Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge A Publication of OKCIR: The Omar Khayyam Center for Integrative Research in Utopia, Mysticism, and Science (Utopystics) ISSN: 1540-5699. © Copyright by Ahead Publishing House (imprint: Okcir Press) and authors. All Rights Reserved.

The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities Epistemic Racism/Sexism and the Four Genocides/Epistemicides of the Long 16th Century

Ramón Grosfoguel U.C. Berkeley –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– [email protected]

Abstract: This article is inspired by Enrique Dussel’s historical and philosophical work on Cartesian philosophy and the conquest of the Americas. It discusses the epistemic racism/sexism that is foundational to the knowledge structures of the Westernized University. The article proposes that the epistemic privilege of Western Man in Westenized Universities’ structures of knowledge, is the result of four genocides/epistemicides in the long 16th century (against Jewish and Muslim origin population in the conquest of Al-Andalus, against indigenous people in the conquest of the Americas, against Africans kidnapped and enslaved in the Americas and against women burned alive, accused of being witches in Europe). The article proposes that Dussel’s argument in the sense that the condition of possibility for the mid-17th century Cartesian “I think, therefore I am” (ego cogito) is the 150 years of “I conquer, therefor I am” (ego conquiro) is historically mediated by the genocide/epistemicide of the “I exterminate, therefore I am” (ego extermino). The ‘I exterminate’ is the socio-historical structural mediation between the idolatric ‘I think’ and the ‘I conquer.’

world-historical narratives of Eurocen- ntroduction I. I trism. He has not only deconstructed domi- nant knowledge structures but also con- The work of Enrique Dussel, liberation structed a body of work in Ethics, Political theologian and liberation philosopher, is Philosophy and Political Economy that has fundamental for anybody interested in the been internationally very influential. His decolonization of knowledge and power. work embraces many fields of scholarship He has published more than 65 books. His such as Political-Economy, World-History, titanic effort has been dedicated to demolish and Philosophy, among others. the philosophical foundations and

Ramón Grosfoguel is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Senior Research Associate of the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris. He has published many articles and books on the political economy of the world-system and on Caribbean migrations to Western Europe and the United States.

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This article has been inspired by Dus- countries achieved such an epistemic privi- sel’s critique of Cartesian philosophy and lege to the point that their knowledge today by his world-historical work on the con- is considered superior over the knowledge quest of the Americas in the long 16th centu- of the rest of the world? How did they come ry. 1 Inspired by Dussel’s insights, the article to monopolize the authority of knowledge adds another dimension to his many contri- in the world? Why is it that what we know butions by looking at the conquest of the today as social, historical, philosophical, or Americas in relation to three other world-his- Critical Theory is based on the socio-histor- torical processes such as the Conquest of ical experience and world views of men Al-Andalus, the enslavement of Africans in from these five countries? When one enters the Americas and the killing of millions of any department in the Social Sciences or the women burned alive in Europe accused of Humanities, the canon of thought to be being witches in relation to knowledge learned is fundamentally founded on theo- structures.2 As Dussel focused on the geno- ry produced by men of the five Western Eu- cidal logic of the conquest, this article draws ropean countries outlined before (de Sousa the implications of the four genocides of the Santos 2010). 16th century to what Boaventura de Sousa However, if theory emerges from the Santos (2010) calls “epistemicide,” that is, conceptualization based on the social/his- the extermination of knowledge and ways torical experiences and sensibilities as well of knowing. The focus of this article is fun- as world views of particular spaces and damentally on the emergence of modern/ bodies, then social scientific theories or any colonial structures of knowledge as the theory limited to the experience and world foundational epistemology of Westernized view of only five countries in the world are, universities and its implications for the de- to say the least, provincial. But this provin- colonization of knowledge. cialism is disguised under a discourse about The main questions addressed are the “universality.” The pretension is that the following: How is it possible that the canon knowledge produced by men of these five of thought in all the disciplines of the Social countries has the magical effect of universal Sciences and Humanities in the Westernized capacity, that is, their theories are supposed university (Grosfoguel 2012) is based on the to be sufficient to explain the social/histori- knowledge produced by a few men from cal realities of the rest of the world. As a re- five countries in Western Europe (Italy, sult, our job in the Westernized university is France, England, Germany and the USA)? basically reduced to that of learning these How is it possible that men from these five theories born from the experience and prob- lems of a particular region of the world (five 1. The Long 16th Century is the formulation of French historian, Fernand Braudel, who has countries in Western Europe) with its own influenced the work of world-system scholar, particular time/space dimensions and “ap- Immanuel Wallerstein (1974). It refers to the 200 plying” them to other geographical loca- years that covers the period between 1450-1650. This is the period of the formation of a new his- tions even if the experience and time/space torical system named by Wallerstein as the Mod- of the former are quite different from the ern World-System, or the European World-Econ- latter. These social theories based on the so- omy, or the Capitalist World-Economy. The historical process that formed this new system cial-historical experience of men of five covers the 200 years of the long 16th century. I countries constitute the foundation of the will use Long 16th Century to refer to the long Social Sciences and the Humanities in the durée processes that cover the initial formation of this historical system and use the term 16th Westernized universities today. The other century to refer to the 1500s. side of this epistemic privilege is epistemic 2. I believe that the best hommage to an in- inferiority. Epistemic privilege and epis- telectual is to take his/her work seriously to temic inferiority are two sides of the same bring new aspects provoked by their work.

