ZEFa Colloquium on The concept of Buen Vivir: A decolonial feminist perspective

November 6, 2019 | 11:00 h - 12:00 h

Title: The concept of Buen Vivir: A decolonial feminist perspective
Speaker: Dennis Lucy Avilés Irahola (ZEFa Senior Researcher)

Abstract: The aim of the draft paper to be presented is to analyze the enacting of the decolonial feminism and the Buen Vivir (Living well) discourses in Bolivia and Ecuador. The central question posed by this work is whether criticisms to the hegemonic development model shared by feminists and protagonists of the Buen Vivir are sufficient to fulfill a social utopia for both of them. By and large, my analysis derives from my own experiences with women's movements in Bolivia and gender-related work in other Latin American countries and it is presented as a critical review on the im/possibilities of both worldviews to live together in the Bolivian and Ecuadorian contexts. The main conclusion of the paper is that the Buen Vivir understood as a powerful paradigm towards decolonisation must not be a horizon that postpones women’s aspirations indefinitely but a daily reality supported by explicit public policies and actions. And it is in building these that feminists currents and women's indigenous and non-indigenous groups can dialogue and strengthen each other