Pluriversal IR in the Classroom

This paper starts by highlighting a disconnection between traditional International Relations (IR) and the contexts of students in the Global South. Pluriversal approaches are gaining importance to decolonise and pluralise IR. However, how much of this is discussed and applied in classrooms to create space for students’ worlds, diversify their ontological registers, and boost their creativity by cultivating plurality? Drawing from pluriversal relational ontologies, epistemologies, and methodologies, the paper describes an experience that facilitates the development of both pluriversal and planetary sensibilities while relationally engaging with traditional IR class content. By further exploring the methods of ‘cosmopraxis’, this paper investigates ways to develop pluriversal and planetary methods for international politics. Cosmopraxis encompasses the interconnected and simultaneous experiences of existence, knowledge, and emotion, as well as the relationships among human, natural, virtual, and spiritual realms. It offers alternative perspectives that challenge conventional knowledge frameworks and promote an understanding of diverse ways of being. This concept provides valuable insights for a more expansive approach to pluriversal IR, which seeks to decentralise and further diversify the methods of knowing, learning, connecting, and creating worlds.