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coin. The coin is called epistemic racism/ II. Cartesian Philosophy sexism (Grosfoguel 2012). In Westernized universities, the knowl- We need to begin any discussion of the edge produced by other epistemologies, structures of knowledge in Westernized cosmologies, and world views arising from universities with Cartesian philosophy. other world-regions with diverse time/ Modern philosophy is supposed to have space dimensions and characterized by dif- been founded by Rene Descartes (2013).3 ferent geopolitics and body-politics of Descartes’ most famous phrase “I think, knowledge are considered “inferior” in re- therefore I am” constitutes a new founda- lation to the “superior” knowledge pro- tion of knowledge that challenged Christen- duced by the few Western men of five coun- dom’s4 authority of knowledge since the tries that compose the canon of thought in Roman Empire. The new foundation of the Humanities and the Social Sciences. The knowledge produced by Cartesianism is not knowledge produced from the social/his- anymore the Christian God but this new “I.” torical experiences and world views of the Although Descartes never defines who this Global South, also known as “non-West- “I” is, it is clear that in his philosophy this ern,” are considered inferior and not part of “I” replaces God as the new foundation of the canon of thought. Moreover, knowledge knowledge and its attributes constitute a produced by women (Western or non-West- secularization of the attributes of the Chris- ern) are also regarded as inferior and outcast tian God. For Descartes, the “I” can produce from the canon of thought. The foundation- a knowledge that is truth beyond time and al structures of knowledge of the Western- space, universal in the sense that it is uncon- ized university are simultaneously epistem- ditioned by any particularity—“objective” ically racist and sexist. What are the being understood as equal to “neutrality” world-historical processes that produced and equivalent to a God-Eye view. structures of knowledge founded on epis- To make the claim of an “I” that produc- temic racism/sexism? es knowledge equivalent to a God-Eye view, To answer these questions, we need to Descartes makes two main arguments: one go back several centuries and discuss the is ontological and the other epistemological. formation of racism/sexism in the modern Both arguments constitute the condition of world and its relation to the long durée of possibility for the claim that this “I” can pro- modern structures of knowledge. Since the duce a knowledge that is equivalent to a Cartesian legacy has been so influential in God-Eye view. The first argument is onto- Western structures of knowledge, this arti- logical dualism. Descartes claims that the cle begins in the first part with a discussion mind is of a different substance from the on Cartesian philosophy. The second part is body. This allows for the mind to be unde- on the Conquest of Al-Andalus. The third termined, unconditioned by the body. This part is on the conquest of the Americas and way Descartes can claim that the mind is its implications for the population of Mus- 3. I said “supposed” because as Enrique lim and Jewish origin in 16th century Spain Dussel (2008a) has demonstrated in his essay An- as well as for African population kidnapped ti-Cartesian Meditations, Descartes was highly influenced by the Christian philosophers of the in Africa and enslaved in the Americas. The Spanish conquest of the Americas. fourth part is on the genocide/epistemicide 4. Notice that I make a distinction between against Indo-European women burned alive Christianity and Christendom. Christianity is a e by the Christian Church accused of being spiritual/religious tradition, Christ ndom is when Christianity becomes a dominant ideology witches. The last part is on Enrique Dussel’s used by the state. Christendom emerged in the project of transmodernity and what it means 4th century after Christ when Constantine ap- to decolonize the Westernize university. propriated Christianity and turn it into the offi- cial ideology of the Roman Empire.

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similar to the Christian God, floating in titude in knowledge isolated from social re- heaven, undetermined by anything terres- lations with other human beings falls apart. trial and that it can produce a knowledge Without epistemic solipsism, the “I” would equivalent to a God-Eye view. The universal- be located in particular social relations, in ity here is equal to Christian God’s univer- particular social/historical contexts and, sality in the sense that it is not determined thus, there is no monological, unsituated and by any particularity, it is beyond any partic- asocial knowledge production. If knowledge ular condition or existence. The image of is produced in particular social relations, God in Christendom is that of a White, old, that is, inside a particular society, then it can- bearded man with a cane sitting in a cloud, not be argued that the human “I” can pro- watching everybody and punishing any- duce a knowledge equivalent to a God Eye body who misbehaves. view. What would happen to the “God-Eye Cartesian philosophy have been highly view” argument if the mind is of a similar influential in Westernized projects of knowl- substance to the body? The main implica- edge production. The unsituatedness of tion would be that the claim that a human Descartes’ philosophy inaugurated the “I” can produce a God-Eye view falls apart. ego-politics of knowledge: an “I” that as- Without ontological dualism, the mind sumes itself to be producing a knowledge would be located in a body, would be simi- from no-where. As Colombian philosopher, lar in substance to the body and, thus, con- Santiago Castro-Gomez (2003) argues, Car- ditioned by the body. The latter would mean tesian philosophy assumes a point zero that knowledge is produced from a particu- epistemology, that is, a point of view that do lar space in the world and, thus, there is no not assumes itself as a point of view. The im- unsituated knowledge production. If this is portance of Rene Descartes for Westernized the case, then it cannot be argued anymore epistemology can be seen in that after 370 that a human “I” can produce a knowledge years, Westernized universities still carry equivalent to a God-Eye view. 5 the Cartesian legacy as a criteria of validity The second argument of Descartes is for science and knowledge production. epistemological. He claims that the only Even those who are critical of Cartesian phi- way the “I” can achieve certitude in knowl- losophy, still use it as criteria for what differ- edge production is through the method of entiates science from non-science. The “sub- solipsism. How can the “I” fight skepticism ject-object” split, “objectivity” understood and be able to achieve certitude in knowl- as “neutrality,” the myth of an EGO that edge production? The answer given by Des- produces “unbiased” knowledge uncondi- cartes is that this could be achieved through tioned by its body or space location, the idea an internal monologue of the subject with of knowledge as produced through an inter- himself (the gender here is not accidental for nal monologue without links with other hu- reasons that will be explained later). With man beings and universality understood as the method of solipsism, the subject asks beyond any particularity are still the criteria and answers questions in an internal mono- for valid knowledge and science used in the logue until it reaches certitude in knowl- disciplines of the Westernized university. edge. What would happen if human sub- Any knowledge that claims to be situated in jects produce knowledge dialogically, that body-politics of knowledge (Anzaldúa is, in social relations with other human be- 1987; Frantz Fanon 2010) or geo-politics of ings? The main implication would be that knowledge (Dussel 1977) as opposed to the the claim about an “I” that can produce cer- myth of the unsituated knowledge of the 5. For a very interesting discussion on this Cartesian ego-politics of knowledge is dis- question see Enrique Dussel (1995) and Donna carded as biased, invalid, irrelevant, unseri- Haraway (1988).

