Ramón Grosfoguel

THE EPISTEMIC DECOLONIAL TURN: Beyond political-economy paradigms11. The notion of ‘Decolonial Turn’ is a notion elaborated by Puerto Rican fanonian philosopher Nelson Maldonado-Torres. See his forthcoming book Against War (Duke University Press, 2006).View all notes

In October 1998, there was a conference/dialogue at Duke University between the South Asian Subaltern Studies Group and the Latin American Subaltern Studies Group. The dialogue initiated in this co...

THE EPISTEMIC DECOLONIAL TURN

In October 1998, there was a conference/dialogue at Duke University between the South Asian Subaltern Studies Group and the Latin American Subaltern Studies Group. The dialogue initiated in this co...

La descolonización de la economía política y los estudios postcoloniales: transmodernidad, pensamiento fronterizo y colonialidad global

This article discusses the epistemic implications of the de-colonial turn of the decolonization of the «global capitalism» concept, as it has been used in the paradigms of political economy and cultural studies. Other terms that are discussed include «colonization of power», «border epistemologies» and «transmodernity» to start thinking not in «new utopias»,but rather in «other utopias» based on a different cartography of global power relationships of the «world-system Europe/Euro-Northamerican modern/colonial capitalist/patriarchical». The article argues that there is a necessity to use the aforementioned concept (even though it is more extensive) and to abandon the category of «capitalist world-system» or «global capitalism».

‘Racism’, intersectionality and migration studies: framing some theoretical reflections

The concept of ‘racism’ has faced many difficulties in migration studies. Depending on definitions, islamophobia is a form either of religious discrimination or of racism. The same is true in contemporary debates in Europe about xenophobia against immigrants from the Global South. This article provides an alternative way of thinking about racism and its relationship with questions of intersectionality and discusses the relationship of these issues to migration theory. In the first part, we discuss intersectionality in relation to Fanon’s definition of racism. Then, we establish a dialogue between the work of de Sousa Santos and Fanon that could enrich our understanding of intersectionality in the framework of modernity and the capitalist/imperial/patriarchal/racial colonial world-system. Finally, we analyse this discussion’s implications for migration theory, highlighting how migration studies tend to reproduce a northern-centric social science view of the world that comes from the experience of others in the zone of being.

Field of Dreams Cultures of Scholarship and Public Policy on Race in the United States

This article examines the complicity of academic paradigms and public policies with racist discourses and racial discrimination in the United States. From the most overt racial segregation policies and biological racist discourses to the most recent and covert forms of ‘color-blind racism’, the article discusses the shifting forms of racial discrimination and academic paradigms in the US. The first part discusses mainstream academic schools of thought relating to race and ethnicity in the US. The second part provides a brief history of public policies related to race. Given the myth of the US as a land of equal opportunities for migrants from all over the world, race and ethnic based paradigms are frequently conflated with migration theories. Both are examined in the article.

El concepto de «racismo» en Michel Foucault y Frantz Fanon: ¿teorizar desde la zona del ser o desde la zona del no-ser?

Resumen es: Este articulo trata acerca de la emergencia historica del racismo en el sistema-mundo y la definicion del concepto de racismo. El mismo discute como cont...

Racismo epistémico, islamofobia epistémica y ciencias sociales coloniales

Este articulo trata sobre la manera como el racismo epistemico configura las discusiones actuales sobre la islamofobia. La primera parte es una discusion sobre el racismo epistemico en el sistema-mundo. La segunda aborda la politica identitaria hegemonica masculina en Occidente y las respuestas fundamentalistas que se le han dado. La tercera tiene que ver con la islamofobia epistemica y las ciencias sociales occidental-coloniales

Del «extractivismo económico» al «extractivismo epistémico» y «extractivismo ontológico»: una forma destructiva de conocer, ser y estar en el mundo

espanolEste articulo trata algunos aspectos menos tratados y desarrollados de la teoria del «extractivismo»: el «extractivismo epistemologico» y el «extractivismo ontologico». Siguiendo las aportaciones descoloniales de la indigena canadiense Leanne Betasamosake Simpson y de la boliviana Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, el autor desarrolla una teoria sobre las dimensiones mas desconocidas del «extraccionismo» que el «occidente imperial y neocolonial» ejerce sobre el resto del mundo. En este trabajo se hace tambien una critica a la repeticion de patrones coloniales en ciertas teorias descoloniales en America Latina. portuguesEste artigo trata sobre alguns aspectos pouco trabalhados e pouco desenvolvidos do «extrativismo»: o «extrativismo epistemologico» e o «extrativismo ontologico». Seguindo as contribuicoes decoloniais da indigena canadense Leanne Betasamosake Simpson e da boliviana Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, o autor desenvolve uma teoria das dimensoes mais desconhecidas do «extrativismo» que o «ocidente imperial e neocolonial» exerce sobre o resto do mundo. Neste trabalho, questiona-se a repeticao de padroes coloniais em determinadas teorias decoloniais na America Latina. EnglishThis paper addresses some of the least developed and dealt with matters in the theory of “extractivism”, namely, “epistemological extractivism” and “ontological extractivism”. Following the decolonial contributions by Canadian indigenous Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Bolivian Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, the author develops a theory on the most unknown dimensions of “extractionism” that “neocolonial imperial West” exerts on the rest of the world. Additionally, this work does some criticism to the recurrence of colonial patterns in certain decolonial theories across Latin America.

Decolonialidade e perspectiva negra

This article places decoloniality as a project that had a simultaneous beginning to the modern/colonial world-system. The latter had organized differences and inequalities among people based on the idea of race. The article highlights, as a distinctive feature of the decolonial project, the production of knowledge and narratives from geo-political and corporeal-political loci of enunciations. Among these loci of enunciation, we call attention to the knowledge produced from black perspectives, especially from the Americas and the Caribbean.

Latinos(as) y la descolonización del imperio estadounidense en el siglo XXI

Resumen es: a pesar de las apariencias, el imperio estadounidense se encuentra en una decadencia acelerada. existen muchas luchas anti-capitalistas, anti-imperialis...