Madina Tlostanova

(De)coloniality of Sensing

Keynote speech

Coloniality of sensing informs modern colonial ways of worlding, leading to the reinstatement of the nature–culture divide and the predominance of visuality and representation over other modes of perception and engagement such as sound, smell or touch. A growing number of critical artistic practices attempt decolonial forms of re-existence through aesthesis, revitalising marginalised affective impulses and foregrounding intertwined ecocritical concerns alongside critiques of technological coloniality.

These shifts challenge and expand traditional decolonial agendas towards a more comprehensive critical outlook that seeks to address the complexity of the crisis we inhabit.

Coloniality of sensing informs modern colonial ways of worlding, leading to the reinstatement of the nature–culture divide and the predominance of visuality and representation over other modes of perception and engagement such as sound, smell or touch. A growing number of critical artistic practices attempt decolonial forms of re-existence through aesthesis, revitalising marginalised affective impulses and foregrounding intertwined ecocritical concerns alongside critiques of technological coloniality.

These shifts challenge and expand traditional decolonial agendas towards a more comprehensive critical outlook that seeks to address the complexity of the crisis we inhabit.

Madina Tlostanova

A feminist thinker and fiction writer, and professor of gender studies at Linköping University. Her research interests include decoloniality, the post-socialist human condition and critical future studies.

Lecturer: Madina Tlostanova
Photo: Matej Tomažin

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN

Home Is Where Listening Happens

An exploration of listening practices and soundwalking in relation to belonging, home, and ecological awareness.

The Bird Sounds of the Salines

A peripatetic lecture combining slow movement and listening to explore bird habitats and soundscapes of the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park.

The Dramaturgy of Time as a Factor in Creating Spaces of Relationality, Wonder and Attunement

A lecture exploring time as a dramaturgical tool for shaping spaces of perception, relationality and attunement.

When the unspeakable is brought to light …

Dark soundscapes reveal overlooked urban relations, exclusions and ecopolitical tensions.

Screaming Air

A performative lecture exploring the sonic intrusion of cicadas as a signal of climatic, perceptual and cultural shifts.

Walking-with the Saltworks

Salt-making reveals human–element cohabitation through walking, listening and crystallisation.

Beyond the Audible

A performative lecture exploring vibroscapes, ecotremology and modes of listening beyond audible sound.

H2O Interface

Water as an active agent reveals entangled relations between human and non-human worlds.

Onomatopoeia and the Post-Industrial Soundscape

A lecture examining onomatopoeia and linguistic adaptations within the contemporary post-industrial soundscape.

Return to the Perimeter

An augmented reality soundwalk conceived as a peripatetic lecture, exploring narratives of social control, kinship and spatial perception.