Sometimes it’s ugly, but fashionable! Decolonial powers, additions, and limits

Abstract

Starting from a problematization of the interests at stake in recent uses of the decolonial repertoire, we seek to expose the powers of the first decolonial formulations, describe the contributions that were later added to them and present their weaknesses. For this, we present its two main bases: the critique of Eurocentrism, particularly aimed at the diffusion of knowledge, and the debate on “race” as a structuring aspect of political-economic-cultural dimensions, theorized in the concept of coloniality of power. Then, we highlight some of the perspectives that add new understandings to the concept of coloniality and point out contradictions of the decolonial turn. We conclude by supporting the reclaim of the power of this approach from the exposure of its limits, with a view to its translation to Brazil and beyond fads.