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ous, that is, inferior knowledge. herent necessity to derive from the “I con- What is relevant to the “Western quer, therefore I am” the “idolatric univer- men tradition of thought” inaugurated by salism” (the God-Eye view) nor the Cartesian philosophy is that it constituted a “epistemic racism/sexism” (the inferiority world-historical event. Prior to Descartes, of all knowledges coming from human be- no tradition of thought claimed to produce ings that are classified as non-Western). an unsituated knowledge that is God-like or What links the “I conquer, therefore I am” equivalent to God. This idolatric universalism (ego conquiro) with the idolatric, God-like “I of “Western men tradition of thought” inau- think, therfore I am” (ego cogito) is the epis- gurated by Descartes (2013) in 1637, pre- temic racism/sexism produced from the “I tends to replace God and produce a knowl- exterminate, therefore I am” (ego extermino). edge that is God-like. The Dusselian It is the logic of genocide/epistemicide to- questions are: What are the political, eco- gether that mediates the “I conquer” with nomic, historical, and cultural conditions of the epistemic racism/sexism of the “I think” possibility for someone in the mid-seven- as the new foundation of knowledge in the teenth century to produce a philosophy that modern/colonial world. The ego extermino claims to be equivalent to God’s Eye and to is the socio-historical structural condition replace God? Who is speaking and from that makes possible the link of the ego con- which body-politics of knowledge or quiro with the ego cogito. In what follows, it geo-politics of knowledge is he speaking will be argued that the four genocides/epis- from? temicides of the long 16th century are the Enrique Dussel (2005) responds to these socio-historical condition of possibility for questions with the following argument: the transformation of the “I conquer, there- Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am” is pre- fore I am” into the epistemic racism/sexism ceded by 150 years of “I conquer, therefore I of the “I think, therefore I am.” These four am.” The ego conquiro is the condition of pos- genocides/epistemicides in the long 16th sibility of Descartes’s ego cogito. According century are: 1) against Muslims and Jews in to Dussel, the arrogant and idolatric God- the conquest of Al-Andalus in the name of like pretention of Cartesian philosophy is “purity of blood”; 2) against indigenous coming from the perspective of someone peoples first in the Americas and then in who thinks of himself as the center of the Asia; 3) against African people with the cap- world because he has already conquered the tive trade and their enslavement in the world. Who is this being? According to Dus- Americas; 4) against women who practiced sel (2005), this is the Imperial Being. The “I and transmitted Indo-European knowledge conquer” that began with the European in Europe burned alive accused of being men colonial expansion in 1492, is the foun- witches. These four genocides/epistemi- dation and condition of possibility of the “I cides are frequently discussed as fragment- think” that secularizes all the attributes of ed from each other. The attempt here is to see the Christian God and replaces God as the them as interlinked, inter-related to each new foundation of knowledge. Once Euro- other and as constitutive of the modern/co- pean men conquered the world, God is dis- lonial world’s epistemic structures. These posable as a foundation of knowledge. After four genocides were at the same time forms having conquered the world, European of epistemicide that are constitutive of West- man achieve “God-like” qualities that gave ern men epistemic privilege. To sustain this them epistemic privilege. argument we need to not only go over the However, there is a missing link be- history but also explain how and when rac- tween the “I conquer, therefore I am” and ism emerged. the “I think, therefore I am.” There is no in-

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III. The Conquest of Al-Andalus: Genocide/Epistemicide Against The Spanish state discourse of “purity of blood” was used to surveil the Muslim Muslims and Jews and Jewish populations who survived the massacres. In order to survive and stay in The final conquest of Al-Andalus in the the territory, they were forced to convert to late 15th century was done under the slogan Christianity (Galán Sánchez 2010). Those of “purity of blood.” This was a proto-racist populations that were forced to convert or discourse against Muslim and Jewish popu- that had Jewish or Muslim ancestry, were lations during the Catholic Monarchy colo- surveilled by the Christian monarchy in or- nial conquest of Andalusian territory to de- der to assure that they were not faking con- stroy the sultanate of Granada which was version. “Purity of blood” was a discourse the last Muslim political authority in the used to surveil the converts or descendants Iberian Peninsula (Maldonado-Torres of the converts. It referred to the “family 2008a). The practice of ethnic cleansing of tree” of the population. The “family tree” the Andalusian territory produced a physi- provided to state authorities the informa- cal genocide and cultural genocide against tion needed in order to know if the ancestry Muslims and Jews. Jews and Muslims who of an individual or a family was “purely” stayed in the territory were either killed Christian or “non-Christian” in the case (physical genocide) or forced to conversion they were Christian converts. The discourse (cultural genocide). This ethnic cleansing of “purity of blood” did not question the hu- was achieved through the following geno- manity of the victims. What it aimed was to cide (physical) and epistemicide (cultural): surveil those populations with non-Chris- tian ancestry in terms of how far or close 1- The forced expulsion of Muslims and they were to Christianity in order to confirm Jews from their land (genocide) led to if the conversion was real or not. For the the repopulation of the territory with Castillian Christian Monarchy, Muslims Christian populations from the North and Jews were humans with the “wrong of the Iberian Peninsula (Caro Barojas God” or “wrong religion.” They were per- 1991; Carrasco 2009). This is what in the ceived as a “fifth column” of the Ottoman literature is called today “settler colo- sultanate in the Iberian Peninsula (Martín nialism.” Casares 2000; Carrasco 2009; Galán Sánchez 2- The massive destruction of Islamic and 2010). Thus, the old European Medieval re- Judaic spirituality and knowledge ligious discriminatory discourses such as through genocide, led to the forced con- the old anti-semite discourses (judeophobic version (cultural genocide) of those or islamophobic) were used against Jews Jews and Muslims who decided to stay and Muslims in the conquest of Al-Andalus. in the territory (Barrios Aguilera 2009, It is important to emphasize that since Kettami 2012). By turning Muslims into the possibility of conversation was still Moriscos (converted Muslims) and open, the old anti-semitic European Medie- Jews into Marranos (converted Jews), val religious discrimination of the Castillian their memory, knowledge and spiritu- Christian Monarchy (at the end of the 15th ality were destroyed (cultural geno- century) was not yet racial and included cide). The latter was a guarantee that among semitic people both Muslims and future descendants of Marranos and 6 Jews . As long as the Muslims and Jews con- Moros will be born fully Christians 6. It is the recent Western European, North without any memory trace to their an- American and Israeli Zionist orientalist litera- cestors. ture that after Second World War excluded Arabs from semite people and reduced the definition of

