On Decoloniality On Decoloniality interconnects a diverse array of perspectives from the lived experiences of coloniality and decolonial thought/praxis in dif er ent local histories from across the globe. The series identifies nd examines decolonial engagements in Eastern Eu rope, the Ca rib bean, the Amer i cas, South Asia, South Africa, and beyond from standpoints of feminisms, erotic sovereignty, Fanonian thought, post- Soviet analyses, global indigeneity, and ongoing ef orts to delink, relink, and rebuild a radically distinct praxis of living. Aimed at a broad audience, from scholars, students, and artists to journalists, activists, and socially engaged intellectuals, On Decoloniality invites a wide range of participants to join one of the fastest-growing debates in the humanities and social sciences that attends to the lived concerns of dignity, life, and the survival of the planet. A ser ies ed ited by Walter Mignolo & Catherine Walsh 1 2 3 4 Concep t s 5 6 Anal ytics 7 8 On Decoloniality Pra xis 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Wal ter D. Mignol o 25 26 and 27 28 Cather ine E. Wals h 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 duke univers it y pr ess Durham and London 2018 38 © 2018 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper ∞ Designed by Matt Tauch Typeset in Minion Pro by Westchester Publishing Services Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Mignolo, Walter, author. | Walsh, Catherine E., author. Title: On decoloniality : concepts, analytics, praxis / Walter D. Mignolo and Catherine E. Walsh. Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2018. | Series: On decoloniality | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifie s: l ccn 2017053249 (print) | l ccn 2017056840 (ebook) isbn 9780822371779 (ebook) isbn 9780822370949 (hardcover : alk. paper) isbn 9780822371090 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: l csh : Postcolonialism— Philosophy. | Decolonization— Philosophy. | Imperialism— Philosophy. | Power (Social sciences)— Philosophy. | Civilization, Modern— Philosophy. Classifi ation: l cc jv 51 (ebook) | l cc jv 51 .m544 2018 (print) | dd c 325/.301— dc23 lc rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2017053249 Cover art: Adolfo Albán Achinte, Marejada, de la serie “Andanias” t o aní bal q uijano / who gave us, and the world, the concept of coloniality. In memory of Fernando Coronil. And in celebration of the 2016 “Standup” resurgence at Standing Rock. Contents ix Acknowl edgments 1 Introduction Catherine e. walsh / ​Decoloniality in/as Praxis i 15 The Decolonial For: Resurgences, Shifts, nd Movements 1 33 Insurgency and Decolonial Prospect, Praxis, and Proj ect 2 57 Interculturality and Decoloniality 3 81 On Decolonial Dangers, Decolonial Cracks, 4 and Decolonial Pedagogies Rising 99 Conclusion: Sowing and Growing Decoloniality in/as Praxis: Some Final Thoughts walter d. mignolo / ​The Decolonial Option ii 105 What Does It Mean to Decolonize? 5 135 The Conceptual Triad: Modernity/Coloniality/Decoloniality 6 153 The Invention of the Human and the Th ee Pillars of the 7 Colonial Matrix of Power: Racism, Sexism, and Nature 177 Colonial/Imperial Dif erences: Classifying and Inventing 8 Global Orders of Lands, Seas, and Living Organisms 194 Eurocentrism and Coloniality: The Question 9 of the Totality of Knowledge 211 Decoloniality Is an Option, Not a Mission 10 227 Closing Remarks 245 After- Word(s) 259 Bibliography 279 Index Acknowl edgments Catherine expresses her gratitude to all those who have formed part of the conversation on modernity/coloniality/decoloniality over more than twenty years. Recalled are the gatherings in various moments and contexts, of thos e friends and colleagues associated with what has been referred to as the mo- dernity/(de)coloniality group, proj ect, or collective, particularly in its early formations in “Latin” Amer i ca and the United States. My thanks to Aníbal Quijano for introducing and pushing refl ction on the coloniality of power; to Enrique Dussel for making so clearly vis i ble modernity’s distinct moments and global vision, and to Walter Mignolo for illuminating modernity as coloniality’s darker side and, of course, for assem- bling us together. My thanks to Edgardo Lander for concretely bringing to the fore the coloniality of both nature and knowledge; to Nelson Maldonado- Torres, for his meditations on the coloniality of being, his philosophical clar- ity and force, and his decolonial sensibilities; and to Arturo Escobar for his continuous sentipensar. My thanks as well to Fernando Coronil (who lives on in our minds and hearts), Santiago Castro-Góm ez, Javier Sanjinés, and Pablo Quintero for their multiple contributions and spaces- places of thought, and Adolfo Albán for his embodied re- existence. A special acknowl edgment and recognition to Zulma Palermo, Maria Lugones, Freya Schiwy, and more re- cently María Eugenia Borsani, Rolando Vázquez, Yuderkys Espinosa, and Rita Segato, whose voices, writings, and thoughts have not only unsettled male centrality, but more impor tantly, and each in their own way, have pressed for depatriarchalizations in modernity/(de)coloniality’s conception, compre- hension, praxis, and proj ect. Of course, there are many more from newer generations to recognize and thank, including in other continents of the globe; the list is much too long to include here. