The world is cohabited by a plethora of pluriverses, identities, and ways of thinking-feeling, knowing, and being, and yet, most of these forms of existence are subordinated to a hegemonic Western worldview. The hegemony of Western ways of thinking, being, and living, is characterised by privileging theories and knowledges from hegemonic centres while marginalising peripheries and perpetuating asymmetric power relations of the colonial legacy between the West and the ‘others’. 

During the last version of Ventana, we engaged in dialogues with the global margins to challenge colonial ideologies and empower marginalised communities. We felt constantly uncomfortable with the contradictions that we embody. Nurturing from previous conversations and building on the conference trajectory, the upcoming conference, Navigating Uncomfortable Contradictions: Decolonial Routes Towards Pluriversality, will explore decolonisation as a pathway towards pluriversality and the unsettling contradictions as a point of reflection within decolonial approaches. Inspired by Enrique Dussel, Arturo Escobar, Walter Mignolo, Catherine E. Walsh, Marisol de la Cadena, Ndlovu-Gatsheni Sabelo, and Mario Blaser on decolonial thought and pluriversality, this conference explores various paths towards pluriversality and navigate through multiple forms of knowledges, epistemologies, cosmologies, and ontologies; acknowledging and engaging with diverse perspectives and experiences in an environment of mutual respect and care towards global diversity. Thus, the conference seeks to provide a platform for critical engagement and dialogue within unsettling contradictions that arise from the processes of decolonisation and to explore ways towards a more equitable and just world. 

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