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verted to Christianity, the doors for integra- Monarchy to create a correspondence be- tion were open during the Medieval Span- tween the identity of the state and the iden- ish Monarchy conquest of Al-Andalus tity of the population within its territorial (Galán Sánchez 2010; Dominguez Ortiz boundaries, was the origin of the idea of the 2009). The humanity of the victims was not nation-state in Europe. The main goal that in question. What was in question was the the Queen and the King expressed to Co- religious identity of the social subjects. The lumbus was the unification of the whole ter- social classification used at the time was re- ritory under the power of the Christian lated to a theological question about having Monarchy as a first step before going abroad the “wrong God” or the “wrong religion” to to conquest other lands beyond the Iberian stratify society along religious lines. Peninsula. In sum, what is important here is that The final conquest over Muslim politi- the “purity of blood” discourse used in the cal authority in the Iberian Peninsula was conquest of Al-Andalus was a form of reli- finalized in January 2, 1492 with the capitu- gious discrimination that was not yet fully lation of Granada’s Nazarí emirate. Only racist because it did not question in a pro- nine days later, on January 11, 1492, Colum- found way the humanity of its victims. bus met again with Queen Elizabeth. But this time the meeting was held in Granada’s III. The Conquest of the Americas Alhambra Nazarí Palace where Columbus got the royal authorization and resources in Relation to the Conquest of for his first voyage overseas. Only ten Al-Andalus: Genocide/Epistemicide months later, on October 12, 1492, Colum- Against Indigenous Peoples, bus arrived at the shores of what he named Marranos, Moriscos, and Africans “Indias Occidentales” (West Indies) because he wrongly believed that he had arrived to When Christopher Columbus present- India. ed for the first time the document known as The relationship between the conquest “The Indian Enterprise” to the King and of Al-Andalus and the conquest of the Queen of the Castilian Monarchy, their re- Americas has been under-researched in the sponse was to accept it and postpone it until literature. The methods of colonization and after the conquest of all the territory known domination used against Al-Andalus were as Al-Andalus. They ordered Columbus to extrapolated to the Americas (Garrido wait until the final conquest over the “King- Aranda 1980). The conquest of Al-Andalus dom of Granada,” the last sultanate in the was so important in the minds of the Span- Iberian Peninsula. The idea of the Castilian ish conquerors that Hernan Cortés, the con- Christian Monarchy was to unify the whole queror of Mexico, confused the Aztecs’ sa- territory under its command by the rule of cred temples with Mosques. “one state, one identity, one religion” in con- In addition to the genocide of people, trast to Al-Andalus where there were multi- the conquest of Al-Andalus was accompa- ple Islamic states (sultanates) with recogni- nied by epistemicide. For example, the tion of rights to the “multiple identities and burning of libraries was a fundamental spiritualities inside their territorial bound- method used in the conquest of Al-Andalus. aries” (Maíllo Delgago 2004; Kettami 2012). The library of Cordoba, that had around The project of the Castillan Christian 500,000 books at a time when the largest li- brary of Christian Europe did not have more anti-semitism to racial discrimination against Jews. The latter is part of a perverse Zionist strat- than 1000 books, was burned in the 13th cen- egy to conflate Arab-Muslims’ critique to Zion- tury. Many other libraries had the same des- ism as equivalent to anti-semitism (Grosfoguel tiny during the conquest of Al-Andalus un- 2009).

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til the final burning of more than 250,000 change drastically in the 16th centu- books of the Granada library by Cardenal ry. The relationship between reli- Cisneros in the early 16th century. These gion and empire would be at the methods were extrapolated to the Americas. center of a dramatic transformation Thus, the same happened with the indige- from a system of power based on nous “códices” which was the written prac- religious differences to one based tice used by Amerindians to archive knowl- on racial differences. It is for this edge. Thousands of “códices” were also reason that in modernity, the domi- burned destroying indigenous knowledges nant episteme would not only be in the Americas. Genocide and epistemicide defined by the tension and mutual went together in the process of conquest in collaboration between the idea of both the Americas and Al-Andalus. religion and the imperial vision of A similar process happened with the the known world, but, more pre- methods of evangelization used against in- cisely, through a dynamic relation digenous people in the Americas (Garrido between empire, religion, and race. Aranda 1980; Martín de la Hoz 2010). It was Ideas about race, religion, and em- inspired in the methods used against Mus- pire functioned as significant axes lims in the Iberian Peninsula (Garrido Aran- in the imaginary of the emergent da 1980). It was a form of “spiritualicide” modern/colonial world … (p. 230) and “epistemicide” at the same time. The destruction of knowledge and spirituality If the military and evangelization meth- went also together in the conquest of both ods of conquest used in Al-Andalus to Al-Andalus and the Americas. achieve genocide and epistemicide were ex- However, it is fundamental to also un- trapolated to the conquest of indigenous derstand how the conquest of the Americas people in the Americas, the conquest of the affected the conquest of “Moriscos” (con- Americas also created a new racial imagi- verted Muslims) and “Marranos” (convert- nary and racial hierarchy that transformed ed Jews) in the Iberian Peninsula in the 16th the conquest of Moriscos and Marranos in century. The conquest of the Americas was 16th century Iberian Peninsula. The con- at the center of the new discourses and quest of the Americas affected the old forms forms of domination that emerged in the of Medieval religious discrimination against long 16th century with the creation of the Moriscos and Marranos in 16th century modern/colonial world-system. Here the Spain. The first point to emphasize in this contribution of Nelson Maldonado-Torres history is that after months of navigation is crucial when he said that the 16th century through the Atlantic Ocean, the moment transformed the ancient forms of imperial Columbus stepped out of the ship he wrote social classification that existed since the 4th in his diary the following on October 12, century when with Constantine, Christiani- 1492: ty became the dominant ideology of the Ro- … it seemed to me that they were a man Empire. As Maldonado-Torres (2008a) people very poor in everything. All said: of them go around as naked as their … the conceptual coordinates that mothers bore them… They should defined the ‘fight for the empire’ be good and talent servants, for I ob- and the forms of social classifica- served that they quickly took in what tion of the 4th century and of later was said to them. And I believe that centuries prior to the “discovery” they would easily be made Chris- and conquest of the Américas tians, as it appeared to me that they had no sect. (my own translation)

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This statement by Christopher Colum- linked to a very modern method of bus opened a debate for the next 60 years classifying humans: racial classifi- (1492-1552). As Nelson Maldonado-Torres cation. With a single stroke, Colum- (2008a) argues, in the late 15th century, Co- bus took the discourse on religion lumbus’ notion of “people without sect” from the theological realm into a (“people without religion”) meant some- modern philosophical anthropolo- thing new. To say “people without religion” gy that distinguishes among differ- today means “atheist people.” But in the ent degrees of humanity through Christian imaginary of the late 15th century, identities fixed into what would the phrase “people without religion” had a later be called races. (p. 217) different connotation. In Christian imagi- nary, all humans have religion. They could Contrary to the contemporary common have the “wrong God” or “wrong Gods,” sense, “color racism” was not the first racist there could be wars and people could kill discourse. “Religious racism” (“people with each other in the fight against the “wrong religion” vs. “people without religion” or God,” but the humanity of the other, as a “people with soul” vs. “people without a trend and as a form of domination, was not soul”) was the first marker of racism in the yet put in question. What was being ques- “Capitalist/Patriarcal Western-Centric/ tioned was the theology of the “other.” The Christian-centric modern/colonial latter was radically modified after 1492 with world-system” (Grosfoguel 2011) formed in the conquest of the Americas and the char- the long 16th century. The definition of acterization of indigenous peoples by Chris- “people without religion” was coined in late topher Columbus as “people without reli- 15th and early 16th century Spain. The de- gion.” An anachronistic reading of this bate provoked by the conquest of the Amer- phrase might lead us to think that Colum- icas was about whether the “people without bus referred to “atheist people.” But not religion” found in Columbus’ voyages were having religion in the Christian imaginary “people with a soul or without a soul.” The of the time was equivalent to not having a logic of the argument was as follows: 1) if soul, that is, being expelled from the realm you do not have religion, you do not have a of the human. As Nelson Maldonado-Torres God; 2) if you do not have a God, then you (2008a) said: do not have a soul; and 3) if you do not have a soul, you are not human but animal-like. To refer to the indigenous as sub- The debate turned “people without reli- jects without religion removes them gion” into “people without a soul.” This co- from the category of the human. Re- lonial racist debate produced a boomerang ligion is universal among humans, effect that redefined and transformed the but the alleged lack of it among na- dominant imaginary of the times and the tives is not initially taken to indicate Medieval religious discriminatory dis- the falseness of this statement, but courses. The concept of “purity of blood” rather the opposite, that there exist acquired a new meaning. “Purity of blood” subjects in the world who are not was not any more a technology of power to fully human. …Columbus’ asser- surveil persons that have a Muslim or Jew- tion about the lack of religion in in- ish ancestry in the family tree in order to digenous people introduces an an- make sure he/she is not faking conversion thropological meaning to the term. as in 15th century conquest of Al-Andalus. In light of what we have seen here, The meaning of “purity of blood” after the it is necessary to add that this an- conquest of the Americas with the emer- thropological meaning is also gence of the concept of “people without a

