Delinking: Key Concepts and Ideas

  • Delinking: Moving away from the rhetoric of modernity and the logic of coloniality.
  • Modernity/Coloniality Project: Explores critical theory in light of global revolutions and the inclusion of marginalized histories and perspectives.
  • Epistemic Delinking: Decolonizing knowledge to counter the universalizing narrative of modernity and neo-liberalism.
  • Coloniality of Power: Concept by Anibal Quijano, linking political and economic power with the colonization of knowledge and being.
  • Critique of Totality: Modern rationality's exclusionary nature, negating other totalities beyond Western epistemology.
  • De-colonial Shift: A project of delinking from colonial legacies, contrasting with post-colonial theory's academic transformations.
  • Modernity: A European phenomenon constituted through its dialectical relationship with non-European alterity.
  • Myth of Modernity: Conceals genocidal violence behind a rational concept of emancipation.
  • Liberation vs. Emancipation: 'Liberation' aligns with decolonization struggles, while 'emancipation' remains within European Enlightenment discourse.
  • Border Thinking: Engaging Western foundations of modernity while recognizing their limitations, crucial for delinking.
  • Theo-logical Politics of Knowledge: Historical dominance of theology in shaping knowledge from the 16th to 18th centuries.
  • Ego-logical Politics of Knowledge: Emergence of subjective sovereignty challenging theological control, exemplified by Descartes.
  • Geo-politics of Knowledge: Historical imperial/colonial location of new subjects of knowledge that had been negated.
  • Spatial/Temporal Colonial Differences: Constructed through concepts like 'barbarians' and 'primitives,' reinforcing Western superiority.
  • Colonial Matrix of Power: Articulated by Quijano, encompassing appropriation of land, control of authority, gender/sexuality, and subjectivity/knowledge.
  • Racism and Capital: Intertwined with knowledge to justify exploitation and maintain the colonial order.
  • De-coloniality: Aims to rewrite global history from the perspective of coloniality, emphasizing geo- and body-political knowledge.
  • Learning to Unlearn: First step in epistemic decolonization, challenging assumptions of Western-centric knowledge.
  • Critical Border Thinking: Connects diverse colonial histories to delink from modern rationality, building alternative worlds.
  • Pluriversality: A universal project recognizing multiple worlds coexisting, contrasting with totalitarian concepts of totality.
  • Transmodernity: Overall orientation of decolonizing projects toward pluriversality, challenging abstract universals of modernity.