For those outside Canada, 'Congress' is an annual gathering of social science and humanities scholars from across Canada; there's a core conference and dozens of specialized conferences from the many associations and fields represented. This year the organizers are very deliberately "disrupting" (their word) traditional academic power structures and "positioning Indigenous and Black thought as the lens though which to attend to the major crises of our times (the climate catastrophe, racial justice, gender and sexual violence, displacement and poverty)." I think it's great that they're doing this (not that they need my endorsement or permission).
I do have two criticisms, however. First, this article suggests that it is "empiricist research methodologies" that have "further entrenched the presumed deficiencies of these groups." I don't agree; empiricism doesn't produce racist thought, though it is often used by racists are a form of illicit rationalization. Second, while I applaud the effort to replace "big thinking" forms of knowledge production, I don't think merely inviting some scholars to give lectures at, by and for a university audience (and their publishers) really disrupts the power and centerism of the traditonal academic environment. Academics, especially those that attend Congress, should talk to each other less, and to get out into the community more.
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