Uprooting Eurocentrism

• Department of Economics
• Department of History
• Department of Law
• Max Weber Programme for Postdoctoral Studies
• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• Department of Political and Social Sciences
• Florence School of Transnational Governance
• Decentering Eurocentrism

The third session of the Uprooting Eurocentrism Reading Group will discuss "The End of the Cognitive Empire" by Boaventura de Sousa Santos. Participants are invited to bring their comments and questions about the text to the group discussion.

In The End of the Cognitive Empire, Boaventura de Sousa Santos further develops his concept of the "epistemologies of the South," in which he outlines a theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical framework for challenging the dominance of Eurocentric thought. As a collection of knowledges born of and anchored in the experiences of marginalised peoples who actively resist capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy, epistemologies of the South represent those forms of knowledge that are generally discredited, erased, and ignored by dominant cultures of the global North. Noting the declining efficacy of established social and political solutions to combat inequality and discrimination, Santos suggests that global justice can only come about through an epistemological shift that guarantees cognitive justice. Such a shift would create new, alternative strategies for political mobilisation and activism and give oppressed social groups the means through which to represent the world as their own and in their own terms.

Please register to receive a list of recommended readings, as well as the Zoom link.