The conference aims to contribute with a space for an intercultural encounter within and beyond the academia for: participation, education and inclusivity. The EMPI IX edition will gather Indigenous leaders, civil society members, the academia and the student community in Middelburg to discuss and learn from our own academic/civil limitations and practices by searching redefinitions of topics that are of general concern, such as :

• What alternative understandings are available to better understand and defend the rights of Indigenous people to exist and to live in harmony?
• What are the conceptions of nature, resources, the Good Life, human rights,  poverty/richness, progress and development that co-exist in dispute and at the periphery of Western thinking?
• What are we talking about when we speak about the mode of existence and connection of Indigenous worlds with Mother Earth?
• How are indigenous women facing the intrusion of modernity in their territories?
• And ultimately, what can we learn, exchange and adopt in our academic communities  from other ways of knowing and existing in this world without falling in the trap of validating our own academic frameworks while remaining untouched by non-hegemonic ways of thinking and doing?

We will welcome papers that deal directly or indirectly with these questions by addressing the following the themes:
1. Southern Epistemologies: territories, political ecology and the Buen Vivir (Good Life)
2. Rights for nature or Rights of nature?: challenges and contributions from Indigenous worlds
3. Indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage: the 169 ILO convention, the UNDRIP and consultation processes application, challenges and future developments.
4. Conflicts and modern wars: epistemicides, knowledges, alternatives beyond modernity and conflict resolutions.
5. Defining the international political and legal impacts of the Rights of nature
6. Gender: Indigenous Feminism, Justice and Patriarchy in Indigenous worlds
7. Cross-intercultural dialogues: climate change, human rights and environmental sciences, what can we exchange and what can we learn from each other?
8. Policies: educational policies, Indigenous languages, educational access, educational pluralism.
9. Regaining consciousness, emerging identities: Indigenous Art-design, cinema and cultural property.

Call for papers & Conference Proceedings
Paper proposals (max. 300 words) in English or Spanish should be submitted by email at
EMPI2018@ucr.nl up to the end of April 2018. Notifications of acceptance depend on the order of arrival, this means that we are going to send them in two rounds at the end of March and up to the end of April. A CV summary (max. 50-100 words) of the author/s shall be included in Spanish or English. Abstracts in Portuguese are accepted with the translation in English, however presentations are in English or Spanish.

When & Where
• 30 May: registration starts at 13.00 until 17.00
Opening Reception City of Middelburg at 18.00 (building to be announced T.B.A.)
• Conference closing: 1 June 2018, University College Roosevelt, Middelburg, the Netherlands.
FOR MORE  INFORMATION PLEASE CLICK: EMPI 2018 English