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CHAPTER 7
Coloniality
Key Dimensions and Critical Implications
Noah De Lissovoy and Raúl Olmo Fregoso Bailón
Emerging from sociological and philosophical inquiry into the history of the
colonial encounter in Latin America, the notion of coloniality (and the larger
field of decolonial theory with which it is now associated) has become a crucial
theoretical resource for scholars across a range of disciplines. Investigations
of the structure and processes of coloniality challenge received ideas about
power, knowledge, and identity in modernity, and these investigations have
significant implications for educational philosophy. Nevertheless, decolonial
scholarship remains less known among educational theorists than postcolo-
nial theory, with which it shares many concerns but from which it also sharply
differs in crucial respects. In our presentation of the notion of coloniality, we
first describe the history and key dimensions of this idea. The second part of
the article develops several of the most crucial implications of the notion of
coloniality for scholars and educators, with particular attention to how this tra-
dition offers a rethinking of familiar categories in critical theory and pedagogy.
An Introduction to Coloniality
The Eurocentric perspective of knowledge operates as a mirror that

distorts what it reflects, as we can see in the Latin American historical
experience. (Quijano, 2008, p. 204)
Definition
If we carefully look at Aníbal Quijano Obregón’s work, who coined the term,
coloniality is grounded in the notion of coloniality of power. Quijano explains
the way in which coloniality is a pattern of power that emerges from an invis-
ible part of history. Importantly, the notion of coloniality of power empha-
sizes the distinction between colonialism (a concrete social formation) and
coloniality (an encompassing political, cultural, epistemological, and symbolic
condition). However, beyond this distinction it is important to address the full
extent of the concept: coloniality of power refers to power that is ontologically
© koninklijke brill nv, leideN, 2019 | DOI: 10.1163/9789004400467_007

84 De Lissovoy and Fregoso Bailó n
colonial in its origin and whose articulation as a global order came about after
the European invasion of what is today Latin America and the Caribbean.
The origin of the term coloniality can be traced to González Casanova’s work
(1965) on internal colonialism, in which he explained how colonial structures
prevailed within formerly colonial societies even after the emergence of the
independent state. Coloniality has existed up to today (even after the end of
colonialism proper) because of its relationship to and organization of power.
When it comes to defining the concept of coloniality of power, Quijano (2000)
refers to an article published in 1992 in which he emphasizes the dimension
of power itself: “…la cultura europea se convirtio, ademas, en una seducción:
daba acceso al poder. Despues de todo, más allá de la represion, el instrumento
principal de todo poder es su seducción” [“…the European culture became, in
addition, a seduction; it gave access to power. After all, apart from repression,
the main instrument of all power is seduction”] (Quijano, 1992, pp. 12–13). Fur-
thermore, coloniality “Era un modo de participar en el poder colonial pero tam-
bien…para alcanzar los mismos beneficios materiales y el mismo poder que los
europeos [“It was a way to participate in the colonial power, but also…to enable
some people to achieve the same material benefits and the same power that
Europeans enjoyed”] (Quijano, 1992, p. 13). As Castro-Gómez (2008) explains:
“According to this, the first characteristic of the coloniality of power, the most
general of all, is the domination by means not exclusively coercive” (p. 281).
The most well known dimension of coloniality is its distinction from colo-
nialism. As Mignolo (2008) puts it: “It is indicative of Quijano’s merit that he
has shown coloniality to be the overall dimension of modernity, thereby dis-
tinguishing coloniality from colonialism. It is also to his merit to have brought
to light the fact that the emergence of the Atlantic circuit during the sixteenth
century made coloniality constitutive of modernity” (pp. 228–229). This dis-
tinction is central to the scholarly conversation around coloniality, and also
points to crucial historical effects. Indeed, as a result of the process of colonial-
ity, in Latin American today there is no country in which it is possible to find a
fully autonomous society (Preciado, 2008).
Coloniality and Latin America

Latin America gave birth to capitalism, Europe, and modernity as we know
it today, and therefore, coloniality of power was also born there. As Quijano
(1992) explains in one of his first publications:
Con la conquista de las sociedades y las culturas que habitaban lo que hoy
es nombrado como America Latina, comenzó la formación de un orden
mundial que culmina, 500 años después, en un poder global que articula

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CHAPTER 7

Noah De Lissovoy and Raúl Olmo Fregoso Bailón

The Eurocentric perspective of knowledge operates as a mirror that

© koninklijke brill nv, leideN, 2019 | DOI: 10.1163/9789004400467_007

Coloniality and Latin America

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