Culture on CELAC's agenda from a decolonizing theoretical perspective

Abstract

This article analyzes the post-liberal/post-hegemonic regionalism that emerged in South America in the beginning of the XXI century, focusing on the cultural agenda of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and it is aimed to contribute to the analysis of the sociocultural dimensions of regional integration, based on the critical geopolitics theory proposed by Jaime Preciado. The debate highlights the Eurocentrism that characterizes the regional integration studies and its connection with the geopolitics of knowledge. Moreover, it also contributes to the debate about the conditions for thinking the world from a Latin American perspective, based on authors from the region who are dedicated to the production of knowledge around its own specific themes and cognitive problems. The methodology included desk research of relevant literature and official CELAC’s documents. The analysis indicates that, to overcome the reproduction of the logic of coloniality in Latin American and Caribbean regional projects, it is necessary to include the epistemological and cultural dimensions, both in the theoretical debate and in its practical construction.