Decolonization architecture
Introduction
Decoloniality or decolonial theory[1] is a school of thought that aims to disengage from Eurocentric hierarchies of knowledge and ways of being in the world and to allow for other ways of existence.[2] It criticizes the perceived universality of Western knowledge and the superiority of Western culture, including the systems and institutions that reinforce these perceptions. Decolonial perspectives understand colonialism as the basis of capitalist modernity and imperialism. [3].
The term decoloniality arises as part of a South American movement that examines the role of European colonization of the Americas in the establishment of Eurocentric modernity. Aníbal Quijano was the one who defined the term and its scope. It has been described as consisting of "analytical and practical options that confront and disengage from the [...] colonial matrix of power";[4] it has also been referred to as a kind of "thinking in radical exteriority".[5].
Colonial matrix of power
As such, it can be contrasted with coloniality which is "the underlying logic of the founding and deployment of Western civilization from the Renaissance to today",[4] a logic that was the basis of historical colonialisms, although this fundamental interconnection is often downplayed. This logic is commonly known as the colonial matrix of power or the coloniality of power.
Although formal and explicit colonization ended with the decolonization of the Americas during the century and the decolonization of much of the global south at the end of the century, its successors, Western imperialism and globalization, perpetuate those inequalities. The colonial matrix of power produced social discrimination eventually coded as "racial", "ethnic", "anthropological" or "national" according to specific historical, social and geographical contexts.[6] Decoloniality emerged when the colonial matrix of power was put into operation during the 20th century. It is, in effect, a continuous confrontation and disengagement from Eurocentrism: the idea that the history of human civilization has been a trajectory away from nature and culminating in Europe, also that the differences between Europe and outside Europe are due to biological differences between races, not histories of power.[7].
Decoloniality is synonymous with "thinking and doing" decolonially[4] and questions or problematizes the stories of power that emerge from Europe. These stories underlie the logic of Western civilization. Decoloniality is a response to the relationship of direct, political, social and cultural domination established by Europeans.[6] This means that decoloniality refers to analytical approaches and socioeconomic and political practices opposed to the pillars of Western civilization: coloniality and modernity. This makes decoloniality both a political and epistemic project.[4].