The places of critical universalism: Postcolonial and decolonial approaches in context

Abstract

This paper argues that the validity of universalism in the era of global capitalism does not imply a smooth, undifferentiated spatiality, in which particularity is eliminated. The contemporary systemic logic is reproduced in places where the universal and the particular are dialectized. This new dynamic raises the possibility of a critical universalism capable of evading the objection to Eurocentrism. In order to elaborate the conditions of critical universalism, I consider the debates on postcolonial studies, the proposed decolonial option in Latin America and the discussions that it raises.