Background
Existing discussions on indigenous worldviews are severely limited to abstract theoretical categorizations of pluriverse and plurality. Indigenous plurality is often treated as the ‘other’ way of living, rooted only in Indigenous worlds. For non-Indigenous communities, it has largely remained an ontological category rather than an epistemological one that can also be engaged, experienced, and lived.

This workshop seeks to fill the gap, or rather, bridge the divide between plurality as a theory and as a lived experience. It will specifically look into the plural Indigenous ways of observing ‘realities’.

Objective
The broader objective is to foreground marginalized perspectives, with particular attention to India’s Indigenous communities. More specifically, it seeks to move pluriversality beyond its abstract treatment as something confined solely to Indigenous communities and instead place it within the realm of shared epistemic and social entanglements with non-Indigenous communities. At its core, the workshop seeks to unsettle dominant processes of framing social realities that distance or render Indigenous experiences invisible. By engaging participants in critical reflection and practical training, it aims to create space for more grounded, relational, and collective ways of seeing and interpreting the world. This workshop envisions two outcomes:

• That the participants will develop a critical understanding of how dominant framings of social realities are distanced from Indigenous perspectives
• That the participants can frame social realities, considering Indigenous perspectives

About the Organisers

Richard Toppo (He/Him) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Development Policy (IOB), University of Antwerp. Trained in development studies and with a longstanding engagement with Adivasi movements in India, he focuses his research on indigeneity, state-society relations, and ecological struggles, particularly in eastern and central India. His work brings together ethnographic research and critical perspectives on development, identity, and social justice. 

Devanshi Saxena (She/They) is a researcher with the EcoLAWgy Research Centre at the University of Liège and a doctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp (defending their thesis in October 2026). Her research examines geographical indications, sustainable development, and biodiversity governance through decolonial and critical legal perspectives. They work at the intersections of intellectual property law, environmental law, human rights law and sustainable development. 

Gert Van Hecken (He/Him) is a Professor at the Institute of Development Policy (IOB), University of Antwerp. An ecological economist and political ecologist, his research explores social movements, social-environmental justice, the politics of knowledge in conservation and development, and how communities and social movements imagine and enact alternative social-ecological futures. 

Astrid Jamar (She/Her) is a multidisciplinary researcher affiliated to the Visual and Digital Cultures Research Centre (ViDi), University of Antwerp. Her current research focuses on the coloniality of peace, border thinking, knowledge hierarchies, unlearning, and inter-imperiality within Burundian-Congolese borderlands and in Mexico. She published widely about the interplay of peace professionals, institutions, norms, visual aesthetics, and epistemic violence from decolonial feminist perspectives.

Anne Oloo (She/Her) is a PhD researcher in the Law and Development Research Group at the University of Antwerp (defending her thesis in September 2026). Her research focuses on algorithmic human rights accountability and the inclusive regulation of artificial intelligence. She examines questions of algorithmic fairness, digital justice, and the societal impacts of emerging technologies from interdisciplinary and global perspectives.

Registration and Deadlines

Application Form Workshop – Reframing Observations University of Antwerp – Fill out form

Deadline: 31 July 2026

Selection Notification: 5 August 2026

Registration & Payment Deadline: 15 August 2026

Maximum Participants: 20

Fees: €100 (PhD/Postdoc/Researchers) | €200 Solidarity Fee | Free for Master’s Students

Fee waivers available upon request and subject to available funds.

Invitation letters available for visa and funding purposes.

For any questions related to the workshop and registration, please contact us @ Richard.Toppo@uantwerpen.be , devanshi.saxena@uliege.be , and Astrid.Jamar@uantwerpen.be