Resumen de Decolonisation challenges of the Brazilian/Latin American geography/ies
The theoretical trajectory of Brazilian Geography has been strongly influenced by the hegemonic thought in the European and North American context. Some authors such as Josué de Castro have, nevertheless, presented the seeds of approaches that are today labelled “decolonial”. With the end of the military dictatorship, the renewal promoted by the rise of historical materialism inaugurated a new period that is much more attentive to the spatiality of power and territory. The geographer Milton Santos played a notable role and reinforced a change in geographical thinking, with an influence throughout Latin America. More recently, the dissemination of so-called decolonial approaches has created new conditions for international and interdisciplinary dialogue, particularly by focusing on the acknowledgement of “local” or “regional” knowledge and the political commitment to social change, not only in analytical-critical terms, but also in practical-participative terms. As such, territory as an instrument for struggle against the coloniality of power (Eurocentric binary thought, patriarchalism, racism) is central for many subaltern groups, allowing us to speak about an openness of Brazilian and Latin American geographies (plural) to a fertile exchange with their ancient Euro-North American roots.
