The Usmeka System of Thought :  Decolonising Science to Open Spaces of Epistemic Justice

Vargas-Mariño, Andrés Felipe

doi:10.13169/decohori.7.1.0129

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Horizontes Decoloniales / Decolonial Horizons

Volume 7, Issue 1

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The Usmeka System of Thought : Decolonising Science to Open Spaces of Epistemic Justice

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Author(s): Andrés Felipe Vargas-Mariño ¹ ^,

Publication date Pub: 07 April 2022

Journal: Horizontes Decoloniales / Decolonial Horizons

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Decolonización de la ciencia, Justicia epistémica, Emancipación epistémica, Conocimiento subalterno, Pensamiento decolonial, Estudios sociales de la ciencia, Decolonização da ciência, Justiça epistêmica, Emancipação epistêmica, Conhecimento subalterno, Pensamento decolonial, Estudos sociais da ciência, decolonisation of science, epistemic justice, epistemic emancipation, subaltern knowledge, decolonial thinking, social studies of science

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Abstract

The ontological turn in humanities and social sciences exposed how the power structures supporting scientific knowledge production exclude non-Western relational knowledges as epistemologically invalid. Thus, the responses to this exclusionary knowledge production infrastructure range from anti-scientific to using science to validate indigenous knowledges. However, those responses overlook subaltern spiritualities and how they decolonise science to open epistemic emancipatory spaces. Based on ethnographic research, this article describes the Usmeka community in Bogotá. While addressing scientific knowledge as a mid-level language to dialogue with nature, it mobilises epistemological emancipation possibilities. The analysis contributes to understanding how colonial subjects subvert scientific inquiry as a tool of epistemic control.

El giro ontológico en las humanidades y las ciencias sociales puso de manifiesto cómo las estructuras de poder que sustentan la producción de conocimiento científico excluyen los conocimientos relacionales no occidentales por considerarlos epistemológicamente inválidos. Así, las respuestas a esta infraestructura de producción de conocimiento excluyente van desde lo anticientífico hasta el uso de la ciencia para validar los conocimientos indígenas. Sin embargo, esas respuestas pasan por alto las espiritualidades subalternas y cómo decolonizan la ciencia para abrir espacios epistémicos emancipatorios. Basado en una investigación etnográfica, este artículo describe la comunidad Usmeka en Bogotá. Al tiempo que aborda el conocimiento científico como un lenguaje de nivel medio para dialogar con la naturaleza, moviliza las posibilidades de emancipación epistemológica. El análisis contribuye a entender cómo los sujetos coloniales subvierten la investigación científica como herramienta de control epistémico.

A virada ontológica nas ciências humanas e sociais expôs como as estruturas de poder que sustentam a produção do conhecimento científico excluem os conhecimentos relacionais não ocidentais como epistemologicamente inválidos. Assim, as respostas a esta infra-estrutura de produção de conhecimento excluída vão desde os conhecimentos anti-científicos até o uso da ciência para validar os conhecimentos indígenas. Entretanto, essas respostas ignoram as espiritualidades subalternas e como elas decolonizam a ciência para abrir espaços emancipatórios epistêmicos. Baseado em pesquisas etnográficas, este artigo descreve a comunidade Usmeka em Bogotá. Ao abordar o conhecimento científico como uma linguagem de nível médio para dialogar com a natureza, mobiliza as possibilidades de emancipação epistemológica. A análise contribui para compreender como os sujeitos coloniais subvertem a investigação científica como uma ferramenta de controle epistêmico.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169/decohori

