A conversation with Dipesh Chakrabarty on the 20th Anniversary of Provincializing Europe

Abstract

This interview was held in Lisbon in January 2020. At the time, Dipesh Chakrabarty was visiting Lisbon to participate as a keynote speaker in a congress on the Anthropocene, organized by Fundacao Culturgest and Centro Interuniversitario de Historia das Ciencias e da Tecnologia, University of Lisbon. This interview focuses exclusively on Provincializing Europe - Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Throughout the last two decades, Provincializing Europe became one of the most influential books in the field of History, with far-reaching implications for theoretical debates on the status of the discipline, ranging from the ethical to the methodological dimensions of its practice. Planned to be part of Praticas da Historia special issue on the 20th anniversary of Provincializing Europe, our conversation with Dipesh Chakrabarty covers, among other issues, his formative years, his move to Australia and his relation with Marxism.