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Ramón Grosfoguel
U.C. Berkeley
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
grosfogu@berkeley.edu
Abstract: This article is inspired by Enrique Dussel’s historical and philosophical work on
Cartesian philosophy and the conquest of the Americas. It discusses the epistemic racism/sexism
that is foundational to the knowledge structures of the Westernized University. The article
proposes that the epistemic privilege of Western Man in Westenized Universities’ structures of
knowledge, is the result of four genocides/epistemicides in the long 16th century (against Jewish
and Muslim origin population in the conquest of Al-Andalus, against indigenous people in the
conquest of the Americas, against Africans kidnapped and enslaved in the Americas and against
women burned alive, accused of being witches in Europe). The article proposes that Dussel’s
argument in the sense that the condition of possibility for the mid-17th century Cartesian “I think,
therefore I am” (ego cogito) is the 150 years of “I conquer, therefor I am” (ego conquiro) is
historically mediated by the genocide/epistemicide of the “I exterminate, therefore I am” (ego
extermino). The ‘I exterminate’ is the socio-historical structural mediation between the idolatric ‘I
think’ and the ‘I conquer.’
Ramón Grosfoguel is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Senior
Research Associate of the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris. He has published many articles and books on
the political economy of the world-system and on Caribbean migrations to Western Europe and the United States.
73 Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013, 73-90
74 Ramón Grosfoguel
This article has been inspired by Dus- countries achieved such an epistemic privi-
sel’s critique of Cartesian philosophy and lege to the point that their knowledge today
by his world-historical work on the con- is considered superior over the knowledge
quest of the Americas in the long 16th centu- of the rest of the world? How did they come
ry.1 Inspired by Dussel’s insights, the article to monopolize the authority of knowledge
adds another dimension to his many contri- in the world? Why is it that what we know
butions by looking at the conquest of the today as social, historical, philosophical, or
Americas in relation to three other world-his- Critical Theory is based on the socio-histor-
torical processes such as the Conquest of ical experience and world views of men
Al-Andalus, the enslavement of Africans in from these five countries? When one enters
the Americas and the killing of millions of any department in the Social Sciences or the
women burned alive in Europe accused of Humanities, the canon of thought to be
being witches in relation to knowledge learned is fundamentally founded on theo-
structures.2 As Dussel focused on the geno- ry produced by men of the five Western Eu-
cidal logic of the conquest, this article draws ropean countries outlined before (de Sousa
the implications of the four genocides of the Santos 2010).
16th century to what Boaventura de Sousa However, if theory emerges from the
Santos (2010) calls “epistemicide,” that is, conceptualization based on the social/his-
the extermination of knowledge and ways torical experiences and sensibilities as well
of knowing. The focus of this article is fun- as world views of particular spaces and
damentally on the emergence of modern/ bodies, then social scientific theories or any
colonial structures of knowledge as the theory limited to the experience and world
foundational epistemology of Westernized view of only five countries in the world are,
universities and its implications for the de- to say the least, provincial. But this provin-
colonization of knowledge. cialism is disguised under a discourse about
The main questions addressed are the “universality.” The pretension is that the
following: How is it possible that the canon knowledge produced by men of these five
of thought in all the disciplines of the Social countries has the magical effect of universal
Sciences and Humanities in the Westernized capacity, that is, their theories are supposed
university (Grosfoguel 2012) is based on the to be sufficient to explain the social/histori-
knowledge produced by a few men from cal realities of the rest of the world. As a re-
five countries in Western Europe (Italy, sult, our job in the Westernized university is
France, England, Germany and the USA)? basically reduced to that of learning these
How is it possible that men from these five theories born from the experience and prob-
lems of a particular region of the world (five
1. The Long 16th Century is the formulation
of French historian, Fernand Braudel, who has countries in Western Europe) with its own
influenced the work of world-system scholar, particular time/space dimensions and “ap-
Immanuel Wallerstein (1974). It refers to the 200 plying” them to other geographical loca-
years that covers the period between 1450-1650.
This is the period of the formation of a new his- tions even if the experience and time/space
torical system named by Wallerstein as the Mod- of the former are quite different from the
ern World-System, or the European World-Econ- latter. These social theories based on the so-
omy, or the Capitalist World-Economy. The
historical process that formed this new system cial-historical experience of men of five
covers the 200 years of the long 16th century. I countries constitute the foundation of the
will use Long 16th Century to refer to the long Social Sciences and the Humanities in the
durée processes that cover the initial formation
of this historical system and use the term 16th Westernized universities today. The other
century to refer to the 1500s. side of this epistemic privilege is epistemic
2. I believe that the best hommage to an in- inferiority. Epistemic privilege and epis-
telectual is to take his/her work seriously to temic inferiority are two sides of the same
bring new aspects provoked by their work.
