Guest Lecture Nikita Dhawan (TU Dresden): „Rescuing the Enlightenment from the Europeans: Critical Theories of Decolonization“, Jan. 16, 2025, 6 p.m., room 609

Nikita Dhawan is Professor of Political Theory and History of Ideas at the Technical University Dresden, Germany. She just published her study Rescuing the Enlightenment from the Europeans: Critical Theories of Decolonization in German with Campus Verlag. The book will come out in English with Duke UP. The talk uses the toolbox of postcolonial studies to challenge the established canon and to reexamine the master discourse of the Enlightenment project in view of its use value for minoritarian interests or resistant readings. It investigates the economic, socio-political, and intellectual legacies of colonialism and how these enduring influences continue to shape the contemporary world. Despite its contributions, postcolonial studies is facing growing criticism from various quarters, questioning its methodologies, focus, and relevance in addressing current global issues. It has been described as anti-rational, anti-universalism, Eurocentric, and even antisemitic. Dhawan’s talk (and the study from which it stems) examines how postcolonial studies contributes to rethinking the nature and scope of critical thought by addressing these serious concerns. She argues that such characterizations often stem from misunderstandings of the project of decolonization and that criticizing the Enlightenment and its legacies does not necessarily entail rejecting them, nor does engaging with Enlightenment principles mean endorsing them unconditionally.