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soul” shifted from a theological question question of their humanity.8 about having the “wrong religion” into a In 16th century Christian imaginary, question about the humanity of the subject this debate had important implications. If practicing the “wrong religion.”7 “Indians” did not have a soul, then it is jus- As a result, the great debate in the first tified in the eyes of God to enslave them and five decades of the 16th century was about treat them as animals in the labor process. whether “Indians” have a soul or not. In But if they had a soul, then it was a sin in the practice, both the Church and the Spanish eyes of God to enslave, assassinate, or mis- imperial state were already massively en- treat them. This debate was crucial in the slaving indigenous people assuming the mutation of the old European medieval reli- notion that “Indians” have no soul. State gious discriminatory discourses and prac- racism is not a post-18th century phenome- tices. Until the end of the 15th century, the non, but a phenomenon that emerged fol- old islamophobic and judeophobic dis- lowing the conquest of the Americas in the courses were related to having the “wrong 16th century. However, there were critical God,” the “wrong theology,” and to the in- voices inside the Church questioning this fluence of Satan in the “wrong religion,” idea and proposing that “Indians” have a without questioning the humanity of their soul but were barbarians in need of Chris- practitioners.9 The possibility of conversion tianization (Dussel 1979; 1992). They was available for the victims of these dis- claimed that since the “Indians” have a soul, criminatory discourses. But with the coloni- it is a sin in the eyes of God to enslave them zation of the Americas, these old medieval and the job of the Church should be to Chris- discriminatory religious discourses mutat- tianize them using peaceful methods. This ed rapidly, transforming into modern racial debate was the first racist debate in world domination. history and “Indian” as an identity was the Even though the word “race” was not first modern identity. used at the time, the debate about having a The category of “Indian” constituted a soul or not was already a racist debate in the new modern/colonial identity invention sense used by scientific racism in the 19th that homogenized the heterogeneous iden- century. The theological debate of the 16th tities that existed in the Americas before the century about having a soul or not had the arrival of the Europeans. It is also important same connotation of the 19th century scien- to remember that Columbus thought he had 8. This skepticism about the humanity of arrived in India and, thus, leading to the use other human beings is what Nelson Maldona- of the term “Indian” to name the popula- do-Torres (2008b) called “misanthropic skepti- tions he encountered. Out of this eurocen- cism.” tric geographical mistake, emerges “Indi- 9. I refer to the social classification of the so- cial system. As Maldonado-Torres argues, there an” as a new identity. But to question if were already individuals articulating discourses “Indians” have a soul or not was already a that could be identified as racialist from a con- racist question that referred directly to the temporary point of view. However, the social classification of the population in Medieval Eu- rope was not based on racial classification, that is, 7. It is important to remember that Latin was it was not organized around social logics related the written language of 16th century Europe. to a radical question about the humanity of the Since the Christian church was the authority of social subjects. The social classification of the knowledge through Christian theology, the de- population based on racist social logics was a bates about the conquest of the Americas in Spain post-1492 process with the formation of the travelled to other European territories through “Capitalist/Patriarchal Western-centric/Chris- the Church networks. Thus, the debates about tian-centric Modern/Colonial World-System” Columbus and the Spanish Christian theolo- (Grosfoguel 2011). Thus, in this article the argu- gians on the New World and the subjects found ment about the emergence of racism is related to there were read with particular attention in other a post-1492 global social system and not to indi- parts of Europe. vidual statements before 1492.

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tificist debates about having the human bio- and Sepulvera represent the inaguration of logical constitution or not. Both were de- the two major racist discourses with long bates about the humanity or animality of the lasting consequences that will be mobilized others articulated by the institutional racist by Western imperial powers for the next 450 discourse of states such as the Castilian years: biological racist discourses and cul- Christian monarchy in the 16th century or tural racist discourses. Western European imperial nation-states in The biological racist discourse is a 19th the 19th century. These institutional racist century scientificist secularization of logics of “not having a soul” in the 16th cen- Sepúlveda’s theological racist discourse. tury or “not having the human biology” in When the authority of knowledge passed in the 19th century became the organizing the West from Christian theology to Modern principle of the international division of la- Science after the 18th century Enlighten- bor and capitalist accumulation at a world- ment Project and the French Revolution, the scale. Sepulveda theological racist discourse of The debate continued until the famous “people without soul” mutated with the rise Valladolid trial of the School of Salamance of natural sciences to a biological racist dis- in 1552. Since Christian theology and church course of “peoples without human biology” was the authority of knowledge at the time, and later “peoples without genes” (without the Spanish Christian imperial monarchy the human genetics). The same happened put in the hands of a tribunal among Chris- with the Bartolomé De Las Casas discourse. tian theologians the question about whether The De Las Casas theological discourse of “Indians have a soul or not.” The theolo- “barbarians to be Christianized” in the 16th gians were Bartolomé de las Casas and century, transmuted with the rise of the so- Gines Sepúlveda. After 60 years (1492-1552) cial sciences into an anthropological cultur- of debate, the Spanish imperial Christian al racist discourse about “primitives to be monarchy finally requested a Christian civilized.” theological tribunal to make a final decision The outcome of the Valladolid trial is about the humanity or lack of humanity of also well known: although Sepúlvedas‘ the “Indians.” view won in the long run, in the short run As is well-known, Gines Sepúlveda ar- Las Casas won the trial. Thus, the Spanish gued in favor of the position that “Indians” imperial monarchy decided that “Indians” are “people without a soul” and, therefore, have a soul but are barbarians to be Chris- they are animals that could be enslaved in tianized. Therefore, it was recognized that it the labor process without being a sin in the was a sin in the eyes of God to enslave them. eyes of God. Part of his argument to demon- The conclusion seemingly meant the libera- strate the inferiority of the “Indians” below tion of “Indians” from the Spanish colonial the line of the human was the modern capi- rule. But this was not the case. The “Indians” talist argument that “Indians” have no sense were transferred in the international divi- of private property and no notion of mar- sion of labor from slave labor to another kets because they produce through collec- form of coerced labor known as the “en- tive forms and distribute wealth through comienda.” Since then it became institution- reciprocity. alized in a more systematic way the idea of Bartolomé de las Casas argued that race and institutional racism as an organiz- “Indians” have a soul but were in a barbar- ing principle of the international division of ian stage in need of Christianization. There- labor and capitalist accumulation at a fore, for Las Casas it was a sin in the eyes of world-scale. God to enslave them. What he proposed While “Indians” were placed in the “en- was to “Christianize” them. Both Las Casas comienda” under a coerced form of labor,

