Modernity and coloniality in latin america: An inseparable pair? reflections around walter mignolo's proposals

Abstract

This paper reflects upon a decisive issue, namely, the relation between modernity and coloniality in the Latin American context. What remains to be settled is whether European modernity is inherently colonial, or, in other words, whether all modern European thought is indistinguishably and inseparably interwoven with grammars of coloniality that, even today, are reproduced in the arenas of knowledge and power. The guiding thread of this inquiry will be the theoretical proposals of Walter Mignolo, a thinker who argues precisely for the consubstantiality of modernity and coloniality.