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the signifi ance of our doc- toral program- project in Latin American (Inter)Cultural Studies at the Uni- versidad Andina Simón Bolívar in Quito. Since its beginnings in 2001, this program- project has deepened collective refl ctions on the modern-coloni al matrix of power, and served as a sort of seedbed of and for decolonial praxis, now refl cted in collectives, programs- projects, and knowledge production throughout South and Central Amer i ca. Fi nally, I wish to express my gratitude to the collectives, movements, communities, and activist- intellectuals who, from the dif er ent territories, sub- jectivities, and strug gles of Abya Yala, and from the borders, margins, and cracks of the modern/colonial/capitalist/heteropatriarchal order, are plant- ing seeds of life that counter the proj ect of vio lence, dispossession, war, and death that characterizes the pres ent times. Thank you as well for the possibil- ity, in some cases, of being part of the strug gles, conversations, and reflex ve praxis, and, in others, of being able to dialogue and/or think “with.” Walter expresses his gratitude to all thos e who have made pos si ble the structure and arguments of part II. Just after The Darker Side of Western Mo- dernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options was released (December 2011),I faced the task of communicating the works of the collective modernity/ coloniality/decoloniality, and my own version of it, to several audiences in Hong Kong and vari ous places in South Africa. Part II has therefore a long story and substantial debts. Chronologically, my fi st debt is to Gregory Lee, former director of the Hong Kong Advanced Institute for Cross- Disciplinary Studies (hk aics ) at the City University of Hong Kong. The four public lectures delivered there and titled “Spirit Returns to the East” were a key experience in conveying the meaning of coloniality to an audience dwelling in dif er ent temporalities. My second debt is to Dilip Menon, director of the Center for Indian Studies in South Africa (cisa ), at Wits University, Johannesburg. It was a second op- portunity to address, during one month (August 2013) and in four lectures titled “Decolonial Thought,” an audience familiar with colonialism no doubt but less familiar with the conceptual specific ties of coloniality and coloniality of power unfolded after Aníbal Quijano introduced the concept in the 1990s. I owe an even larger debt to Professor H. B. Geyer, director of Stellen- bosch Institute for Advanced Study (sti as). His invitation to enjoy and take advantage of st ia s’s wonderful research atmosphere, during two periods of x / Ackno wl ed gment s six weeks in July– August of 2014 and 2015, allowed me to write the fi st and last draft of the second part as it appears here, and that were based on the pre- vious lectures delivered at hk aics and cisa . During that period I rehearsed the main ideas of my part, presenting them to the st ia s fellows and in a conversation with faculty and gradu ate studies or ga nized by Nick Shepherd, director of the Centre for African Studies, at the University of Cape Town. Nick announced the workshop as a conversation “On Decoloniality.” At Cape Town, I met Daniela Franca Jof e, whose editorial skill and familiarity with understanding of decolonial sentiments in Southern Africa were extremely helpful in streamlining the argument. Thanks to Rolando Vázquez for his camaraderie and constant conversa- tions to or ga nize and run the Middelburg Decolonial Summer School since summer 2010; and to the crew of the summer school, with whom in the classroom and outside of it, conversations on modernity, coloniality, and deco- loniality never stop. They are Jean Casimir, Maria Lugones, Madina Tlostanova, Rosalba Icaza, Ovidiu Tichindeleanu, Jeannette Ehlers, Patricia Kaersenhout, and Fabian Barba. I did not mention Alanna Lockward, who is part of the team, bec ause my thanks to her are also, and perhaps mainly, for inviting me to be an advisor for her splendid proj ect Black Europ e Body Politics (Be.Bop), running since 2012. Decolonial and African diasporic aesthetics, and coloniality in all its forms, have been and continue to be discussed among artists, curators, activ- ists, and journalists. While writing part II, I have both shared and benefited from all those encounters and activities in Eu rope (the Netherlands, Ger- many, and Denmark).