Reves Center for International Studies Events
[PAST EVENT] Bellini Colloquium: "The Global South in biodiversity collections"
This presentation constitutes a reflection around the (de)colonial practices of online libraries and archives affiliated to the Global North but that incorporate epistemologies pertaining to the Global South. By focusing on the collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) and the case of Latin America, this talk highlights colonial dynamics in networks of bio-diverse knowledge production and explores the importance of multilingualism and multicultural representation in terms of access, audiences, curation, and epistemic production. By discussing BHL’s possibilities for decolonization vis-á-vis Latin America, this presentation argues for a non-Anglocentric, non-Global-North-centric approach to archival practices that aims for the diversification of bio-diverse narratives, breaks with the colonial roots of (digital) archives, and promotes a cycle of bio-diverse knowledge production in and from the Global South.