Enacting the pluriverse in the West: contemplative activism as a challenge to the disenchanted one-world world
European Journal of International Relations October 9, 2023 DOI: 10.1177/13540661231200864 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 9 |
| Key points | Argues that IR's political ontology should both draw other, particularly spiritual, realities into its political imagination and challenge the ontological assumptions underpinning its concepts. The author contends that contemplative activists in the 'disenchanted North' challenge common assumptions about contemplation and social change, and proposes that IR's pluriverse be a methodological rather than an ontological commitment. |
Abstract
Within IR, scholars are starting to consider difference on the level of ontology rather than epistemology. Other worlds are introduced into IR’s political pluriverse , however, these are often encountered in faraway places, thereby playing into the colonial narrative that ontological difference does not exist in the ‘West’. This paper introduces another real from within the ‘disenchanted North’ that is shaped by contemplative activists: people using contemplation as a form of protest. An engagement with contemplative activism challenges our commonly held assumptions about what contemplation and social change are , thereby undermining the institutions of ‘science’ and ‘religion’ underlying the universe . It argues that the project of political ontology in IR should consist of two moves: drawing in other, in particular spiritual, realities into the political imaginations of IR and challenging the ontological assumptions underpinning concepts. Consequently, it suggests that the pluriverse in IR should be a methodological rather than an ontological commitment.