Vol. 1 (2025)
Practice Theory: Past, Present, Future

Essays

Bordering and Insurgency: Towards a Decolonial Practice-Based Approach

Published 26-08-2025

  • Marcelo de Souza Bispo

Marcelo de Souza Bispo
Federal University of Paraíba

An abstract image of dark blue arrows on a red background

Abstract

This essay advances a decolonial agenda for practice-based research through the concepts of bordering and insurgency, introduced as generative tools for rethinking how practices are theorised and studied. While practice theories have contributed significantly to overcoming dualisms and foregrounding relationality, many empirical applications continue to overlook colonial histories, power asymmetries, and intersectional dynamics that shape social practices. Drawing on decolonial ideas, I propose an affirmative orientation that expands the analytical and ethical scope of practice theories. Bordering invites attention to the epistemic boundaries that legitimise certain practices while marginalising others, while insurgency foregrounds the knowledges and actions that emerge from sites of resistance. Together, these concepts support a more plural, situated, and reflexive engagement with practice - one that is attuned to historical legacies, ongoing exclusions, and the political stakes of knowing and doing. The essay concludes by encouraging future research that embraces epistemic diversity and cultivates methodologies capable of engaging with contested and emergent forms of practice.

Keywords

colonisation, decolonisation, intersectionality, social theory

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