The Colonial Pole: Reflections for an Equatorization of Knowledge
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21142/DES-1804-2026-0099Keywords:
Colonialism, decolonial studies, knowledge productionAbstract
This article examines the persistence of colonial epistemic hierarchies in modernity, seen as forces that shape knowledge, identities, and worlds around dominant centers. For that, we introduce the concept of «equatorization of knowledge» as both an analytical and political tool within contemporary capitalism. Drawing on theoretical and metaphorical analysis, we use the idea of gravity as a critical provocation to explore processes such as normalization, whitening, heteronormativity, and epistemic control. The gravitational metaphor provides a straightforward way to understand how colonial power systems sustain dominant knowledge while marginalizing other epistemologies. Highlighting the epistemic and ontological significance of Orixás, whose ways of being do not revolve around the colonial center, adopting the «equatorial perspective» helps develop alternative analytical categories that enable critical thought to distance itself from colonial legacies of violence, inequality, and erasure.
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