This decolonial learning session will focus on decolonizing gender and sexuality in the Dutch Caribbean landscape. Rigid ideas of gender and sexuality are inherently linked to a colonial viewpoint. Through a conversation with Wigbertson Julian Isenia, we will examine the impact of colonialism on ideas of gender and sexuality in the Caribbean and will look at how this can help us  deconstruct our understandings in the Netherlands.

For the audio recording click here.

About the speaker:

Wigbertson Julian Isenia (he/they) is an interdisciplinary scholar and assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. They co-founded Black Queer Archives, which organizes panels and exhibitions on marginalized groups, such as queer activist groups of colour from the 1970s and HIV and AIDS awareness among postcolonial migrants in the Netherlands. Their work focuses on gendered and sexual cultures in Curaçao (part of the Dutch Caribbean) by analyzing cultural practices such as archival collections, literature, theatre, and cultural performances, combining ethnography with archival work. They are particularly interested in the implications of post-colonialism and queer politics for historical and contemporary debates. By combining creative interdisciplinary methodologies, they have made contributions that have earned numerous awards, enhancing academic understanding and promoting societal inclusion. This work underscores their commitment to extending scholarly findings beyond the confines of academia.

Reading list: 
>Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Yang. “Decolonization is not a metaphor.” Tabula Rasa 38 (2021): 61-111.

>Lugones, María. “Heterosexualism and the colonial/modern gender system.” Hypatia 22.1 (2007): 186-219.

>Julian Isenia, Wigbertson. “Looking for kambrada: Sexuality and social anxieties in the Dutch colonial archive, 1882–1923.” Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies 22.2 (2019): 125-143.

>Wekker, Gloria. The Politics of Passion: Women’s Sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese Diaspora. Columbia University Press, 2006