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities 75
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
76 Ramón Grosfoguel
similar to the Christian God, floating in titude in knowledge isolated from social re-
heaven, undetermined by anything terres- lations with other human beings falls apart.
trial and that it can produce a knowledge Without epistemic solipsism, the “I” would
equivalent to a God-Eye view. The universal- be located in particular social relations, in
ity here is equal to Christian God’s univer- particular social/historical contexts and,
sality in the sense that it is not determined thus, there is no monological, unsituated and
by any particularity, it is beyond any partic- asocial knowledge production. If knowledge
ular condition or existence. The image of is produced in particular social relations,
God in Christendom is that of a White, old, that is, inside a particular society, then it can-
bearded man with a cane sitting in a cloud, not be argued that the human “I” can pro-
watching everybody and punishing any- duce a knowledge equivalent to a God Eye
body who misbehaves. view.
What would happen to the “God-Eye Cartesian philosophy have been highly
view” argument if the mind is of a similar influential in Westernized projects of knowl-
substance to the body? The main implica- edge production. The unsituatedness of
tion would be that the claim that a human Descartes’ philosophy inaugurated the
“I” can produce a God-Eye view falls apart. ego-politics of knowledge: an “I” that as-
Without ontological dualism, the mind sumes itself to be producing a knowledge
would be located in a body, would be simi- from no-where. As Colombian philosopher,
lar in substance to the body and, thus, con- Santiago Castro-Gomez (2003) argues, Car-
ditioned by the body. The latter would mean tesian philosophy assumes a point zero
that knowledge is produced from a particu- epistemology, that is, a point of view that do
lar space in the world and, thus, there is no not assumes itself as a point of view. The im-
unsituated knowledge production. If this is portance of Rene Descartes for Westernized
the case, then it cannot be argued anymore epistemology can be seen in that after 370
that a human “I” can produce a knowledge years, Westernized universities still carry
equivalent to a God-Eye view. 5 the Cartesian legacy as a criteria of validity
The second argument of Descartes is for science and knowledge production.
epistemological. He claims that the only Even those who are critical of Cartesian phi-
way the “I” can achieve certitude in knowl- losophy, still use it as criteria for what differ-
edge production is through the method of entiates science from non-science. The “sub-
solipsism. How can the “I” fight skepticism ject-object” split, “objectivity” understood
and be able to achieve certitude in knowl- as “neutrality,” the myth of an EGO that
edge production? The answer given by Des- produces “unbiased” knowledge uncondi-
cartes is that this could be achieved through tioned by its body or space location, the idea
an internal monologue of the subject with of knowledge as produced through an inter-
himself (the gender here is not accidental for nal monologue without links with other hu-
reasons that will be explained later). With man beings and universality understood as
the method of solipsism, the subject asks beyond any particularity are still the criteria
and answers questions in an internal mono- for valid knowledge and science used in the
logue until it reaches certitude in knowl- disciplines of the Westernized university.
edge. What would happen if human sub- Any knowledge that claims to be situated in
jects produce knowledge dialogically, that body-politics of knowledge (Anzaldúa
is, in social relations with other human be- 1987; Frantz Fanon 2010) or geo-politics of
ings? The main implication would be that knowledge (Dussel 1977) as opposed to the
the claim about an “I” that can produce cer- myth of the unsituated knowledge of the
5. For a very interesting discussion on this Cartesian ego-politics of knowledge is dis-
question see Enrique Dussel (1995) and Donna carded as biased, invalid, irrelevant, unseri-
Haraway (1988).
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities 77
ous, that is, inferior knowledge. herent necessity to derive from the “I con-
What is relevant to the “Western quer, therefore I am” the “idolatric univer-
men tradition of thought” inaugurated by salism” (the God-Eye view) nor the
Cartesian philosophy is that it constituted a “epistemic racism/sexism” (the inferiority
world-historical event. Prior to Descartes, of all knowledges coming from human be-
no tradition of thought claimed to produce ings that are classified as non-Western).
an unsituated knowledge that is God-like or What links the “I conquer, therefore I am”
equivalent to God. This idolatric universalism (ego conquiro) with the idolatric, God-like “I
of “Western men tradition of thought” inau- think, therfore I am” (ego cogito) is the epis-
gurated by Descartes (2013) in 1637, pre- temic racism/sexism produced from the “I
tends to replace God and produce a knowl- exterminate, therefore I am” (ego extermino).
