Towards a decolonial pedagogy

questioning knowledge production and human formation in dehumanizing times

Abstract

This article proposes a critical reflection on research in education from a decolonial perspective. In the face of contemporary dehumanizing processes that perpetuate the coloniality of power, knowledge, being, and nature, the main objective is to question the role of research : who it serves and which epistemologies it aligns with. It is argued that transformative research must actively problematize the power structures that shape knowledge and identities. The text differentiates colonialism (territorial domination) from coloniality (the continuity of domination structures) and critiques the Eurocentric "ego-politics of knowledge," grounded in the Cartesian "point zero”, which has historically marginalized knowledge from the Global South. Conversely, it advocates for the perspective of border epistemology and critical interculturality as subaltern epistemic responses to Eurocentric modernity. This decolonial approach aims to re-signify concepts such as citizenship and human formation, promoting a "socialization of power" and contributing to the construction of "other possible worlds.