[PeDAGoG] Decomposing the Corporate Colony

[Charles Palm]

Good day all,

I am writing to you from Stellenbosch in South Africa after some 
encouragement from a member within this network. I am in the process of 
identifying opportunities, possibilities and limitations for doing 
interdisciplinary practice based (post-grad/MA) research in the arts and 
design fields, conducted primarily within a decolonial frame. I am 
seeking scholars, artist, legal professionals, designers etc., as well 
as institutions and collectives that I may partner/network with and 
build a communities around in support of the work I intend to engage 
with, starting in 2024/'25. I am particularly looking for connections 
in, or about regions and ecologies in the Indian Ocean basin that 
historically engaged significantly with the V.O.C as well as 
contemporary (neo-colonial) trade discourses through/via the Suez canal 
and the Cape.

Please find below a broad description of my work and research interests 
as well as my own positionality.

About My Research & Practice:

I am a (2021) BA Fine arts graduate from Stellenbosch University with a 
professional background in architectural design and natural building 
technologies. Since 2021 I have been seeking out interdisciplinary 
academic spaces and opportunities across the globe (particularly Africa 
& Indian Ocean basin) that support critical practice based research 
methodologies for exploring and developing effective decolonial 
strategies based within an ecological frame through artistic -/ design 
praxis.

I began my early professional practice as an interior designer, CAD 
technician and builder, focusing on passive systems design and natural 
building technologies. In 2009 I started a personal genealogical study 
of my family and the (Pniël) community where I grew up, with the aim of 
working towards a future creative project. During this time I also began 
gardening and started designing and building dry composting toilets -/ 
and systems. These explorations along with my earlier discovery and 
interest in the work of Vandana Shiva, Michael Perenti, Naomi Klein and 
Donna Harraway activated and informed my creative work and inspired me 
to pursue academic studies through a BA(Hons) degree in fine art. My 
student research focused primarily on early colonial -/ and settler 
colonial histories from the Cape and Indian Ocean basin during the 
'Spice Trade' era. My (BA) research-based practice often culminated into 
site-specific immersive experiences using natural phenomena / physics 
that include camera-obscura installations, light projections, 
improvisational soundscape performances and sculpture.

My 'post-grad' research interests are motivated by abject histories of 
negative multinational corporate externalities, and how these phenomena 
are/were manifested, facilitated and perceived throughout the 
development of 'Western' economic hegemonies (ie. Europe). By revisiting 
my past work in composting systems design I aim to explore and develop 
creative strategies towards immersive cathartic experiences. I have a 
particular interest in studying fundamental legal constructs and 
colonial ideologies that guide and regulate global corporate trade 
legislation since the VOC in the 17th century to the present. My work 
will be primarily informed by these factors and its geopolitical and 
material expressions through archival / historical research as well as 
indigenous folklore. My creative practice aims to deconstruct / 
decompose these ideologies, constructs and systems through studies of 
soil ecology and decomposition as well as its application as a creative 
medium, reference and practical guide. My past work with ecological 
architecture, composting toilet systems design and colonial Spice Trade 
histories may inform future praxis in this regard.

About My Positionality:

I was raised during the 1980's as a (Cape Creole/'Coloured') male within 
a small community called Pniël between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. 
Pniël was established in 1843 as a Christian mission station and labour 
pool, immediately after the abolition of slavery in the Cape colony. 
Most of my ancestry is woven into the historical fabric of Cape 
agricultural slavery, settler colonialism, indentured labour in the 
early diamond mines of Kimberly, as well as indigenous groups along the 
Cape coast.

Growing up in a picturesque rural working class village surrounded by 
über-elitist wine farms with a high land ownership turnover of foreign 
individuals and consortia tugged my interest in socio-economic 
inequities from an early age. Observing and engaging with these wine 
farms and other dominant local institutions added to a direct lived 
experience of how ecological (incl. humyn) inequities are embodied 
within a postcolonial landscape and the mechanisms that enable it to 
persist.

These immediate inequities along with my own specific socio-economic 
challenges have significantly contributed to the delay and disruption of 
my personal and academic development. At 43 I have managed to 
successfully complete my undergraduate studies with minimal debt, 
however, I feel quite isolated and vulnerable in the pursuit of my 
particular research interests, especially within an increasingly hostile 
socio-economic environment.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email. Please reach out if 
you think there might be opportunities and possibilities for us to work 
together or if you know of programs/projects, particularly in Afrika or 
the Indian Ocean basin that might be relevant to my work. I look forward 
to hearing back from some of you very soon.

Bright regards,

Charles Palm

--c
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