Decolonizing Colonial Desire

By Uzma Rizvi

Apr 19, 2021

The act of decolonization requires active steps to redress past injustices related to colonialism. It is complicated to decolonize museums because of the deep and intimate relationships colonial states have to their collections as monuments to nation-building and authorized heritage. These relationships held by majority populations and governance are locally specific; however, what unites the various geographies is the history of colonization, and the continued violence on othered bodies in those locales. This presentation will address these local and transnational histories in relation to the contemporary time, and offer possible pathways to decolonize colonial desires of collection.

Uzma Z. Rizvi (she/her) is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Urban Studies at the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, and a Visiting Professor at Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Pakistan. Rizvi’s research interests include decolonizing archaeology, ancient urbanism, critical heritage studies, new materialism, and the postcolonial critique. A primary focus of her work contends with archaeological epistemologies and methodologies, and changed praxis based on decolonized principles and participatory ethics. Rizvi has intentionally interwoven archaeology with cultural criticism, philosophy, critical theory, art and design. Her recent monograph, The Affect of Crafting: Third Millennium BCE Copper Arrowheads from Rajasthan, India (2018) follows other publications including volumes such as Archaeology and the Postcolonial Critique (2008), Handbook on Postcolonial Archaeology (2010), and Connections and Complexity: New Approaches to the Archaeology of South Asia (2013). Most recently, her article, Archaeological Encounters: The Role of the Speculative in Decolonial Archaeology (2019) was published in a special issue on Archaeology and Futurity, in the Journal of Contemporary Archaeology. Rizvi specializes in studying third millennium BCE communities in the MENASA region, and she is a critical voice for global issues related to issues around equity and justice.