An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered online only by Dr Opemiposi Adegbulu (RACE.ED Stuart Hall Foundation Fellow 2024)
Reforming the nebulous: decolonising the notion of the public interest
Public interest is a universalising difficult concept, theorised to explicate and define ‘what is’ and ‘what ought to be’. Many have theorised that it is a catch all phrase, devoid of real meaning because it attempts to encompass the interest of all. However, insufficient consideration has been given to the Eurocentricity and coloniality implicit in the universality of the concept. This means that public interest is in fact designed in a manner that it reproduces coloniality. The quest for exhaustive, universal definitions of public interest means that there is a real danger that the public interest is violent, static and counterproductive to serving our dynamic societies.
Therefore, my research puts forward an alternative to the public interest. To do so, my research analyses contemporary public interest theories to reveal the paradoxes in these theories and the coloniality that underpins them. Relying on decoloniality and decolonial/ intersectional feminist theories, this research argues for the decolonisation of the public interest- the delinking of people’s interest from universal abstracts.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81857401179
Passcode: 6aSe7GF7