ZEF CPC Colloquium "The links between the Buen Vivir and Decolonial Feminism: an approach drawn from experiences in Bolivia and Ecuador"

May 8, 2024 | 14:00 h - 15:00 h

Topic: The links between the Buen Vivir and Decolonial Feminism: an approach drawn from experiences in Bolivia and Ecuador

Speakers: Dennis Avilés and Eva Youkhana ZEF CPC Senior Researchers

Venue: Room 3.032 and online

Abstract: The different theoretical constructions around the conceptualizations of Buen Vivir and decolonial feminisms have been the subject of fervent debate at the beginning of the governmental periods of Evo Morales in Bolivia (2006 - 2019) and Rafael Correa in Ecuador (2007 - 2017) when Constitutional Assemblies were installed to develop and approve the new Bolivian and Ecuadorian Constitutions. The Assemblies framed unprecedented dialogues of women’s and feminists’ movements with other political and social actors who, like them, wanted to see changes in the deeply colonial histories of their countries. This article analyses the way the Buen Vivir was translated to specific discourses depending on whether it was presented as an indigenous, modern or postmodern proposal and how these translations addressed (or not) women‘s and feminists’ demands ranging from a radical depatriarchalizing process to the more conventional acknowledgment of their rights in the legal systems. These questions present a fundamental challenge because there is neither one discourse of the Buen Vivir nor of feminism, but rather different meanings are attached to them. Rather than deepening into a genealogical or epistemological study of these theoretical and political proposals, this paper explores the contradictions within and between these in the framework of the Constitutional Assemblies in Bolivia and Ecuador. It concludes that, although Buen Vivir and decolonial feminist approaches can be complementary, the conceptualizations of Buen Vivir must not be a horizon that postpones women’s aspirations indefinitely but a daily reality supported by explicit State policies and actions.

Dr. Dennis Avilés is a ZEF alumna and a Senior Researcher since 2019. She is currently in a Research Visit in Bolivia and has been working at ZEF for the Doctoral Studies Support Program, Environmental Peace and Development in Colombia and other projects with partners in the Amazon and Cuba. She is co-founder of the ZEF Gender Group and one of its co-coordinators. Her background studies are in Agriculture, Ecology, Gender Studies and Development Studies.

PD Dr. Eva Youkhana is a sociologist and anthropologist with a special interest in Latin American studies, urban and migration studies and feminist theory. 
Since 2016, she has been project manager of the Doctoral Studies Support Program for Environmental Peace and Development in Colombia and heads the working group at ZEF "Political and Cultural Change".

Attendance is obligatory for all Junior and Senior Researchers of the Group Cultural and Political Change.

All other Juniors and seniors are most welcome to join in.

The presentation will be in hybrid mode. Colleagues are expected to attend in person, but remote participation is also an option (see the Zoom link below):

https://uni-bonn.zoom-x.de/j/62320488212?pwd=R0lVMHN5a1YrcGI5QkxPK01JMit Vdz09 
Meeting-ID: 623 2048 8212
Code: 464779