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Decolonizing Western Uni-versalisms: Decolonial Pluri-versalism from Aimé Césaire to the Zapatistas

2012; eScholarship Publishing, University of California; Volume: 1; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5070/t413012884

2154-1353

Ramón Grosfoguel,

Caribbean and African Literature and Culture

This essay discusses the concept of the "Universal" within the Western philosophical tradition and proposes another, more decolonial way of thinking universality through the thought of Aimé Césaire, Enrique Dussel, and the Zapatistas.The first part examines the concept of the "Universal" from René Descartes to Karl Marx, while the second focuses on Aimé Césaire's formulation of the concept, proposed from an Afro-Caribbean decolonial perspective.The third part analyzes the concept of transmodernity proposed by Enrique Dussel, and the fourth discusses the difference between postmodernity and transmodernity, using as an example the postmodern understanding of hegemony proposed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, as well as the transmodern understanding of politics proposed by the Zapatistas in the "Other Campaign."Finally, I discuss the implications of all of the above for the debate on the left regarding the vanguard party versus the rearguard movement.