Left, (Non)White, and Plural, or Toward a Plural Turn: an Interview with Jean-Christophe Goddard

Abstract

The interview is dedicated to the concept of the «multiple turn», which emerged in the context of a 2021 Stanford seminar organized by Gabriel Catren with the participation of Eduardo Viveiros de Castro. At the core of the discussion is Viveiros de Castro’s Amazonian perspectivism, which offers a radical alternative to Western multiculturalism by highlighting the incompatibility between the ontologies of the colonial «white world» and Indigenous peoples. It is emphasized that the «multiple turn» is not an academic label but a critical practice rooted in the thinking of Indigenous peoples of Amazonia and Africa, resisting Euro-Christian monotheism and individualism. The discussion addresses the role of counter-anthropology in deconstructing colonial epistemes, the rethinking of the Teacher figure through Fichte’s lens, and the significance of laughter in the «cargo-theater» of the Wayana tribe as an anti-capitalist strategy.