Organized by Scuola Normale Superiore, the school is funded by the PNRR through the MERITA, the network for talent project*.

Date: 20-23 April 2026
Location: Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzone di Cortona (AR)
Total hours: 28
Max participants: 20
Language: English
Application deadline: 10 February 2026
Target audience: Master student, PhD students and early-career researchers.

The “Colonial Studies” Spring School has the aim of addressing new perspectives on colonial studies focusing in its first edition on Indigeneity and Colonisation. In the first part of the course, participants will explore the poetics and ethics of the historical narrative pertaining to Settler-colonialism.  In the second part, we explore the history and present of Settler-colonisation, and the manner in which Colonialism was and continues to be ordained through Capitalism. We pause at polychronic conjunctures in history to analyse the interconnectedness of Colonial studies to Feminism, for example, as a method to understanding structures of power and domination manifested in oppression, supremacy and privilege. In the third part of the course, we explore possibilities of decolonization emerging from the South. We look at collective action and agency in the struggle against colonisation. Here we study social and political anti-colonial movements. We also explore novel research on solidarity movements, and the instrumentalization of epistemic methods of oppression to suppress international solidarity against forms of colonization. Finally, we will elaborate on the epistemic structures of knowledge production on Colonization while also discussing the pitfalls and crises of colonial studies in living up to contemporary challenges.
In a continuously changing world, colonization changes forms and colors. We will discuss in this course American Imperialism in the context of subjugating Iraq and Venezuela and, potentially, Greenland to violence, war and exploitation.
Core Themes and Program Emphasis:

• Colonial Epistemics: The course offers theoretical knowledge pertaining to the logic of eliminating the indigenous from the land, as well as from history and knowledge production. It addresses questions pertaining to the relevance of the colonial archives to research in colonial studies. It further analyses the role of art and literature in accessing knowledge pertaining to colonization. It posits the question: What are our alternatives to writing history?
• The Political Economy of Colonization: How do we analyze the structure and function of the colonial enterprise? What organizations and enterprises make up or contribute to its vitality and continuity? What role do global transnational enterprises, non-profit organisations, and humanitarian aid structures play in maintaining colonial domination.
• Anti-colonial Social Movements: What is anti-colonial mobilization? What are the discursive formations and structures that make up the discourse of social and political anti-colonial movements. What are the forms of international solidarities with the people subjected to colonial violence? How is Eurocentric mechanisms of power instrumentalized to silence solidarity?
• The Poetics and Ethics of Historical Narrative: Power relations between the North and the South along the lines of global inequalities produced by racial, ethnic, class, gender, ecological power structures.
• Collective Action, Agency and the possibilities of Sumud. The power of the people of the land in countering colonial aggression, genocidal schemes and executions, dispossession and land expropriation.

Four teaching days, including methodological lectures and interactive workshops with the opportunity for leading scholars in the field of Colonial Studies and participants to present their ongoing research.

Applicants must apply using the form no later than 10 February 2026 and attached a 300-words abstract on one of the main themes of the School, and an updated CV.
The first day is made up of 4 hours of lectures (starting around 3 pm), the following three days are made up of 8 hours of lectures respectively (from 9 am to 7 pm, with a lunch break of about two hours and additional breaks).

Participation in the School does not entail enrollment fees.
Admission to the School includes participation in the lectures, and lunch on the days when the School takes place.
Based on the ranking, 10 scholarships will be awarded, providing a maximum reimbursement of €400,00 for travel expenses, and 10 places for accommodation in double-rooms.

* MERITA, the network for talent project is the result of a collaboration between five Italian academic institutions: the Scuola Normale Superiore, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the Collegio Superiore dell’Università di Bologna, the Scuola Galileiana di Studi Superiori dell’Università di Padova and the Scuola Superiore di Studi Avanzati della Sapienza Università di Roma.
The MERITA project is funded within the Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR), Missione 4 – Istruzione e Ricerca, Componente 1, Investimento 3.4 “Didattica e competenze universitarie avanzate”- “Rafforzamento delle Scuole universitarie superiori”. (National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), Mission 4 – Education and Research, Component 1, Investment 3.4 “Advanced university teaching and competences” – “Enhancement of the institutions for higher education”).