Hi, how is your weekend so far, Reader?

After almost two weeks of quarantine I was very happy to feel the wind on my skin again and I’ve traveled to the north of Bali where I will stay the next couple of weeks.
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This part is less touristy than the south but similarly hit by the pandemic. I’m going to visit my friend Sonia Piscayanti who is a Balinese writer. She told me last September when I interviewed her that the pandemic is in some sense a “blessing in disguise” for the Balinese (read full interview on Magdalene.co). I’ll let you know in the next newsletter if there is an update on that thought of her.

Do you have any questions for Sonia? Please let me know, I’m happy to ask her when I’m visiting her for a coffee this week.
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Sonia is also an English Literature lecturer and interested in decolonization. When talking about inclusion the word ‘decolonization’ is mentioned often. We can’t change the past so there is no use in trying that. But we can learn from our mistakes. In an interview with Rolando Vázquez - assistant professor of Sociology at University College Roosevelt of Utrecht University in The Netherlands - he explains:

"Extreme— often genocidal—colonial violences produce a sort of absolute silence. When species are extinct or when languages are extinct, you are confronted with the loss of paths into the future, that is, the loss of those trajectories that have been cut down. This is a silencing that is sometimes impossible to undo. That violence, especially in this extreme of extermination, produces a silence that makes it for us impossible to relate back to what precedes us and to bring it into the present so as to produce alternative futures."

​The whole interview with Vázquez is worth reading. And I’m very lucky that I’ve been accepted to attend the Summerschool on Decoloniality where Vazquez is course director, in June. I will write about my experience in this newsletter of course.
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- Sanne

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Inclusion is about futurity, not just innovation

In the field of media and journalism we often talk about innovation. We love to apply new technology to journalism, letting robots write our articles, giving the audience a virtual reality experience and journalists developing entrepreneurial skills to survive in the industry. Nothing wrong with all that, but when we’re looking at our future we need to look at the past as well. Vázquez says:

“Futurity is not about innovation, but about activating the trajectories that have been erased”.

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And a step before that is the realization that it should be a priority to learn to unlearn what is taken for granted. There is a belief in the universality of Western knowledge and its 'rational' worldview. For creating an inclusive future we need to listen better to voices outside of The West. Once we become more aware of the dominant Western, Eurocentric worldview, which journalism is influenced by as well, it becomes easier to work on a future where other parts of the world are equally listened to.
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I personally think this is one of our biggest challenges at the moment. We want to go forward as humans and that makes total sense. We shouldn’t romanticize the past. But if we don’t acknowledge that we violently erased certain patterns in our history and by doing that the consequences of today are still felt, it means we haven’t learned anything from the past.

And looking at erased parts of our existence has a lot of parallels with looking at erased parts of our own personal life. We talk with therapists or coaches about our childhood traumas, we put our gaze inward to understand how our habits got created and what we can do to follow new paths into the future.

Likewise we should learn from mistakes in history in order to create new paths in the future. Innovation is often explained as doing new things, new methods, new ideas and new products. But without an understanding of the past innovation won’t lead to inclusion.
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I highly recommend you to watch the Youtube video with Rolando Vázquez: “Decolonising Knowledge: What is Decolonisation?”. There are so many elements in his explanation that relate exactly to my mission with inclusive journalism:

1. Pedagogist: do we practice knowledge as if there is one universal truth? Or should we interpret knowledge as valid from a certain location. The second option leads to inclusion and plurality. It’s not to say that every knowledge goes, it’s to say that every knowledge is positioned in a certain way.
2. Relationality: moving towards a knowledge that puts a lot of importance in listening. Something we’re not trained in in the West. Listening gives an opportunity to go beyond our own knowledge.
3. Transition: how do we go beyond criticizing the system (anti-capitalism, anti-racism)?

By acknowledging that in our current Western civilization growth has never been possible without (the history of) racism and violence. Decoloniality is different from Western critique because there is a different approach possible. We just need to be humble enough to listen to other ideas.

Journal prompt

When did you re-invent yourself based on new knowledge from your past? What did you change and did it feel liberating to become aware of your own past in a new way?

What am I reading or watching?

• Since I was sick I got totally hooked at K-drama on Netflix. I already shared "Coffee Prince" with you. I’m currently watching "Goblin" (English title: “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God”). I summarized in an Instagram post why I find K-drama so fascinating.

• Another Netflix recommendation: "China Love", a documentary about the wedding industry in China. The film gives a good insight into how Chinese people look at relationships and how economic growth changes a society.
• Did you watch something that's worth sharing in this newsletter? Let me know and send me an email :)!

Balinese women

While I’m staying in Bali I started to interview Balinese women about their lives. The pandemic hit the island hard. And I’ve met several women who changed their lives due to the crisis. Read the first two the stories here.

What can you do?

• Decolonizing yourself is actually quite simple, you just need to ask yourself the right questions: who, what and how. For example regarding your knowledge:
  • who are the writers you’ve been reading so far in your life
  • Were they mostly white Western male?
  • Can you change that?
  • And what have you been reading to gain knowledge?
  • Was it mostly from a Western, Eurocentric perspective?
  • And how have you been studying?
  • Was it mostly in a rational, Western way?
  • Based on the Western canon?
  • By becoming more aware, decolonizing yourself becomes a natural process.
• I’ve added a possibility to give a donation related to this newsletter and the Perempuan Bali project. 50% of all donations will go directly to the women of Bali. If you consider this, here is the way to go.

See you soon!