Title: Horizontes Decoloniales / Decolonial Horizons

Abbreviated Title: DH

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Electronic): 2422-6343

Publication date Pub: 07 April 2022

Publication date Collection: 2022

Volume: 7

Issue: 1

Pages: 129-158

Affiliations

[1 ]Universidad Central de Colombia

Article

DOI: 10.13169/decohori.7.1.0129

SO-VID: 8769002e-f45e-4df9-8ce7-1dffecd71fa2

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Pages: 30

References

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Lina ÁlvarezBrendan Coolsaet (2017). «Decolonising Environmental Justice Studies: A Latin American Perspective.» Environmental Justice 31, no. 2: pp. 50–69.
Gloria Anzaldúa (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books.
Gloria Anzaldúa (2009). The Gloria Anzaldúa Reader, ed. AnaLouise Keating. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
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John Briggs (2013). «Indigenous Knowledge: A False Dawn for Development Theory and Practice?». Progress in Development Studies 13, no. 3: pp. 231–243.
Martin Calisto FriantJohn Langmore (2015). «The Buen Vivir: A Policy to Survive the Anthropocene?». Global Policy 6, no. 1: pp. 64–71.
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Sean Cubitt (2014). «Decolonising Ecomedia». Cultural Politics 10, no. 3: pp. 275–286.
Federico DemariaAshish Kothari (2017). «The Post-Development Dictionary Agenda: Paths to the Pluriverse». Third World Quarterly 38, no. 12: pp. 2588–2599.
S. Dey (2021). «Pedagogy of the Stupid». Philosophy and Global Affairs 1, no. 1: pp. 5–21.
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Bruce Erickson (2018). «Anthropocene Futures: Linking Colonialism and Environmentalism in an Age of Crisis». Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 38, no. 1: pp. 111–128
Arturo Escobar (2007). «Worlds and Knowledges Otherwise: The Latin American Modernity/Coloniality Research Program». Cultural Studies 21, nos. 2–3: pp. 179–210.
Arturo Escobar (2012). «Más allá del desarrollo: Postdesarrollo y transiciones hacia el pluriverso/Beyond Development: Postdevelopment and Transitions towards the Pluriverse». Revista de Antropología Social 21: pp. 23–63.
Arturo Escobar (2018). Designs for the Pluriverse Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Arturo EscobarGustavo Esteva (2017). «Postdesarrollo a los 25: Sobre ‘estar estancado’ y avanzar hacia adelante, hacia los lados, hacia atrás y de otras maneras». Poliseima 22: pp. 17–32.
Moreno EscobarDavid José (2020). «Lo que se pactó luego del derrumbe en Doña Juana». El Espectador (Bogotá), 29 April. Available at: <https://www.elespectador.com/bogota/lo-que-se-pacto-luego-del-derrumbe-en-dona-juana-article-917186/> [Accessed 3 January 2021].
Sara Ferreiro Lago (2018). «El buen vivir como alternativa a un modelo civilizador en crisis». Res Publica: Revista de Historia de las Ideas Políticas 21, no. 3: pp. 559–569.
Pablo Felipe Gómez-Montañez (2010). Pyquy, puyquy, cubum: Pensamiento, corazón y palabra muiscas, performances e interculturalidad. Bogotá: INPAHU.
Pablo Felipe Gómez-Montañez (2013). «Re-meaning the Indigenous Muisca Cemetery of Usme, Colombia: Ethnography of Collaborative Project and Patrimonial Debate». Journal of Arts and Humanities 2, no. 3: pp. 67–78.
Eduardo Gudynas (2011). «Buen Vivir: Today’s Tomorrow». Development 54: pp. 441–447.
Donna Jeanne Haraway (2008). When Species Meet. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Bruno Latour (2004). Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy, tr. Cathy Porter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bruno Latour (2009). «Will Non-Humans Be Saved? An Argument in Ecotheology». Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 15, no. 3: pp. 459–475.
Allan Luke (2017). «No Grand Narrative in Sight». Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice 66, no. 1: pp. 157–182.
Joan Martinez-Alier (2003). The Environmentalism of the Poor: A Study of Ecological Conflicts and Valuation. Cheltenham; Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Fulvio Mazzocchi (2018). «Under What Conditions May Western Science and Indigenous Knowledge Be Jointly Used and What does This Really Entail? Insights from a Western Perspectivist Stance». Social Epistemology 32, no. 5: pp. 325–337.
Walter Mignolo (2007). «Delinking». Cultural Studies 21, nos. 2–3: pp. 449–514.
Walter Mignolo (2019). «Reconstitución epistémica/estética: La aesthesis decolonial una década después». Calle 14: Revista de Investigación en el Campo del Arte 14, no. 25: pp. 14–33.
Fikile NxumaloStacia Cedillo (2017). «Decolonising Place in Early Childhood Studies: Thinking with Indigenous Onto-epistemologies and Black Feminist Geographies». Global Studies of Childhood 7, no. 2: pp. 99–112.
Julián Alejandro Osorio (2007). El Río Tunjuelo en la historia de Bogotá, 1900–1990. Bogotá: Secretaría Distrital de Cultura, Recreación y Deporte-Observatorio de Culturas.
Luis Miguel Palacio (2011). «Necrópolis de Usme: 400 años de historia muisca por descubrir». UN Periódico 142 (Bogotá), 11 March. Available at: <https://issuu.com/mediosdigitales/docs/unperiodico142> [Accessed 3 January 2021].
Val Plumwood (2015). Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. New York: Routledge.
Helen S. ProctorGemma CarderAmelia R. Cornish (2013). «Searching for Animal Sentience: A Systematic Review of the Scientific Literature». Animals 3: pp. 882–906.
Gerardo Santafé (1998). Usme y su historia. Bogotá: Casa Asdoas.
Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2012). «Public Sphere and Epistemologies of the South». Africa Development 37, no. 1: pp. 43–67.
Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2014). Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide. New York: Routledge.
Suzanne W. SimardDavid A. PerryMelanie D. JonesDavid D. MyroldDaniel M. DurallRandy Molina (1997). «Net Transfer of Carbon between Ectomycorrhizal Tree Species in the Field». Nature 388: pp. 579–582.
Samuel SpiegelHazel GrayBarbara BompaniKevin BardoshJames Smith (2017). «Decolonising Online Development Studies? Emancipatory Aspirations and Critical Reflections: A Case Study». Third World Quarterly 38, no. 2: pp. 270–290.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (2010). «Can the Subaltern Speak? revised edition, from the ‘History’ chapter of Critique of Postcolonial Reason». In: Rosalind C. Morris (ed.), Can the Subaltern Speak? Reflections on the History of an Idea. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 21–78.
Juanita Sundberg (2014). «Decolonising Posthumanist Geographies». Cultural Geographies 21, no. 1: pp. 33–47.
Maria TengöEduardo S. BrondizioThomas ElmqvistPernilla MalmerMarja Spierenburg (2014). «Connecting Diverse Knowledge Systems for Enhanced Ecosystem Governance: The Multiple Evidence Base Approach». Ambio 43: pp. 579–591.
Amanda C. Thomas (2015). «Indigenous More-Than-Humanisms: Relational Ethics with the Hurunui River in Aotearoa New Zealand». Social and Cultural Geography 16, no. 8: pp. 974–990.
C. Unai Villalba-EguiluzIker Etxano (2017). «Buen Vivir vs Development (II): The Limits of (Neo-)Extractivism». Ecological Economics 138: pp. 1–11.
Catherine Walsh (2010). «Political-Epistemic Insurgency, Social Movements and the Refounding of the State». In: Mabel MorañaBret Gustafson (eds.), Rethinking Intellectuals in Latin America. Madrid: Iberoamericana Vervuert, pp. 199–211.
Catherine Walsh (2012). «Pluralismo jurídico: El desafío de la interculturalidad». Novamerica 133: pp. 32–37.
Annette Watson (2013). «Misunderstanding the ‘Nature’ of Co-Management: A Geography of Regulatory Science and Indigenous Knowledges (IK)». Environmental Management 52: pp. 1085–1102.
Annette WatsonOrville H. Huntington (2008). «They’re Here – I Can Feel Them: The Epistemic Spaces of Indigenous and Western Knowledges». Social and Cultural Geography 9, no. 3: pp. 257–281.
Matthew C. Watson (2011). «Cosmopolitics and the Subaltern: Problematizing Latour’s Idea of the Commons». Theory, Culture & Society 28, no. 3: pp. 55–79.
Sarah Whatmore (2002). Hybrid Geographies: Natures, Cultures, Spaces. London: Sage.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Pablo Alonso GonzálezAlfredo Macías Vázquez (2015). «An Ontological Turn in the Debate on Buen Vivir – Sumak Kawsay in Ecuador: Ideology, Knowledge, and the Common». Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies 10, no. 3: pp. 315–334.

