Julia Suárez-Krabbe
jskrabbe@ruc.dk
juliakrabbe@ces.uc.pt
Roskilde Universitet, Dinamarca
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
Abstract:
This paper addresses the debates linking Quijano’s theories (those of decoloniality) and Foucault’s. On one hand, it reaffirms the importance of those discussions in the Eurocentric academic sphere, and on the other hand, it argues that, in developing primarily within the academic sphere, they are at risk of reinforcing the core of stating colonial politics of being from a white identity by rendering it invisible. This paper uses Quijano and Foucault, both as the significant theorists they both are, and as geoand corpo- political metaphors, where Foucault inhabits a being zone, and Quijano a relatively non-being zone. Both of them inhabit the being zone in relation to indigenous and black populations. I arrive to the conclusion that while discussion on decolonial theories and Foucault bring into relief several important aspects contributing to decolonization, they are also debates passing through Quijano and saving Foucault, which means they stay in the being zone.
Keywords: colonial politics of being, non-being, identity, coloniality, decolonization.
