Liberation or a Creative Balance?: A Case For Epistemologies of the South (ES)

Abstract

This paper is about a paradigmatic shift: from the until now dominant western-centric modernity to a plurality of non-western-centric modernities. Such a paradigmatic shift will call for new political, economic, cultural, social, and epistemic tools. In this paper I concentrate on the epistemic tools. I argue that the western-centric modernity is based on the epistemologies of the North and that the paradigmatic shift will call for new epistemologies which I designate as the epistemologies of the South (ES). This does not mean that the epistemologies of the North (EN) should be totally discarded. It means that some of its features are of great value to the extent that they are integrated in broader epistemic landscapes. For instance, western-centric modern science is a valid form of knowledge but it is not the only valid form of knowledge, as claimed by the epistemologies of the North.

Conflict of Interest: The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest related to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article, and that the data presented have not been fabricated or falsified.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant or financial support from public, commercial, or not-for profit funding agencies.

Participant Consent: The author confirms that Informed consent was obtained from all participants, and confidentiality was duly maintained.

Data Fabrication/Falsification Statement: The author declares that no data have been fabricated, falsified, or manipulated in this study.

Copyright: Copyright (c) 2026 Boaventura de Sousa Santos