This multidisciplinary initiative seeks to understand the impact of coloniality on today’s world and the ways in which people and institutions in all regions of the world, including our own, remember, perpetuate, and contest the legacy of colonialism with a focus on the present day (“now”). Colonialism translated administrative hierarchies into a racialised/ethnic division of labour between individuals and world regions. It is the persistence of this hierarchical logic that defines coloniality. Coloniality continues to shape global economic, political, cultural, and epistemic asymmetries today, while it coexists with decolonial counter-currents and resistances as well as with processes of hybridisation and creolisation.
The De/Coloniality Now Initiative is directed by a steering committee (8 Members) with 3 spokespersons, representing its inter- and transdisciplinary research agenda. Its activities through the collaboration of more than 30 scholars from 4 faculties are coordinated by a scientific coordinator.
The researchers and enabling structures collaborating in this Initiative possess strong expertise in developing decolonial research practices in the humanities and social sciences. More information on the previous and current research projects and achievements can be found here.
Moreover, the Initiative supports early-career researchers, and provide funding for Early-Career Tandem Projects. In the first phase (October 2023 – September 2024), four young researchers from Freiburg have worked with international colleagues to break new ground in tackling issues related to coloniality and decoloniality. In the second phase (October 2024 – September-2025) three early-career tandem projects are funded to develop further research practices. More information on the Early-Career Tandem Projects can be found here.
