coloniality as a machine that generates and maintains un-justices and to exploring decolonial ways of delinking from the modernity/coloniality. Because the political dimension of his work, in the past fifteenth years Mignolo’s energy has been increasingly devoted to the public sphere working with artists, curators, and with journalists, writing op-eds and giving frequent interviews in English and Spanish, co-organizing and co-teaching Summer Schools in Middelburg, Bremen, and at UNC-Duke. He is also frequently delivering workshops for faculty and graduate students in South and Central America, Asia, and Europe.

Mignolo was awarded the Katherine Singer Kovaks prize (MLA) for The darker side of the renaissance: literacy, territoriality and colonization (1996) and the Frantz Fanon Prize by the Caribbean Philosophical Association for The Idea of Latin America (2006). His work has been translated into German, Italian, French, Swedish, Rumanian, Spanish, Portuguese, Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean.