Facing Coloniality:
Taking a Stand in Science,
Art and Everyday Life
Special editors: Emilia Paz Bravo Pinto, Lisa Hannen & Lennard Göttner
University of Münster
Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Art by Yohannes Mulat Mekonnen
Although we often don't even notice them on the surface, colonial structures are omnipresent. We encounter them in science, art and our everyday lives. In the winter semester 2023/24, students of cultural and social anthropology at the University of Münster took up various tangible colonial phenomena as part of a seminar on decolonial debates. Supervised by Prof. Thomas Stodulka, seven essays were written that call for questioning, analysing and taking a stand in order to counter the coloniality of our world.
Special editors: Emilia Paz Bravo Pinto, Lisa Hannen & Lennard Göttner
Authors: Lisa Hannen, Merle Lüking, Emilia Paz Bravo Pinto, Lennard Göttner,
Liv Malin Böllert, Laura Natividad Mendoza Wronski, Lara Gülen
Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology
University of Münster
Essay by Lisa Hannen
From boutique studios to Instagram reels, yoga has become a global wellness trend. Yet what happens when a practice rooted in South Asian spirituality is stripped of its context and repackaged for Western consumer markets?
In this essay, Lisa Hannen explores how yoga’s popularity intersects with histories of colonialism, cultural appropriation, and the politics of visibility. She asks: What does it mean when Indian voices are sidelined in an industry built on Indian tradition? And how can yoga serve as a site of resistance and cultural reclamation?
Essay by Merle Lüking
Is feminism truly feminist if it isn’t both intersectional and decolonial?
This essay questions the buzzword use of intersectionality as a marker of inclusivity and calls for a deeper reckoning with the colonial roots of gender and power. Engaging with theorists such as María Lugones and Françoise Vergès, it explores how feminist theory can move beyond Eurocentric frameworks to rethink and rebuild feminism as a movement of solidarity that confronts racism, patriarchy, and imperialism together. In doing so, it envisions a more historically grounded and globally aware practice of feminism.