What are Decolonial Theories? (with Lucia Rabello de Castro)
Channel: Children in Theory
Date: 2023-11-10

In this session of the Children in Theory series, Prof Lucia Rabello de Castro introduces Decolonial theories as a method for the study of childhood, what are decolonial theories, their main normative commitments, and forms of application to research. The session looks at the issue of colonial relations between the Global North and the Global South in terms of knowledge production and consumption, and explores the mechanisms applied by South American and African scholars to counter these pressures. It highlights the value of theorising from the South; the value new ways of thinking, knowing rooted in the Global South can bring to studies of human groups and social justice. She explores the mechanisms through which capitalist structures have taken over the production of knowledge globally, and how a Decolonial lens can work as an act of resistance that aims to counter “universalist” understandings of childhood and children’s rights.
 Key issues addressed:
• Why Decolonial Theories?
• Historical Sources of Decolonial Thought
• Major Strands of Decolonial Research.
• The Global South Problematising Universalism.
• The Values of Decolonial Theories: Delinking; Localisation; Critique.

Rabello de Castro, L. (2023). What are Decolonial Theories? In N. Brando, D. Lawson and H. Stalford (eds.) Children in Theory: Theoretical Methods and Approaches to the Study of Childhood.  Online Masterclass Series. University of Liverpool.

For more information on Decolonial Theories and the Children in Theory series, follow the link below: