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Epistemologies of the South
This book explores the concept of 'cognitive injustice': the failure to recognise the different ways of knowing by which people across the globe run their lives and provide meaning to their existence. Boaventura de Sousa Santos shows why global social justice is not possible without global cognitive justice. Santos argues that Western domination has profoundly marginalised knowledge and wisdom that had been in existence in the global South. She contends that today it is imperative to recover and valorize the epistemological diversity of the world. Epistemologies of the South outlines a new kind of bottom-up cosmopolitanism, in which conviviality, solidarity and life triumph against the logic of market-ridden greed and individualism.
284 pages, Hardcover
First published February 10, 2009
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1057 people want to read
About the author
Boaventura de Sousa Santos
125 books139 followersBoaventura de Sousa Santos is Professor of Sociology, University of Coimbra (Portugal), and Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned an LL.M and J.S.D. from Yale University and holds the Degree of Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, by McGill University.
He is director of the Center for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra and has written and published widely on the issues of globalization, sociology of law and the state, epistemology, social movements and the World Social Forum. He has been awarded several prizes, most recently the Science and Technology Prize of Mexico, 2010, and the Kalven Jr. Prize of the Law and Society Association, 2011.
His most recent project – ALICE: Leading Europe to a New Way of Sharing the World Experiences – was funded by an Advanced Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), one of the most prestigious and highly competitive international financial institutes for scientific excellence in Europe. The project was initiated in July 2011 and ended in December 2016.
Boaventura de Sousa Santos has published widely on globalization, sociology of law and the state, epistemology, democracy, and human rights in Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian, French, German, Chinese, and Romanian.
He is director of the Center for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra and has written and published widely on the issues of globalization, sociology of law and the state, epistemology, social movements and the World Social Forum. He has been awarded several prizes, most recently the Science and Technology Prize of Mexico, 2010, and the Kalven Jr. Prize of the Law and Society Association, 2011.
His most recent project – ALICE: Leading Europe to a New Way of Sharing the World Experiences – was funded by an Advanced Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), one of the most prestigious and highly competitive international financial institutes for scientific excellence in Europe. The project was initiated in July 2011 and ended in December 2016.
Boaventura de Sousa Santos has published widely on globalization, sociology of law and the state, epistemology, democracy, and human rights in Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian, French, German, Chinese, and Romanian.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 27, 2016
This is a very important book, and as Boa says, those who need to read it most, probably won't.
If you're only going to read one chapter, read chapter seven, on ecologies of knowledges. The point he is making there is vital for our age to understand.
If you're only going to read one chapter, read chapter seven, on ecologies of knowledges. The point he is making there is vital for our age to understand.
September 15, 2022
A very important book. It is dense af but worth the pay off.
October 6, 2019
1 + 1 = 2 is a fact that goes beyond every single social, cultural, and political context on Earth (Unless if you suffer from delirium, well, then that’s another story.). It is not a matter of interpretation. It is what it is. The Portuguese sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos asks a very important question in the beginning of this, which at the first moment seems counter intuitive: How come there are so many conceptions of human dignity on Earth, and how come they all seem to contradict one another? The Universal Declaration of Human Rights pretends that it is truly universal, yet it didn’t stop many of the states “committed” to it from committing atrocities. Colonialism didn’t end. Legal forms of discriminations and oppression still existed (and still do). Wars were being launched and still are launched in the name “democracy and peace”. How come then such atrocities and more took place and still do? There are many reasons, but what de Sousa brilliantly focuses on here is the cognitive injustice being committed especially by the US and Western Euro-centric world. To remind you, epistemology is the theory of knowledge that studies its acquisitions and the types of beliefs we have regarding the world (in short). The cognitive injustice takes place according to de Sousa when a hegemonic and powerful “North” not only physical or institutionally overtakes the “South”, but also when that cultural hegemon overtakes the epistemology of the vanquished regarding the world, thus contributing a real epistemicide.
Epistemicide, this seems like a weird and complex word. But let us look at this way. One way of cognitive injustice happening is when one individual imposes his/her “world view” upon the other as the only real and acceptable point of view, negating even the possibility that the other might have a valid interpretation of that point of view. Colonizers and slave merchants, for instance, negate that any indigenous population might have a conception of “liberty” or “nation”. The slaves and the colonized wouldn’t even know what “civilization” is, so any conquest is normal. Furthermore, what de Sousa points out that such cognitive injustice isn’t necessarily a thing of the past. Even today in powerful countries that are supposedly democratic such injustice can, and still does, exist in the system and in society. It could even lead to different types of fascism, from societal to economical. That said, what’s important to notice according to de Sousa is that such cognitive injustice isn’t purely a right wing injustice or colonialist injustice. For instance, when many Marxist, communist, or other form of liberal wing ideologies and practices are exported to the outside, they follow the same pattern of imposing their epistemology upon “the other”. It’s just replacing one euro-centric ism by another euro-centric ism. It isn’t sustainable.
The main idea here is that there can’t be any real justice to injustice in this world if cognitive justice isn’t achieving. For instance, justice to apartheid isn’t by just changing law, but changing mentalities. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict can’t be resolved by just land, but by a true understand of the injustices committed. Decolonizing isn’t just decolonizing laws, but it’s about decolonizing mentalities. And it’s not just about saying “all is relative”. The goal hear is to construct a cognitive critical theory that can be used to fight against epistemicide. It’s not just a matter of saying “we believe this and they believe that”. It’s a matter of mutual construction to understand what harm has been done to one by the other. Another example of a similar epistemicide that de Sousa points is that against which feminism fight. (Though that’s a discussion for another time.) I really loved reading this book and it is very insightful. It might be a bit too academic for the general reader, but I do recommend it to anyone interested in sociology, cultural studies, and related fields.
Epistemicide, this seems like a weird and complex word. But let us look at this way. One way of cognitive injustice happening is when one individual imposes his/her “world view” upon the other as the only real and acceptable point of view, negating even the possibility that the other might have a valid interpretation of that point of view. Colonizers and slave merchants, for instance, negate that any indigenous population might have a conception of “liberty” or “nation”. The slaves and the colonized wouldn’t even know what “civilization” is, so any conquest is normal. Furthermore, what de Sousa points out that such cognitive injustice isn’t necessarily a thing of the past. Even today in powerful countries that are supposedly democratic such injustice can, and still does, exist in the system and in society. It could even lead to different types of fascism, from societal to economical. That said, what’s important to notice according to de Sousa is that such cognitive injustice isn’t purely a right wing injustice or colonialist injustice. For instance, when many Marxist, communist, or other form of liberal wing ideologies and practices are exported to the outside, they follow the same pattern of imposing their epistemology upon “the other”. It’s just replacing one euro-centric ism by another euro-centric ism. It isn’t sustainable.
The main idea here is that there can’t be any real justice to injustice in this world if cognitive justice isn’t achieving. For instance, justice to apartheid isn’t by just changing law, but changing mentalities. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict can’t be resolved by just land, but by a true understand of the injustices committed. Decolonizing isn’t just decolonizing laws, but it’s about decolonizing mentalities. And it’s not just about saying “all is relative”. The goal hear is to construct a cognitive critical theory that can be used to fight against epistemicide. It’s not just a matter of saying “we believe this and they believe that”. It’s a matter of mutual construction to understand what harm has been done to one by the other. Another example of a similar epistemicide that de Sousa points is that against which feminism fight. (Though that’s a discussion for another time.) I really loved reading this book and it is very insightful. It might be a bit too academic for the general reader, but I do recommend it to anyone interested in sociology, cultural studies, and related fields.
February 5, 2019
“The first strong question can be formulated in this way: If humanity is one alone, why are there so many different principles concerning human dignity and social justice, all of them presumably unique, yet often contradictory?"
Complex, challenging, yet illuminating approach for rethinking concealed knowledges under the regimes of Western epistemology.
Complex, challenging, yet illuminating approach for rethinking concealed knowledges under the regimes of Western epistemology.
May 28, 2025
I don’t know how to feel about it yet. It was incredibly dense, and I felt quite stupid while reading it.
Great ideas and its useful for my dissertation.
Great ideas and its useful for my dissertation.
July 30, 2022
Un texto necesario para todas aquellas personas que se quieren introducir en el pensamiento del autor.
A partir de una serie de reflexiones incorporadas bajo múltiples títulos se revelan los principales conceptos predominantes en el pensamiento del autor. Sin duda alguna es la puerta de entrada a la obra de Boa.
A partir de una serie de reflexiones incorporadas bajo múltiples títulos se revelan los principales conceptos predominantes en el pensamiento del autor. Sin duda alguna es la puerta de entrada a la obra de Boa.
