"Deprovincializing" sociology: the post colonial contribution

This essay discusses the contributions of post-colonial studies for renewing the contemporary social theory. At first it considers the character of the critique addressed by post-colonial studies to social sciences. After that, it analyses the post-colonial epistemological alternatives, considering...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sérgio Costa, André Villalobos
Format: Article
Language:Portuguese
Published: Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Ciências Sociais (ANPOCS) 2007-01-01
Series:Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais
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Online Access:http://socialsciences.scielo.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-69092007000100009&lng=en&tlng=en
Description
Summary:This essay discusses the contributions of post-colonial studies for renewing the contemporary social theory. At first it considers the character of the critique addressed by post-colonial studies to social sciences. After that, it analyses the post-colonial epistemological alternatives, considering three interrelated concepts: entangled modernity, "hybrid" site of enunciation, and decentralized subject. The conclusion is that, in spite of its severity and suspicion among some authors that post-colonial theory can destroy epistemological foundations of social sciences, an important part of post-colonial critique is rather addressed to the theory of modernization. Here, post-colonial positions present affinities with objections, which have already been presented by "conventional" social scientists. Other aspects raised by post-colonial authors do not destabilize, necessarily, social sciences; they can even enrich them.
ISSN:0102-6909