TRANSMODERNITY, HISTORICAL CAPITALISM, AND COLONIALITY:

A POST-DISCIPLINARY DIALOGUE

Dec. 4-5, 1998

Co-Organizers: Ramón Grosfoguel and

Agustín Lao-Montes

Fernand Braudel Center for the

Study of Economies, Historical

Systems, and Civilizations Binghamton University

With funding provided by

Office of the Provost and

Fernand Braudel Center

Binghamton University

TRANSMODERNITY, HISTORICAL CAPITALISM, AND COLONIALITY: A POST-DISCIPLINARY DIALOGUE

The triad that entitles this conference signifies a web of shifting linkages (in time and space) between modern rationalities, capitalist relations, and colonial situations. The three notions are based on an understanding of the modern world as a global system which was conceived during the long sixteenth century, along with the "invention" of the Americas, and the emergence of the Atlantic system. This inception of the capitalist world-economy converged with the rise of the "West" (and its Occidentalist discourses), the organization of a corresponding inter(trans)statal system of colonial domination, and the coining of particularly modern modes of identification (namely race, ethnicity, and nationality). The main authors of the three key concepts that will frame the dialogue, Enrique Dussel (transmodernity), Immanuel Wallerstein (historical capitalism), and Anibal Quijano (the coloniality of power), share a concern with the longue durée, and a world-historical methodology in the analysis of the secular trends, general patterns, and historical particularities, that continuously shape the modern world-system. The emphasis of the conversation will be on the intersecting logics of interlocking modernities, capitalist dynamics, and the colonial undersides of power relations and subjectivities. Modernity will be problematized beyond Eurocentric definitions of reason, freedom, and progress, and in favor of a more contradictory, historicized, and plural understandings of the modern. Capitalism will be analyzed as an historical system of global reach, and an historical dynamic full of contradictions and contingencies, in light of the operations of changing processes and the actions of multiple agencies. Coloniality will be explored, not simply as a juridico-political relationship between empires (actors and institutions) and colonized bodies (political and personal) but above all as a basic category for the explanation of the imperial-colonial underpinnings of economic, political, and cultural relations in the modern world. The conference will take the form of a conversation among and with Quijano, Dussel, and Wallerstein, as well as a broad-based dialogue (from a variety of social, cultural, political, and academic locations) on the problematic of Modernity, Capitalism, and Colonialism.

All sessions are held in Public Service Program Center E-F

Friday, December 4

9-10 am, Registration

10 am - 12

I-Dialogue on Transmodernity, Historical

Capitalism, and Coloniality

Moderator: Ramón Grosfoguel, Boston College

1-Aníbal Quijano, Universidad de San Carlos,

Peru

2-Enrique Dussel, Universidad Nacional

Autonoma de México

3-Immanuel Wallerstein, Fernand Braudel

Center

12 - 1:30 Lunch

1:30 - 3:30 pm

II-Transmodernity

Chair: Tiffany Patterson, Binghamton

University

1-Dale Tomich, Fernand Braudel Center

2-Agustin Lao-Montes, Fernand Braudel Center

3-Emilio Ichikawa, Universidad de La Habana,

Cuba

4-Susan Buck-Morss, Cornell University

Discussant: Enrique Dussel

4 - 6 pm

III-Historical Capitalism

Chair: Volkan Aytar, Binghamton University

1-Giovanni Arrighi, John Hopkins University

2-Bolívar Echeverría, Universidad Nacional

Autonoma de México

3-Walter Mignolo, Duke University

4-David Lloyd, Scripps College

Discussant: Immanuel Wallerstein

Saturday, December 5

9 - 11 am

IV-Coloniality

Chair: Maria Lugones, Binghamton University

1-Anthony King, Binghamton University

2-Ramón Grosfoguel, Boston College

3-Ella Shohat, City University of New York

4-Ann L. Stoler, University of Michigan

5-Nak-chung Paik, Seoul National University

Discussant: Aníbal Quijano

11:30 - 1 pm

V-In Conclusion: Dialogue on Transmodernity,

Historical Capitalism, and

Coloniality

Moderator: Agustín Lao-Montes

1-Aníbal Quijano

2-Enrique Dussel

3-Immanuel Wallerstein

1 pm Lunch at PSPC

$8.00 by pre-reservation only

Registration

Pre-registration by mail is strongly recommended.

Fee: $10 Non-Binghamton Univ. Faculty and guests

To attend Saturday lunch, you must pre-register by mail.

Saturday lunch fee: $ 8.00

Deadline: November 25, 1998

Please send conference Registration Form to:

Transmodernity Conference

Fernand Braudel Center

Binghamton University

P.O. Box 6000

Binghamton NY 13902-6000

Lodging

For those attending the conference, reduced rates are available at:

Holiday Inn at the University

4105 Vestal Parkway, Vestal NY 13850

607-729-6371

$58 per room

Deadline for guaranteed rooms is

November 13, 1998

Please send Hotel Reservation Form directly to the hotel.

Parking

Parking is available in the Paid Visitor Lot and Paid Garage for $3 on Friday,

$1 in quarters on Saturday in the Garage,

$3 in the Paid Visitor Lot

or, on Saturday only, free in regular campus parking lots.

Information

Write to:

Transmodernity Conference

Fernand Braudel Center

Binghamton University

P. O. Box 6000

Binghamton NY 13902-6000

phone 607-777-4924; fax 607-777-4315

email: devoist@binghamton.edu

Transmodernity, Historical Capitalism, and Coloniality: A Post-Disciplinary Dialogue

Conference and Meal Registration Form

Deadline: November 25, 1998 (Please Print)

Name_________________________________________

Institution__________________________________

Department___________________________________

Mailing Address______________________________

_____________________________________________

Registration Fee: $______________

($10 non-BU faculty and guests)

Saturday lunch _____at $8.00 $______________

(buffet; vegetarian choice available)

Total amount enclosed $______________

Please send check in US currency by Nov. 25, 1998 payable to:

Fernand Braudel Center", Binghamton Univ.

P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton NY 13902-6000

---------------------------------------------

Transmodernity, Historical Capitalism, and Coloniality: A Post-Disciplinary Dialogue

Hotel Reservation Form

Send directly to:

Holiday Inn at the University

4105 Vestal Parkway

Vestal NY 13850

607-729-6371

FAX: 607-729-6407

Deadline: November 13, 1998 (Please print)

Name_________________________________________

Address______________________________________

_____________________________________________

Telephone____________________________________

Accommodations needed________________________

Date/time of arrival_________________________

Date/time of departure_______________________

_____Please guarantee reservation past 4 pm

Credit card name, number, exp. date

_____________________________________________

Signature____________________________________

Fernand Braudel Center