September 14, 2020
I enjoy this book alot, but I do think the reliance on colonial big name theorists could be rethought, given the topic!
July 8, 2024
Por experiencias como estas es que extraño el taller universitario 🖋
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Después de par de meses, pude finalizar mi primer camino con De Sousa, y ha sido sumamente enriquecedor.
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De Sousa apalabra procesos y experiencias a las que tal vez hemos sido expuestos en algunas de las clases de formación universitaria si se estudio en la Universidad de Puerto Rico, particularmente en Río Piedras. Por eso lo que me expone De Sousa no es totalmente ajeno, pero logra presentar el texto de forma organizada y esclarecedora aún en la complejidad de la narrativa del texto. Creo que ha sido una de las mejores lecturas críticas que he tenido. Por eso siento que me hace falta el salón de clases. Intercambiar ideas, reacciones y opiniones durante la lectura de este texto hubiese sido espectacular. Me lleva a considerar una de las invitaciones del texto: todavía nos queda mucha tarea por hacer y muchos espacios de intercambio que construir en pos de esa epistemología del Sur.
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Después de par de meses, pude finalizar mi primer camino con De Sousa, y ha sido sumamente enriquecedor.
•
De Sousa apalabra procesos y experiencias a las que tal vez hemos sido expuestos en algunas de las clases de formación universitaria si se estudio en la Universidad de Puerto Rico, particularmente en Río Piedras. Por eso lo que me expone De Sousa no es totalmente ajeno, pero logra presentar el texto de forma organizada y esclarecedora aún en la complejidad de la narrativa del texto. Creo que ha sido una de las mejores lecturas críticas que he tenido. Por eso siento que me hace falta el salón de clases. Intercambiar ideas, reacciones y opiniones durante la lectura de este texto hubiese sido espectacular. Me lleva a considerar una de las invitaciones del texto: todavía nos queda mucha tarea por hacer y muchos espacios de intercambio que construir en pos de esa epistemología del Sur.
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September 24, 2024
Un libro muuuy muy denso, que encierra una verdad muy fuerte sobre cómo el colonialismo europeo se apodera también del ramo espistemológico (creación y validez del conocimiento), llegando así a negar las formas de conocimiento que no corresponden al positivismo europeo.
Lo interesante del libro es que no se detiene a la crítica del paradigma dominante, sino que propone uno donde todas las formas de conocimiento puedan dialogar entre sí para complementar sus visiones de la realidad: la ecología del conocimiento.
Vale la pena leerlo, pero entenderlo puede ser difícil.
Lo interesante del libro es que no se detiene a la crítica del paradigma dominante, sino que propone uno donde todas las formas de conocimiento puedan dialogar entre sí para complementar sus visiones de la realidad: la ecología del conocimiento.
Vale la pena leerlo, pero entenderlo puede ser difícil.
May 26, 2023
A critical theory is premised upon the idea that there is no way of knowing the world better than by anticipating a better world. Such anticipation provides both the intellectual instruments to unmask the institutionalized, harmful lies that sustain and legitimate social injustice and the political impulse to struggle against
Want to read
August 29, 2023
Read
February 2, 2024Important, illuminating, confusing, inspiring
October 15, 2025
남의 인식론 - 인식론 살해에 맞서는 정의, 보아벤투라 드 소우자 산투스, 안태환, 박경은, 양은미 옮김, 알렙, 2025
처음부터 어마어마하게 멋진 책이다. 계속 읽어보자.
처음부터 어마어마하게 멋진 책이다. 계속 읽어보자.
May 28, 2024
«Puesto que ningún tipo de conocimiento puede dar explicación a todas las intervenciones posibles en el mundo, todos ellos son incompletos en diferentes modos».
La verdad no puedo escribir nada muy coherente de este libro. Lo leí para una cosa de la universidad como en marzo y dos meses después lo terminé por completo. ¿Entendí algo realmente? Mmm no mucho, leí varias veces las mismas partes pero I’m too dumb para este tipo de ensayos. Entonces ajá. Lo terminé, lo leí por completo pero estoy seguro que entendí (al menos integralmente) menos de 10 páginas xd.
October 8, 2021
i'm never going to actually finish this and i haven't read the whole book. it is great at introducing the concept of the global south, however is written in anthropological academic jargon that's just too dense for me.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews