Document Type
Book Review
Publication Date
7-17-2017
Keywords
knowledge, epistemology
Abstract
As injustice and discrimination persist across the globe and the socioeconomic gaps of access and privilege continue to widen the binary divide — or what Boaventura de Sousa Santos describes as an abyssal line — between the valued and un(under)valued, the recognized and un(under)recognized, the visible and invisible, and the groups and individuals that occupy these sides of the line, Santos outlines the epistemological basis for a decolonial ascendance beyond the line in order to achieve a good life or buen vivir for all.1 Santos’ richly theoretical contribution and call to action through a postcolonial or decolonial approach and legal pluralistic bend are unmistakable, and outline a journey of how, and why, we should critically engage and amplify alternate ways of knowing and knowledges sourced from the “un” and “under” valued side of an abyssal line — a rebalancing that transforms hegemonic tools through counterhegemonic uses and salvages knowledges threatened by dilution, loss, and disappearance.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Sara Gwendolyn Ross, "Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide, Bonaventura de Sousa Santos (Boulder: Paradigm, 2014)" (2017) 54:4 Alta L Rev 1063.
Publication Abbreviation
Alta L Rev
Comments
This article was originally published in the Alberta Law Review, an open-access academic journal: https://doi.org/10.29173/alr787.