Notes Toward a Theory of Transformative Justice

Keynote lecture by Denise Ferreira da Silva

Sunday, 12 March, 2017, 11:15-13:00

Denise Ferreira da Silva outlines a plan for decolonization - or a draft of a thesis, a praxis, and corresponding figuration entwining juridic, economic and symbolic architectures that render racial (total, institutional, symbolic) violence pervasive in the global present and its attendant matrix of power. With a plan that acknowledges how the workings of raciality expose the limits of the liberal program beyond modern thought, da Silva contributes to the preparatory work necessary for figuring decolonization as the aim of a transformative theory of justice.

Denise Ferreira da Silva is an Associate Professor and Director of The Social Justice Institute at the University of British Columbia. Her academic writings and artistic practice address the ethical questions of the global present and target the metaphysical and onto-epistemological dimensions of modern thought. Academic publications include Toward a Global Idea of Race (2007) and the edited volume Race, Empire, and The Crisis of the Subprime (with Paula Chakravartty, 2013). She is the principal editor for the book series Law, Race, and the Postcolonial (with Mark Harris and Brenna Bhandar). Together with Valentina Desideri, she creates events and texts as part of 'Poethical Readings' and is an advisor to Contour Biennale 8.