The University of St. Martin will once again host "Raise the Curtain on Race" through a "Smash the Pillars" lecture series!
In 2015, the initial Raising the Curtain on Race (RCR) conference was launched and convened on Sint Eustatius. The RCR conferences aim to: 1.) initiate a global intellectual dialogue surrounding racism and white supremacy; and 2.) unite scholars who can develop an international cannon to dismantle this global structural system of racial oppression, white supremacy and privilege. In 2016, RCR was held on St. Martin and in 2018 on the island of Curaçao. In 2020, a virtual conference was organized in Baltimore, USA. In 2021, the University of St. Martin will once again host RCR through a Smash the Pillars lecture series.
Look for event dates in our Campus event calendar.
Smash the Pillars: Decoloniality and the Imaginary of Color in the Dutch Kingdom (2018) is an edited volume that builds on the efforts of scholars and activists to decolonize Dutch history and memory, as they resist the epistemological violence imposed by the state, its institutions, and dominant narratives. Many of the contributions featured in Smash the Pillars participated in the RCR conferences. The book’s editors (Antonio Carmona Baez and Melissa Weiner) were featured at RCR 2018 in Curacao. In this RCR Smash the Pillars lecture series, we anticipate offering an unparalleled glimpse into decolonial scholarship and activism in the Dutch kingdom to provide a new lens to view contemporary decolonial efforts. Similar to the book, the speakers in this lecture series will advance the belief that to fully decolonize Dutch society, the current social organization in the Kingdom of the Netherlands that relies on separate pillars for each religious and/or racial group, must be dismantled.