[2] Lina ÁlvarezBrendan Coolsaet (2017). «Decolonising Environmental Justice Studies: A Latin American Perspective.» Environmental Justice 31, no. 2: pp. 50–69.

[3] Gloria Anzaldúa (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books.

[4] Gloria Anzaldúa (2009). The Gloria Anzaldúa Reader, ed. AnaLouise Keating. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

[5] José Virgilio Becerra (2010). Ancestros prehispánicos de Bogotá: Nécropolis de Usme. Lugar de comunicación con el mundo de los dioses. Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

[6] John Briggs (2013). «Indigenous Knowledge: A False Dawn for Development Theory and Practice?». Progress in Development Studies 13, no. 3: pp. 231–243.

[7] Martin Calisto FriantJohn Langmore (2015). «The Buen Vivir: A Policy to Survive the Anthropocene?». Global Policy 6, no. 1: pp. 64–71.

[8] Nigel Clark (2011). Inhuman Nature: Sociable Life on a Dynamic Planet, Theory, Culture and Society. London: SAGE.

[9] Sean Cubitt (2014). «Decolonising Ecomedia». Cultural Politics 10, no. 3: pp. 275–286.

[10] Federico DemariaAshish Kothari (2017). «The Post-Development Dictionary Agenda: Paths to the Pluriverse». Third World Quarterly 38, no. 12: pp. 2588–2599.

[11] S. Dey (2021). «Pedagogy of the Stupid». Philosophy and Global Affairs 1, no. 1: pp. 5–21.

[12] El Pueblo de Usme (2012). Almanaque Agroecológico Pueblo de Usme, ed. German Ferro, Lina Maria Cortéz Gutierrez, and Ingrid Morris. Bogotá: Alcaldía Mayor de Santafé de Bogotá.

[13] Bruce Erickson (2018). «Anthropocene Futures: Linking Colonialism and Environmentalism in an Age of Crisis». Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 38, no. 1: pp. 111–128

[14] Arturo Escobar (2007). «Worlds and Knowledges Otherwise: The Latin American Modernity/Coloniality Research Program». Cultural Studies 21, nos. 2–3: pp. 179–210.

[15] Arturo Escobar (2012). «Más allá del desarrollo: Postdesarrollo y transiciones hacia el pluriverso/Beyond Development: Postdevelopment and Transitions towards the Pluriverse». Revista de Antropología Social 21: pp. 23–63.

[16] Arturo Escobar (2018). Designs for the Pluriverse Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

[17] Arturo EscobarGustavo Esteva (2017). «Postdesarrollo a los 25: Sobre ‘estar estancado’ y avanzar hacia adelante, hacia los lados, hacia atrás y de otras maneras». Poliseima 22: pp. 17–32.

[18] Moreno EscobarDavid José (2020). «Lo que se pactó luego del derrumbe en Doña Juana». El Espectador (Bogotá), 29 April. Available at: <https://www.elespectador.com/bogota/lo-que-se-pacto-luego-del-derrumbe-en-dona-juana-article-917186/> [Accessed 3 January 2021].

[19] Sara Ferreiro Lago (2018). «El buen vivir como alternativa a un modelo civilizador en crisis». Res Publica: Revista de Historia de las Ideas Políticas 21, no. 3: pp. 559–569.

[20] Pablo Felipe Gómez-Montañez (2010). Pyquy, puyquy, cubum: Pensamiento, corazón y palabra muiscas, performances e interculturalidad. Bogotá: INPAHU.

[21] Pablo Felipe Gómez-Montañez (2013). «Re-meaning the Indigenous Muisca Cemetery of Usme, Colombia: Ethnography of Collaborative Project and Patrimonial Debate». Journal of Arts and Humanities 2, no. 3: pp. 67–78.

[22] Eduardo Gudynas (2011). «Buen Vivir: Today’s Tomorrow». Development 54: pp. 441–447.

[23] Donna Jeanne Haraway (2008). When Species Meet. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

[24] Bruno Latour (2004). Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy, tr. Cathy Porter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[25] Bruno Latour (2009). «Will Non-Humans Be Saved? An Argument in Ecotheology». Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 15, no. 3: pp. 459–475.

[26] Allan Luke (2017). «No Grand Narrative in Sight». Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice 66, no. 1: pp. 157–182.

[27] Joan Martinez-Alier (2003). The Environmentalism of the Poor: A Study of Ecological Conflicts and Valuation. Cheltenham; Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing.

[28] Fulvio Mazzocchi (2018). «Under What Conditions May Western Science and Indigenous Knowledge Be Jointly Used and What does This Really Entail? Insights from a Western Perspectivist Stance». Social Epistemology 32, no. 5: pp. 325–337.

[29] Walter Mignolo (2007). «Delinking». Cultural Studies 21, nos. 2–3: pp. 449–514.

