The research unit investigates how colonial legacies, relations and structures continue to shape our world by exploring  artistic, literary, linguistic, theatrical, pedagogical,  scholarly and activist practices that respond to states of coloniality. “Postcolonial Entanglements” refers to the material entanglements of people, practices, ideas, capital and technologies that texture colonial pasts, presents and futures. These entanglements forcefully connect and disconnect different parts of the world; and they silence, liberate and rearrange cultural systems and expressions. They also provide novel spaces for the creation of strategic connections that work through the aftermaths of old and new forms of colonialism.

The notion of entanglements also describes the research unit’s setup, objectives and work practices:

• The unit connects researchers from different departments, disciplines and academic backgrounds
• The unit works to link research, teaching, practice and outreach
• The unit creates networks between researchers, artists and other societal actors
• The unit represents multiple geographies of colonialism where decolonial action and thought are prospering, among them, the Anglophone world including the Indian Ocean rim, Latin America, and the former Danish empire in the North and Tropical Atlantic.

 Areas of interest

• Shifting self-images of former colonial powers and changing relationships with former colonies including political, economic and mental decolonization processes
• Notions of indigeneity and histories of anticolonial resistance and activism
• Practices of freedom and networks of solidarity across regions
• Archives, contested heritage and everyday memory work
• The cultural and political economy of languages and identities
• Artistic practices, applied arts and emotional, social and political change
• Decolonial pedagogy in educational institutions

Activities

• Seminars with invited speakers involving the participation of students and social actors
• Presentations and discussion of work by junior scholars
• Sessions of focused reading and discussion of ongoing work by unit members

The research unit is open to all interested scholars.