The Marks of Coloniality in Latin America: Contributions from Decolonial Thought

contribuições do pensamento decolonial

Abstract

This article is an initial reflection from a research study that discusses the marks of coloniality in Latin America based on the theoretical contributions of the Modernity/Coloniality (M/C) group, emphasizing the relationships between colonialism, modernity, and processes of domination that are still present in Latin American societies. Drawing on decolonial authors, the text problematizes the persistence of the coloniality of power, knowledge, and being as constitutive structures of Western modernity. The research demonstrates that the colonization of Latin America was not limited to territorial occupation and economic exploitation, but also promoted processes of epistemicide, racialization, social hierarchization, and the denial of the epistemologies of Indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans, who resisted and continue to (re)exist in the face of domination. The article also discusses the use of the ideas of race and gender as mechanisms of classification and subalternization employed to legitimize the categorization of individuals according to hegemonic standards. Finally, the article argues for the need for a decolonial perspective in education, capable of questioning Eurocentric standards of knowledge production, valuing Southern epistemologies, and promoting intercultural, critical, and emancipatory educational practices.