220072 El mundo al revés: Indigenous Reflections on History in the Americas (S) (SoSe 2026)

The Conquista of the Americas marked a fundamental break in the historical dynamics of the region's diverse societies, which from this perspective may well be called the end of history. With colonization and the establishment of a system of coloniality of power that continues to this day, the question arises of how to tell the history/ies of indigenous peoples. Approaches from oral history as well as decolonial or indigenous methodologies start here. Indigenous intellectuals from all parts of the Americas have presented new, critical approaches to the question of writing untold histories. But it raises the question of how even the testimonies and autoethnographies of Indigenous individuals and communities are continually reshaped by discourses of nation, heritage, or assimilation. Beyond the discussion of these approaches, the seminar also deals with the formats of the production of historical knowledge, ranging from autoethnographies and scholarly essays to image and music productions. Concrete approaches from Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, Canada and the USA, among others, will be dealt with.