Deforestation as Epistemicide

When a tree is cut down, what is actually being destroyed? Which kind of knowledge surfaces with regards to Nature and how to relate to it? Departing from and following the environmental destruction of the Gran Chaco region of Argentina, this presentation will explore how the dispossession of land goes hand in hand with the systematic destruction of forms of knowledge other than the Eurocentric thought. Deforestation produces a double destruction: the material destruction of nature understood as a resource and an onto-epistemic destruction of nature as a collective subject. The result is the destruction of the whole sphere of existence, which includes the sphere of knowledge, of those colonised for whom Nature is, simply put, life.

Franca López Barbera (she/her) is an Argentinian designer and researcher based in Berlin. Her work explores the intersection between nature, coloniality, gender, and ethics. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Institute of History and Theory of Architecture, University of Braunschweig where she examines the introduction of consent in design-nature relationalities against extractive regimes. Prior to this, she studied Industrial Design at the University of Buenos Aires and did a Master of Science in Design Research at the Bauhaus in Dessau. Franca has experience in several forms of design, working with various design practices, art studios, non-profits, and academic institutions. In 2021, she curated Monte Abierto, the Argentinian pavilion for the London Design Biennale.

This lecture is part of the Against the Grain lecture series:

April 16 | 5 pm CEST
Decolonizing Colonial Desire
with Uzma Rizvi

April 23 | 5 pm CEST
Deforestation as Epistemicide
with Franca López Barbera

April 30 | 5 pm CEST
Imperial Fevers, Invisible Lives
with Edna Bonhomme

May 7 | 5 pm CEST
The Frame of History
with Evan Nicole Brown

May 14 | 5 pm CEST
Finding Louise E. Jefferson
with Tasheka Arceneux-Sutton

May 21 | 5 pm CEST
Ladies of Letters
with Bahia Shehab

May 28 | 5 pm CEST
Salted Waters in the Whorls of Time
with Luiza Prado de O. Martins

June 4 | 5 pm CEST
Visualising the Invisible
with Sria Chatterjee