Prolog: Mehr als ein Schlagwort

Dekolonisieren (in) der postkolonialen Schweiz

Abstract

The text takes as its starting point a statement recently made by the philosopher Sushila Mesquita, who expressed her concerns that "decolonial" might become another buzzword, quickly losing its radical force. This raises the question of what makes decolonizing possible as a practice that cuts across academic, activist, political and cultural elds, and that aims at transforming rather than rearranging current regimes of power. The article takes this question up with reference to novel research findings. It argues that while race constitutes a crucial category of social organization in Switzerland, its significance tends to be strongly denied. It further maintains that groundbreaking attempts to decolonize cultural and educational institutions have emerged in the past few years. However, these approaches are still marginal as well as marginalized, and need more recognition if they are to have an impact.