From “economic extractivism” to “epistemical extractivism” and “ontological extractivism”: a destructive way to know, be and behave in the world

https://doi.org/10.25058/20112742.60

Ramón Grosfoguel
ORCID ID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9051-1573
grosfogu@berkeley.edu
University of California, Berkeley, USA

Abstract:

This paper addresses some of the least developed and dealt with matters in the theory of “extractivism”, namely, “epistemological extractivism” and “ontological extractivism”. Following the decolonial contributions by Canadian indigenous Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Bolivian Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, the author develops a theory on the most unknown dimensions of “extractionism” that “neocolonial imperial West” exerts on the rest of the world. Additionally, this work does some criticism to the recurrence of colonial patterns in certain decolonial theories across Latin America.

Keywords: epistemic racism, “epistemic extractivism”, “ontologic extractivism”, epistemicide, genocide.