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Africans who were already classified as criminated population have the wrong God “people without a soul” were brought to the or wrong theology. The anti-indigenous re- Americas to replace “Indians” in slave la- ligious racism that questioned the humanity bor. Africans were perceived at the time as of the “Indians” was extrapolated to the Muslims and the racialization of Muslims in Moriscos and the Marranos questioning the 16th century Spain was extended to them. humanity of those who pray to the “wrong The decision to bring captives from Africa to God.” Those who prayed to the “wrong enslave them in the Americas was directly God” were conceived as not having a soul, related to the conclusion of the 1552 Vallad- as “soul-less subjects” (“sujetos desalma- olid trial. Here begins the massive kidnap- dos”), non-humans or sub-humans. Similar ping and captive trade of Africans that is to indigenous people in the Americas, they going to be enforced for the next 300 years. were expelled from the “realm of the hu- With the enslavement of Africans, religious man” being described as “animal-like” (Per- racism was complemented with or slowy ceval 1992; 1997). The latter represented a replaced by color racism. Since then, an- radical transformation that goes from the ti-black racism became a foundational con- inferiority of non-Christian religions (Islam titutive structuring logic of the modern/co- and Judaism) in Medieval Europe to the in- lonial world. feriority of the human beings who practiced The kidnapping of Africans and their these religions (Jews and Muslims) in the enslavement in the Americas was a major new emerging Modern Europe. Thus, it is as and significant world-historical event (Ni- a result of the impact of the conquest of the mako and Willemsen 2011). Millions of Afri- Americas in the 16th century that the old Eu- cans died in the process of being captured, ropean islamophobic and judeophobic an- transported and enslaved in the Americas. ti-semitic religious discrimination going This was a genocide at a massive scale. But back to the crusades and before, turned into as with the other cases outlined above, the racial discrimination. This is the boomerang genocide was inherently epistemicide. Afri- effect of colonialism coming back to hunt cans in the Americas were forbidden from Europe. thinking, praying or practicing their cos- The entanglement between the reli- mologies, knowledges and world views. gious Christian-centric global hierarchy They were submitted to a regime of epis- and the racial/ethnic Western-Centric hier- temic racism that forbade their autonomous archy of the “capitalist/patriarcal West- knowledge production. Epistemic inferiori- ern-centric/Christian-centric modern/co- ty was a crucial argument used to claim bio- lonial world-system” created after 1492, logical social inferiority below the line of the identified the practitioners of a non-Chris- human. The racist idea in late 16th century tian spirituality with being racialized as an was that “Negroes lack intelligence” which inferior being below the line of the human. turned in the 20th century to “Negroes have Contrary to Eurocentric narratives such as low IQ levels.” Foucault (1996), that situates the trans- Another consequence of the debate mutation from religious anti-semitism to about the “Indians” and the Valladolid tri- racial anti-semitism in the 19th century with bunal was its impact on the Moriscos and the emergence of scientific racism, anti-se- Marranos in 16th century Spain. The old is- mitic racism emerged in 16th century Spain lamophobic and judeophobic medieval reli- when the old medieval anti-semitic reli- gious discriminatory discourses against gious discrimination was entangled with Jews and Muslims were transformed into the new modern racial imaginary produced racist discrimination. The question was not by the conquest of the Americas. The new any more about whether the religiously dis- racial imaginary mutated the old religious

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anti-semitism into racial anti-semitism. such as indigenous people and Africans, Contrary to Foucault, this anti-semitic rac- while simultaneously intensified through a ism of the 16th century was already institu- new racial logic the genocide/epistemicide tionalized as state biopolitical racism.10 against Christians from Jewish and Muslim The concept of “people without a soul” origin populations in Spain. was not extended to Moriscos immediately. It took several decades in the 16th century to IV. The Conquest of Indo-European be extrapolated to Moriscos. It was after the Women: Genocide/Epistemicide mid-sixteenth century and, specifically, during the Alpujarras11 trial that Moriscos Against Women where called “souless people” (“sujetos de- salmados”). Moreover, after mid-16th cen- There is a fourth genocide/epistemi- tury, as a consequence of being classified as cide in the 16th century that is not frequently “souless people,” Moriscos were massively related to the history of the three genocides/ 12 enslaved in Granada. Despite the Christian epistemicides outlined before. This is the church prohibition to enslave Christians conquest and genocide of women in Euro- and people baptized as Christian, Moriscos pean lands who transmitted Indo-European (Muslims converted to Christianity) were knowledge from generation to generation. still enslaved (Marín Casares 2000). These women mastered indigenous knowl- Now, “purity of blood” was related to edge from ancient times. Their knowledge “souless people” making irrelevant the covered different areas such as astronomy, question about how assimilated they were medicine, biology, ethics, etc. They were to Christianity. Their being was itself in empowered by the possession of ancestral question making their humanity suspicious. knowledge and their leading role inside the Thus, from then on they were not consid- communities organized around com- ered truly Christians nor equal to Chris- mune-like forms of economic and political tians. Anti-Morisco racism would be inten- organization. The persecution of these sified during the later part of the 16th women began from the late Medieval era. century until their mass expulsion from the However, it became intensified in the 16th Iberian Peninsula in 1609 (Perceval 1992, and 17th century (long 16th century) with 1997; Carrasco 2009). the rise of “modern/colonial capitalist/pa- In sum, the conquest of the Americas in triarchal” power structures. the 16th century extended the process of Millions of women were burned alive, genocide/epistemicide that began with the accused of being witches in the Early Mod- conquest of Al-Andalus to new subjects ern period. Given their authority and lead- ership, the attack against these women was 10. Scientific racism in the 19th century was not, as Foucault argued, a resignification of the a strategy to consolidate Christian-centric old European “race war” discourse but a secular- 12. The seminal work of Silvia Federici ization of the old Christendom religious theolog- (2004) is one of the few exceptions. Although ical racism of “people without a soul” in the 16th Federici’s work does not link these four process- century. The old discourse of “race war” inside es in relation to genocide/epistemicide, she at Europe was not the foundation of scientific rac- least links the witch hunt of women in the ism as Foucault insisted on with his “genealogy 16th/17th century with the enslavement of Afri- of racism.” The foundation of scientific racism cans and the conquest of the Americas in relation was the old religious racism of the 16th century to global capitalist accumulation, in particular, with roots in the European colonial conquest of the early formation of capitalism, that is, “primi- the Americas. Foucault is blind towards the con- tive accumulation.” Her work is focused on po- quest of the Americas, colonialism and Spain’s litical-economy rather than structures of knowl- 16th century. edge. However, her contribution is crucial for the 11. These were the trials against Moriscos understanding of the relation between the geno- that uprose in the Alpujarras mountains outside cide/epistemicide of women and the other geno- the city of Granada after the mid-16th century. cide/epistemicides of the 16th century.