[30] Walter Mignolo (2019). «Reconstitución epistémica/estética: La aesthesis decolonial una década después». Calle 14: Revista de Investigación en el Campo del Arte 14, no. 25: pp. 14–33.

[31] Fikile NxumaloStacia Cedillo (2017). «Decolonising Place in Early Childhood Studies: Thinking with Indigenous Onto-epistemologies and Black Feminist Geographies». Global Studies of Childhood 7, no. 2: pp. 99–112.

[32] Julián Alejandro Osorio (2007). El Río Tunjuelo en la historia de Bogotá, 1900–1990. Bogotá: Secretaría Distrital de Cultura, Recreación y Deporte-Observatorio de Culturas.

[33] Luis Miguel Palacio (2011). «Necrópolis de Usme: 400 años de historia muisca por descubrir». UN Periódico 142 (Bogotá), 11 March. Available at: <https://issuu.com/mediosdigitales/docs/unperiodico142> [Accessed 3 January 2021].

[34] Val Plumwood (2015). Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. New York: Routledge.

[35] Helen S. ProctorGemma CarderAmelia R. Cornish (2013). «Searching for Animal Sentience: A Systematic Review of the Scientific Literature». Animals 3: pp. 882–906.

[36] Gerardo Santafé (1998). Usme y su historia. Bogotá: Casa Asdoas.

[37] Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2012). «Public Sphere and Epistemologies of the South». Africa Development 37, no. 1: pp. 43–67.

[38] Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2014). Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide. New York: Routledge.

[39] Suzanne W. SimardDavid A. PerryMelanie D. JonesDavid D. MyroldDaniel M. DurallRandy Molina (1997). «Net Transfer of Carbon between Ectomycorrhizal Tree Species in the Field». Nature 388: pp. 579–582.

[40] Samuel SpiegelHazel GrayBarbara BompaniKevin BardoshJames Smith (2017). «Decolonising Online Development Studies? Emancipatory Aspirations and Critical Reflections: A Case Study». Third World Quarterly 38, no. 2: pp. 270–290.

[41] Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (2010). «Can the Subaltern Speak? revised edition, from the ‘History’ chapter of Critique of Postcolonial Reason». In: Rosalind C. Morris (ed.), Can the Subaltern Speak? Reflections on the History of an Idea. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 21–78.

[42] Juanita Sundberg (2014). «Decolonising Posthumanist Geographies». Cultural Geographies 21, no. 1: pp. 33–47.

[43] Maria TengöEduardo S. BrondizioThomas ElmqvistPernilla MalmerMarja Spierenburg (2014). «Connecting Diverse Knowledge Systems for Enhanced Ecosystem Governance: The Multiple Evidence Base Approach». Ambio 43: pp. 579–591.

[44] Amanda C. Thomas (2015). «Indigenous More-Than-Humanisms: Relational Ethics with the Hurunui River in Aotearoa New Zealand». Social and Cultural Geography 16, no. 8: pp. 974–990.

[45] C. Unai Villalba-EguiluzIker Etxano (2017). «Buen Vivir vs Development (II): The Limits of (Neo-)Extractivism». Ecological Economics 138: pp. 1–11.

[46] Catherine Walsh (2010). «Political-Epistemic Insurgency, Social Movements and the Refounding of the State». In: Mabel MorañaBret Gustafson (eds.), Rethinking Intellectuals in Latin America. Madrid: Iberoamericana Vervuert, pp. 199–211.

[47] Catherine Walsh (2012). «Pluralismo jurídico: El desafío de la interculturalidad». Novamerica 133: pp. 32–37.

[48] Annette Watson (2013). «Misunderstanding the ‘Nature’ of Co-Management: A Geography of Regulatory Science and Indigenous Knowledges (IK)». Environmental Management 52: pp. 1085–1102.

[49] Annette WatsonOrville H. Huntington (2008). «They’re Here – I Can Feel Them: The Epistemic Spaces of Indigenous and Western Knowledges». Social and Cultural Geography 9, no. 3: pp. 257–281.

[50] Matthew C. Watson (2011). «Cosmopolitics and the Subaltern: Problematizing Latour’s Idea of the Commons». Theory, Culture & Society 28, no. 3: pp. 55–79.

[51] Sarah Whatmore (2002). Hybrid Geographies: Natures, Cultures, Spaces. London: Sage.