The unnoticed creed of "Decolonialism"
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This essay critically examines the evolution of "decolonial" thought, showing how it moved from being a tool of denunciation to becoming a doctrinal current. The central hypothesis argues that, when repeated as an uncritical creed, "decolonialism" loses its emancipatory power and risks essentializing the Global South while reducing the West to a negative caricature. Through a comparative analysis of postcolonial critiques in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, tensions are identified between the denunciation of Eurocentrism and the danger of falling into Manichean or anti-Western visions. It is proposed that anthropology, far from sacrificing its epistemic rigor in the name of ideological activism, should sustain a critical dialogue with modernity, recovering both the emancipatory contributions of decolonial thought and the universal values of the Enlightenment tradition, including human rights.
Author: Salcedo, Carlos Efraín Montúfar
Institution: Politecnica Salesiana University
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7108320381
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