Composing Worlds: Anthropology, Ontology, and the Decolonization of Being

Datum

Mittwoch, 3. Februar 2027, 18:30 Uhr

Ort

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung (ZfL)

Adresse

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Eberhard-Lämmert-Saal, entrance Meierottostr. 8, 10719 Berlin

Verlag

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung (ZfL)

Presentation of Bernardo Bianchi, Andreas Lipowsky, Oliver Precht (eds.): Die ontologische Wende. Indigene Kosmologien und die Dekolonisierung des Seins (Suhrkamp 2026) with Bernardo Bianchi, Philippe Descola, Thomas Khurana, Oliver Precht, and Lea Schneider The question of how to theoretically articulate and politically organize the differences between modern, Western cultures and the numerous non-modern cultures that are often referred to today as “Indigenous” is as old as anthropology itself. Over the past 30 years, a new school of thought has emerged that rearticulates these cultural differences in terms of a pluriverse­: a diversity of worlds grounded in different ontologies and natures. Navigating this pluriverse demands a new form of “cosmopolitics,” which, in turn, requires a radical relativization or re-situating of the fundamental concepts of our Western-modern cosmology. In short, it requires a decolonization of being. The recently published reader Die ontologische Wende aims to make this school of thought accessible to a wider German-speaking audience. Drawing on the texts collected in the reader, as well as on Philippe Descola’s book Politics of Worlding , recently published in German translation, and Lea Schneider’s book Von Tieren und anderen Menschen , this panel discussion will explore the complex of issues raised by this approach and their particular urgency in an era of climate crisis—a crisis that is also a crisis of the modern worldview. Bernardo Bianchi is a philosopher and researcher at the Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin. His research focuses on political philosophy, intellectual history, Marxism, and Indigenous political thought. Philippe Descola is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the Collège de France, where he held the Chair of Anthropology of Nature. In recognition of his groundbreaking work on the relations between humans and non-humans and his contribution to anthropology, he has received numerous distinctions, including the CNRS Gold Medal. He is a member of the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Thomas Khurana is Professor of Philosophical Anthropology and Philosophy of Mind at the University of Potsdam, where he directs the Center for Post-Kantian Philosophy. His research focuses on post-Kantian philosophy, philosophical anthropology, social and political philosophy, and Critical Theory. Oliver Precht is a philosopher and researcher at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. He previously worked at the ZfL and the Centre Marc Bloch. His research focuses on political philosophy, French theory, political ecology, Indigenous cosmologies, and Brazilian literature. Lea Schneider is a writer, translator, and researcher at the Freie Universität Berlin. Her research interests include contemporary Chinese poetry, online literature, animal studies, and Indigenous traditions of thought. She has received numerous awards for her literary work, most recently the Berlin Art Prize (2021) and the Ernst-Reuter-Preis (2024). Fig. above: Embroidered cotton textile fragment featuring intertwined serpent figures and stylized animal motifs from the Paracas Necropolis, Peru (1–500 CE) (detail), © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence .