Description
Book SynopsisReflecting on the experience, philosophy, and practice of Latin American indigenous and Afro-descendant activist-intellectuals who mobilize to defend their territories from large-scale extraction, Arturo Escobar shows how the key to addressing planetary crises is the creation of the pluriverse—a world of many epistemological and ontological worlds.
Trade Review“Conveying a powerful message about the dire state of the world, Arturo Escobar offers a monumental critique: the crisis we face is civilizational; the tools that modernity has made available are inadequate to the tasks we face; and the only viable way forward entails a radical break from conventional practices. Escobar's vigorous call to decolonize our imaginaries in order to liberate our individual and collective sense of what is possible is compelling, deeply inspiring, and sure to spark urgently needed dialogue.” -- Charles R. Hale, coeditor of * Otros Saberes: Collaborative Research on Indigenous and Afro-Descendant Cultural Politics *
“With optimism of the will
and of the intellect, Arturo Escobar does not tell us what is or what could be; rather he contributes tools to imagine possibility differently—to dare think the unthinkable. The pluriverse he proposes is unknown practice, that, however, does not authorize us to think it is impossible practice.” -- Marisol de la Cadena, author of * Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice across Andean Worlds *
"Escobar begins with a fundamental question: “are we really the autonomous individuals we imagine ourselves to be?” (5). . . . Over the course of subsequent chapters, Escobar convincingly demonstrates how modern individualism, far from being an innate condition of contemporary reality, is rather one possibility among many that has prevailed only because it forecloses other worldviews." -- Pedro Ponce * SFRA Review *
“
Pluriversal Politics is an inspirational book that not only makes us believe in the possibilities of civilizational transitions, but also offers some theoretical tools and intuitive clues for academics. . . . The book is a great entry point to the work of one of the most influential social scientists from Latin America.” -- Paola Solís Huertas * KULT Online *
“Escobar calls for us to think about the possibility of another world by asking if we can separate ourselves from the nonhuman things we have created. . . . Escobar presents a woven tapestry of revolutionism, social movements, social struggles, and bottom-up approaches to call for transformation.” -- Tavis D. Jules & Benjamin D. Scherrer * Comparative Education Review *
"
Pluriversal Politics is a valuable contribution to conversations around politics in theAnthropocene and potential transitions. Its regional focus makes it of particular interest to thoseengaged in Latin America, but should be stimulating to anyone interested in environmental orpolitical anthropology, more-than-human anthropology, or the ontological turn more widely." -- Gabriel Urlich Lennon * Anthropology Book Forum *
“[Escobar] offers ways of philosophizing life that not only have a strong emphasis on but also rootedness in praxis and activism. . . . In addition, despite the volume’s regional focus on Abya Yala/Afro/Latino América, Escobar’s decolonial lens and focus on the (re)localization of action invite any reader to extrapolate his ideas to other contexts.” -- Lisa Ausic * Politics, Religion & Ideology *
Table of ContentsPreface to the English Edition ix
Prologue xxxv
Acknowledgments xxxix
Introduction: Another Possible Is Possible 1
1. Theory and the Un/Real: Tools for Rethinking "Reality" and the Possible 13
2. From Below, on the Left, and with the Earth: The Difference that Abya Yala/Afro/Latino América Makes 31
3. The Earth-Form of Life: Nasa Thought and the Limits to the Episteme of Modernity 46
4.
Sentipensar with the Earth: Territorial Struggles and the Ontological Dimension of the Epistemologies of the South 67
5. Notes on Intellectual Colonialism and the Dilemmas of Latin American Social Theory 84
6. Postdevelopment @ 25: On "Being Stuck" and Moving Forward, Sideways, Backward, and Otherwise (a Conversation with Gustavo Esteva) 97
7. Cosmo/Visions of the Colombian Pacific Coast Region and Their Socioenvironmental Implications: Elements for a Dialogue of Cosmo/Visions 120
8. Beyond "Regional Development": A Design Model for Civilizational Transition in the Cauca River Valley, Colombia 136
Notes 159
References 175
Index 185
