Delinking from mainstream knowledge production by elevating marginalized decolonial scholarship in Spanish, Russian, and Central Asian languages

• In Event: Education for Planetary Futures (Part 1): Decolonial Portals, Marginalized Scholarship, and More-than-human Methodologies

Proposal

Decolonial perspectives have gained significance in the last decades and continue to attract increasing interest due to the pressing global crisis. This crisis has led to challenge the dominant Western perspectives and emphasizes the need to acknowledge and value diverse, less destructive ways of coexisting in the world with other humans, nonhumans, and nature (Kumar, 2023). The long colonial legacies in the Global South have wholly or partially disrupted these diverse ways of being and living, reproducing a one-World Western culture across the globe (Escobar et al., 2024; Said, 2023).
Language can play a pivotal role in decolonizing mainstream Western ideologies by reclaiming the value of different worldviews and cultures in social spaces, research, and academia (Parvulescu & Boatcă, 2022). Still, currently, language serves as a non-violent tool of colonization, especially in the realm of knowledge production in academia, which strengthens the dependence on the Global North (Silova et al., 2017). Thus, advocating for a transformation of knowledge production and the recognition of alternative forms of knowledge (Tlostanova, 2017), especially the significance of local ecological knowledges and Afro-descendant scholarship, is particularly pertinent in the non-Anglophone Global South - such as Post-Soviet spaces and Latin America. These spaces hold a long and strong legacy of colonialism, and controlling knowledge production is being used to perpetuate the oppression of marginalized communities.
The objective of this paper is to explore the literature on decolonization theory and practice that encompasses contributions from scholars and voices hailing from the Global South - with a focus on Latin America and post-Soviet spaces - and writing in Spanish, Russian, and Central Asian languages, including Kazakh, Uyghur (native languages of the authors). Through this analytical literature review, we aspire to strengthen ongoing decolonizing efforts in settler-colonized areas where English is not the primary language by highlighting the work of local-theorizing scholars and practitioners whose contributions may be unfamiliar to a broader audience. By focusing on literature other than published academic work, such as gray literature, reports, and evaluations of practices, we recognize that knowledge comes in many different forms. Some of this non-academic literature includes government and NGO publications, program evaluations, conference proceedings, white papers from think tanks, newsletters and magazines, community-authored reports, and digital and multimedia outputs (like podcasts, videos, and digital storytelling). By incorporating these diverse sources, we ensure that a broader range of voices and perspectives are included in the ongoing conversations about decolonial practices for sustainable futures. For instance, Safina Aktai (2022) writes about what decolonization means for Kazakh identity (oтарсыздық) after the long-oppressed Soviet legacy, and Carlos Alvarez Nazareno and Marcela Lorenzo Perez (2022) discuss how Afro-argentine social movements can contribute to the development of anti-racist education in Argentina. Ultimately, this paper seeks to delink from the English-centric status quo, aiming to rediscover non-hierarchical, diverse knowledges (Mignolo, 2011) as an invaluable tool of decolonial theory and practice.

Authors

• Victoria Desimoni, Arizona State University

• Dilraba Anayatova, Arizona State University