Epistemology and Domination: Problems with the Coloniality of Knowledge Thesis in Latin American Decolonial Theory

Abstract

Latin American decolonial theory is built around the thesis of the “coloniality of knowledge”, which claims that the socio-political domination of Latin America and other regions of the global periphery by European countries and the United States is directly related to the initial colonial imposition and subsequent cultural reproduction of so-called “Western epistemology” and science. I argue that the epistemological claims of four decolonial thinkers (Aníbal Quijano, Walter Mignolo, Enrique Dussel, Santiago Castro-Gómez) that make up the coloniality of knowledge thesis are problematic for several reasons: they are based on distorted and simplistic readings of Descartes, Hume and other Enlightenment figures; they make contentious generalizations about so-called Western epistemology; and they ultimately lead to epistemic relativism, which is a problematic basis for the social sciences and, contrary to decolonial aspirations, renders the subaltern unable to speak.

Renovação do agnosticismo pela “epistemologia fronteiriça”

“…Tal procedimento somado ao ataque às noções de verdade e universalidade geram uma espécie de relativismo das equivalências, servindo de base para o anticientificismo no interior da "guerra contra a filosofia racionalista, orientada para as ciências da natureza e originada em Descartes" (LUKÁCS, 2020, p. 379) e que Lukács mostra ter sido inaugurada por Nietzsche e Dilthey. Isso a tal ponto que o artigo de Chambers (2020) é dedicado a mostrar como Mignolo se apropria de forma completamente distorcida de filósofos iluministas, especialmente do próprio Descartes.…”

“…Há também autores a apontar que os pressupostos analíticos da crítica que levam à proposta de "epistemologia de fronteiras" são reducionistas e faltam em complexidade. Nessa linha de argumentação, Domingues (2009) Chambers (2020) evidencia a falta de rigor com a qual Mignolo e outros autores decoloniais envolvidos na tese da "colonialidade do saber" criticam a epistemologia ocidental.…”

The decolonial turn: reference lists in PhD theses as markers of theoretical shift/stasis in media and journalism studies at selected South African universities

“…More than two decades after the end of apartheid in South Africa, the higher education system had largely remained as what Heleta (2016: 2) describes as 'a colonial outpost', existing to reproduce and disseminate an unapologetically Eurocentric curriculum. In this article, I use the term 'Eurocentric curriculum' in the sense in which Patel (2014), cited in Chambers (2020), uses it, to describe the systemic dominance of knowledge production, distribution, consumption and reproduction by institutions based in the Euro-American region. A decolonized curriculum, conversely, is supposed to aim at reducing inequalities in knowledge production.…”