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patriarchy and to destroy autonomous com- V. Consequences of the Four munal forms of land ownership. The Inqui- Genocides/Epistemicides for sition was at the forefront of this offensive. Global Structures of Knowledge: The accusation was an attack to thousands of women whose autonomy, leadership and The Formation of Epistemic/Sexist knowledge threatened Christian theology, Structures and the Hope for a Church authority and the power of the aris- Future Transmodern World tocracy that turned into a capitalist class transnationally in the colonies as well as in The four genocides/epistemicides of 13 European agriculture. the long 16th century discussed before cre- Silvia Federici (2004) argues that this ated racial/patriarchal power and epistem- witch hunt intensified between 1550 and ic structures at a world scale entangled with 1650. Her thesis is that the witch hunt against processes of global capitalist accumulation. women in European territory was related to When in the 17th century Descartes wrote “I primitive accumulation during the early think, therefore I am” from Amsterdam14, in capitalist expansion in the formation of the the “common sense” of the times, this “I” labor reserve for global capitalism. She could not be an African, an indigenous per- linked the African enslavement in the Amer- son, a Muslim, a Jew nor a woman (Western icas with the witch hunt of Women in Eu- or non-Western). All of these subjects were rope as two sides of the same coin: capital already considered “inferior” along the accumulation at a world-scale in need of global racial/patriarchal power structure incorporating labor to the capitalist accu- and their knowledge was considered inferi- mulation process. In order to achieve this, or as a result of the four genocides/epistem- capitalist institutions used extreme forms of icides of the 16th century. The only one left violence. as epistemically superior was the Western Contrary to the epistemicide against In- man. In the hegemonic “common sense” of digenous people and Muslims where thou- the times, this “I” was that of a Western sands of books were burned, in the case of male. The four genocides/epistemicides are the genocide/epistemicide against In- constitutive of the racist/sexist epistemic do-European women there were no books to structures that produced epistemic privi- burn because the transmission of knowl- ledge and authority to Western man’s edge was done from generation to genera- knowledge production and inferiority for tion through oral tradition. The “books” the rest. As Maldonado-Torres (2008b) af- were the women’s bodies and, thus, similar firms, the other side of the “I think, therefore to the Andalusian and Indigenous “books” I am” is the racist/sexist structure of “I do their bodies were burned alive. not think, therefore I am not.” The latter ex- presses a “coloniality of being” (Maldonan- do-Torres 2008b) where all of the subjects considered inferior do not think and are not 14. It is important to say that when the Dutch defeated the Spaniards in the 30 years war, the new center of the new world-system created after 1492 with Spain expansion to the Americas shift- ed from the Iberian Peninsula to North-Western Europe, that is, Amsterdam. Dussel’s characteri- 13. For an analysis of the transformation of zation of Descartes philosophy as one produced the European aristocracy into a capitalist class in by someone who is geopolitically thinking from relation to the formation of the modern the center of the world-system, the imperial be- world-system see the work of Immanuel Waller- ing, is not metaphorical. stein, specially his Modern World-System, Vol. 1 (New York: Academic Press).

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worthy of existence because their humanity applied to the rest of the world during the is in question. They belong to the Fanonian 16th century. This is important in order to “zone of non-being” or to the Dusselian “ex- understand why Portuguese and Spaniards teriority.” are also out of the canon of thought in the Westernized universities internalized Westernized university today despite being from its origin the racist/sexist epistemic at the center of the world-system created af- structures created by the four genocides/ ter 1492. Since the late 18th century, it is only epistemicides of the 16th century. These eu- men from five countries (France, England, rocentric structures of knowledge became Germany, Italy and the USA) who are the “commonsensical.” It is considered normal ones monopolizing the privilege and au- functioning to have only Western males of 5 thority of canons of knowledge production countries to be producing the canons of in the Westernized university. thought in all of the academic disciplines of In the face of the challenge represented the Westernized university. There is no by Eurocentered modernity and its epistem- scandal in this because they are a reflection ic racist/sexist colonial structures of knowl- of the normalized racist/sexist epistemic edge, Enrique Dussel proposes Transmo- structures of knowledge of the modern/co- dernity as the project to fulfill the unfinished lonial world. project of decolonization. The “Trans” of When the Westernized university trans- Transmodernity means “beyond.” What formed in the late 18th century from a Chris- does it mean to go beyond Eurocentered tian theological university into the secular modernity? Humboldtian university, it used the Kan- If the Western colonial project of geno- tian anthropological idea that rationality cide/epistemicide was to some extent suc- was embodied in the White man north of the cessful in particular spaces around the Pyrenees mountains classifying the Iberian world, it was a huge failure in its overall re- Peninsula within the realm of the irrational sults in most of the world. Critical Indige- world together with Black, Red and Yellow nous, Muslim, Jewish, African and women people. The people “lacking rationality” thought as well as many other critical were epistemically excluded from the West- knowledges from the Global South are still ernized university knowledge structures. It alive. After 500 years of coloniality of knowl- is from this Kantian assumption that the edge there is no cultural nor epistemic tradi- canon of thought of the contemporary West- tion in an absolute sense outside to Eurocen- ernized university was founded. tered modernity. All were affected by When the center of the world-system Eurocentered modernity and even aspects passed from the Iberian Peninsula to North- of Eurocentrism were also internalized in Western Europe in the mid-17th century af- many of these epistemologies. However, ter the Thirty Years War when the Dutch this does not mean that every tradition is in defeated the Spanish armada, the epistemic an absolute sense inside and that there is no privilege passed together with the systemic outside to Western epistemology. There are power from the empires of the Iberian Pen- still non-Western epistemic perspectives insula to North-Western European empires. that have a relative exteriority from Eurocen- Kant’s anthropological racist view placing tered modernity. They were affected by the Pyrenees mountains as a dividing line genocide/epistemicide but not fully de- inside Europe to define rationality and irra- stroyed. It is this relative exteriority that ac- tionality is just following this 17th century cording to Enrique Dussel, provides the geopolitical power shift. Kant applied to the hope and possibility for a Transmodern Iberian Peninsula in the 18th century the world: “a world where many worlds are same racist views that the Iberian Peninsula possible” to use the Zapatista slogan.

