Lecture: Malcom Ferdinand - Loving ourselves the Earth: Undoing the colonial inhabitation (FR)
Philosopher and environmental engineer Malcom Ferdinand presents his book Loving ourselves the Earth: Undoing the colonial inhabitation (Seuil, 2024), which examines the environmental scandal of pesticide contamination in Martinique and Guadeloupe, focusing in particular on the use of chlordecone—also known as Kepone. Based on 15 years of research, Ferdinand offers a decolonial perspective and a poetic gesture that moves away from the technocratic perspectives to propose new ways of inhabiting Earth beyond colonial frameworks.
The talk will be followed by a Q&A with Sorana Munsya.
This event is preceded by a guided tour by artist Kicsy Abreu Stable of the exhibition Magical Realism.
Photo of landscape by Malcom Ferdinand
Malcom Ferdinand is researcher at CNRS. He obtained his PhD (summa cum laude) in political science and political philosophy at the Université Paris Diderot in 2016 with a dissertation on contemporary ecological conflicts in the Caribbean. Through empirical research on four islands (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti and Puerto Rico), Malcom examined the way current ecological conflicts bring to the fore demands of social and environmental justice from the inhabitants, who criticize the current political relationship with the metropolitan power. Combining historical, sociological and literary approaches, Malcom has developed a theory of Caribbean postcolonial ecological thought, one that articulates the imperative of nature and cultural heritage preservation and political claims of equality.
The lecture is co-commissioned by WIELS, Brussels and TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Madrid.
