Decolonially (Y)ours: Conference Participation and Collective Authorship as Decolonial Practice

Can one strive for decoloniality within institutional knowledge production? Speaking as a foreign para-academic operating in international (European) academia, I hopefully and urgently call for the possibility of embodying post- and de-colonial theory through the mundane politics of inclusive intellectual work. This talk revolves around my experiences of “Music’s institution and the (de)colonial,” a conference organized in May 2023 in Lund University, Sweden—first as a participant, and second as lead author of the ensuing post-conference article. Our collective experience shows how the temporary community of the conference, at different stages of the organizational process, could uphold a spirit of academic hospitality, curiosity, conviviality, and ultimately allyship—attributes which support structural aims of equity, diversity, and inclusivity.  

ANJELINE DE DIOS is a singer, teacher, and scholar from Manila, Philippines. Her interdisciplinary practice studies the transcultural geographies of popular music as a way to explore issues of labor, migration, care, and healing from a decolonial and intersectional perspective. Anjeline has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy (Ateneo de Manila University) and applied ethics (Linköping University), and a PhD in geography (National University of Singapore). Prior to her current work as an independent researcher-artist, she was Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. She is the co-editor of The Elgar Handbook on the Geographies of Creativity (2020), and the author of Living Song, Living Labor, an ethnography of overseas Filipino musicians. She was the 2023 Goethe-Institut REFLEKT Programme’s resident artist at SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin. Her website is anjeline.net.

SUGGESTED READING:

• Anjeline de Dios et al., (2024), “Thinking decolonially towards music’s institution: A post-conference reflection,” HERRI (issue 10), available online