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The existence of epistemic diversity toward a decolonial project of liberation be- provides the potential for struggles of decol- yond the “Capitalist/Patriarchal West- onization and depatriarchalization that are ern-centric/Christian-centric Modern/Co- not centered anymore in Western-centric lonial World-System.” As Dussel states: epistemologies and world views. To move beyond Eurocentered modernity, Dussel When I speak of Trans-modernity, I proposes a decolonial project that takes seri- am referring to a global project that ously the critical thinking of the epistemic seeks to transcend European or traditions of the Global South. It is from North American Modernity. It is a these diverse traditions that we can build project that is not post-modern, projects that will take different ideas and in- since post-Modernity is a still-in- stitutions appropriated by Eurocentred mo- complete critique of Modernity by dernity and to decolonize them in different European and North America. In- directions. In Eurocentric modernity, the stead, Trans-modernity is a task that West kidnapped and monopolized the defi- is, in my case, expressed philosoph- nition of Democracy, Human Rights, Wom- ically, whose point of departure is en liberation, Economy, etc. Transmoderni- that which has been discarded, deval- ty implies redefining these elements in ued, and judged useless among glob- different directions according to the epis- al cultures, including colonized or temic diversity of the world towards a peripheral philosophies… (Dussel pluriverse of meaning and a pluriversal 2008b: 19-20) world. Moreover, Transmodernity calls for in- If people from the Global South do not ter-philosophical political dialogues to pro- follow the Western hegemonic definition, duce pluriverses of meaning where the new they are immediately denounced and mar- universe is a pluriverse. However, Trans- ginalized from the global community, being modernity is not equivalent to a liberal mul- accused of fundamentalism. For example, ticulturalist celebration of the epistemic di- when the Zapatistas talk about democracy versity of the world where the power they are not doing it from a Western-centric structures are left intact. Transmodernity is perspective. They propose a project of de- a recognition of epistemic diversity without mocracy that is quite different from liberal epistemic relativism. The call for epistemic democracy. They redefine democracy from pluriversality as opposed to epistemic uni- the indigenous perspective of “command- versality is not equivalent to a relativist po- ing while obeying” with the “Caracoles” as sition. On the contrary, Transmodernity ac- the democratic institutional practice. How- knowledges the need for a shared and ever, to use a different concept of democracy common universal project against capital- in Eurocentered modernity is denounced as ism, patriarchy, imperialism and coloniality. a form of fundamentalism. The same with But it rejects a universality of solutions the concept of feminism. If Muslim women where one defines for the rest what “the develop an “Islamic feminism” they are im- solution” is. Uni-versality in European mo- mediately denounced by Eurocentered dernity has meant “one that defines for the Western feminists as patriarchal and funda- rest.” Transmodernity calls for a pluriverse mentalist. Transmodernity is an invitation of solutions where “the many defines for the to produce from the different political-epis- many.” From different cultural and epistem- temic projects existing in the world today a ic traditions there will be different responses redefinition of the many elements appropri- and solutions to similar problems. The ated by Eurocentered modernity and treat- Transmodern horizon has as a goal to pro- ed as if naturally and inherently European, duce pluriversal concepts, meanings and

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philosophies as well as a pluriveral world. temic traditions produce new As Dussel states, Transmodernity is re-definitions of old concepts and cre- ates new pluriversal concepts with “the …oriented towards a pluriversal fu- many defining for the many” - (plu ture global philosophy. This project is ri-verse) instead of “one for the rest” necessarily trans-modern, and thus (uni-verse). also trans-capitalist… For a long time, perhaps for centuries, the If Westernized universities assume many diverse philosophical tradi- these three programmatic points, it would tions will each continue to follow stop being Westernized and a Uni-versity. It their own paths, but nonetheless a will turn from a Westernized Uni-versity global analogical project of a into a Decolonial Pluri-versity. If Kant’s and trans-modern pluriverse (other Humboldt’s Eurocentered modern racist/ than universal, and not post-mod- sexist epistemic projects became the epis- ern) appears on the horizon. Now, temic foundation of the Westernized uni- ‘other philosophies’ are possible, versity since the late 18th century as a result because ‘another world is possi- of three hundred years of genocide/episte- ble’—as is proclaimed by the Zapa- micide in the world, Enrique Dussel’s Trans- tista Liberation Movement in Chi- modernity is the new epistemic foundation apas, Mexico. (Dussel 2008b:20) of the future Decolonial Pluri-versity whose knowledge production will be at the service of a world beyond the “Capitalist/Patriar- VI. Conclusion chal Western-centric/Christian-centric Modern/Colonial World-System.” This discussion has enormous implica- tions for the decolonization of the Western- ized university. So far, the Westernized uni- versity operates under the assumption of Bibliography the uni-versalism where “one (Western men from five countries) defines for the rest” Anzaldúa, Gloria (1987) Borderlands/La Frontera: what is truthful and valid knowledge. To The New Mestiza. (San Francisco: Spin- decolonize the structures of knowledge of sters/Aunt Lute). the Westernized university will require Barrios Aguilera, Manuel (2009) La suerte de los vencidos: Estudios y reflexiones sobre la among other things to: cuestión morisca. (Granada: Universidad de Granada). 1) acknowledge the provincialism and Caro Baroja, Julio (1991) Los moriscos del Reino de epistemic racism/sexism that consti- Granada (Madrid: Ediciones Istmo). tute the foundational epistemic struc- Carrasco, Rafael (2009) Deportados en nombre de Dios: La explusión de los moriscos cuarto cen- tures as a result of the genocidal/epis- tenario de una ignominia. (Barcelona: Edi- temicidal colonial/patriarchal projects ciones Destino). of the 16th century; Castro-Gomez, Santiago (2003) La Hybris del 2) break with the uni-versalism where one Punto Cero: Ciencia, Raza e Ilustración en la Nueva Granada (1750-1816) (Bogotá: Edito- (“uni”) defines for the rest, in this case, ra Pontífica de la Universidad Javeriana). the one is Western man epistemology; Crenshaw, Kimberlé (1991) “Mapping the Mar- 3) bring epistemic diversity to the canon of gins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, thought to create a pluri-verse of mean- and Violence against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review 43, 1241-1279. ings and concepts where the inter-epis- De Sousa Santos, Boaventura (2010) Epistemolo- temic conversation among many epis- gias del sur. Mexico: Siglo XXI.

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