edge that is God-like. The Dusselian It is the logic of genocide/epistemicide to-
questions are: What are the political, eco- gether that mediates the “I conquer” with
nomic, historical, and cultural conditions of the epistemic racism/sexism of the “I think”
possibility for someone in the mid-seven- as the new foundation of knowledge in the
teenth century to produce a philosophy that modern/colonial world. The ego extermino
claims to be equivalent to God’s Eye and to is the socio-historical structural condition
replace God? Who is speaking and from that makes possible the link of the ego con-
which body-politics of knowledge or quiro with the ego cogito. In what follows, it
geo-politics of knowledge is he speaking will be argued that the four genocides/epis-
from? temicides of the long 16th century are the
Enrique Dussel (2005) responds to these socio-historical condition of possibility for
questions with the following argument: the transformation of the “I conquer, there-
Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am” is pre- fore I am” into the epistemic racism/sexism
ceded by 150 years of “I conquer, therefore I of the “I think, therefore I am.” These four
am.” The ego conquiro is the condition of pos- genocides/epistemicides in the long 16th
sibility of Descartes’s ego cogito. According century are: 1) against Muslims and Jews in
to Dussel, the arrogant and idolatric God- the conquest of Al-Andalus in the name of
like pretention of Cartesian philosophy is “purity of blood”; 2) against indigenous
coming from the perspective of someone peoples first in the Americas and then in
who thinks of himself as the center of the Asia; 3) against African people with the cap-
world because he has already conquered the tive trade and their enslavement in the
world. Who is this being? According to Dus- Americas; 4) against women who practiced
sel (2005), this is the Imperial Being. The “I and transmitted Indo-European knowledge
conquer” that began with the European in Europe burned alive accused of being
men colonial expansion in 1492, is the foun- witches. These four genocides/epistemi-
dation and condition of possibility of the “I cides are frequently discussed as fragment-
think” that secularizes all the attributes of ed from each other. The attempt here is to see
the Christian God and replaces God as the them as interlinked, inter-related to each
new foundation of knowledge. Once Euro- other and as constitutive of the modern/co-
pean men conquered the world, God is dis- lonial world’s epistemic structures. These
posable as a foundation of knowledge. After four genocides were at the same time forms
having conquered the world, European of epistemicide that are constitutive of West-
man achieve “God-like” qualities that gave ern men epistemic privilege. To sustain this
them epistemic privilege. argument we need to not only go over the
However, there is a missing link be- history but also explain how and when rac-
tween the “I conquer, therefore I am” and ism emerged.
the “I think, therefore I am.” There is no in-
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
78 Ramón Grosfoguel
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities 79
verted to Christianity, the doors for integra- Monarchy to create a correspondence be-
tion were open during the Medieval Span- tween the identity of the state and the iden-
ish Monarchy conquest of Al-Andalus tity of the population within its territorial
(Galán Sánchez 2010; Dominguez Ortiz boundaries, was the origin of the idea of the
2009). The humanity of the victims was not nation-state in Europe. The main goal that
in question. What was in question was the the Queen and the King expressed to Co-
religious identity of the social subjects. The lumbus was the unification of the whole ter-
social classification used at the time was re- ritory under the power of the Christian
lated to a theological question about having Monarchy as a first step before going abroad
the “wrong God” or the “wrong religion” to to conquest other lands beyond the Iberian
stratify society along religious lines. Peninsula.
In sum, what is important here is that The final conquest over Muslim politi-
the “purity of blood” discourse used in the cal authority in the Iberian Peninsula was
conquest of Al-Andalus was a form of reli- finalized in January 2, 1492 with the capitu-
gious discrimination that was not yet fully lation of Granada’s Nazarí emirate. Only
racist because it did not question in a pro- nine days later, on January 11, 1492, Colum-
found way the humanity of its victims. bus met again with Queen Elizabeth. But
this time the meeting was held in Granada’s
III. The Conquest of the Americas Alhambra Nazarí Palace where Columbus
got the royal authorization and resources
in Relation to the Conquest of
for his first voyage overseas. Only ten
Al-Andalus: Genocide/Epistemicide months later, on October 12, 1492, Colum-
Against Indigenous Peoples, bus arrived at the shores of what he named
Marranos, Moriscos, and Africans “Indias Occidentales” (West Indies) because
he wrongly believed that he had arrived to
When Christopher Columbus present- India.
ed for the first time the document known as The relationship between the conquest
“The Indian Enterprise” to the King and of Al-Andalus and the conquest of the
Queen of the Castilian Monarchy, their re- Americas has been under-researched in the
sponse was to accept it and postpone it until literature. The methods of colonization and
after the conquest of all the territory known domination used against Al-Andalus were
as Al-Andalus. They ordered Columbus to extrapolated to the Americas (Garrido
wait until the final conquest over the “King- Aranda 1980). The conquest of Al-Andalus
dom of Granada,” the last sultanate in the was so important in the minds of the Span-
Iberian Peninsula. The idea of the Castilian ish conquerors that Hernan Cortés, the con-
Christian Monarchy was to unify the whole queror of Mexico, confused the Aztecs’ sa-
territory under its command by the rule of cred temples with Mosques.
“one state, one identity, one religion” in con- In addition to the genocide of people,
trast to Al-Andalus where there were multi- the conquest of Al-Andalus was accompa-
ple Islamic states (sultanates) with recogni- nied by epistemicide. For example, the
tion of rights to the “multiple identities and burning of libraries was a fundamental
spiritualities inside their territorial bound- method used in the conquest of Al-Andalus.
aries” (Maíllo Delgago 2004; Kettami 2012). The library of Cordoba, that had around
The project of the Castillan Christian 500,000 books at a time when the largest li-
brary of Christian Europe did not have more
anti-semitism to racial discrimination against
Jews. The latter is part of a perverse Zionist strat- than 1000 books, was burned in the 13th cen-
egy to conflate Arab-Muslims’ critique to Zion- tury. Many other libraries had the same des-
ism as equivalent to anti-semitism (Grosfoguel tiny during the conquest of Al-Andalus un-
2009).
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
80 Ramón Grosfoguel
til the final burning of more than 250,000 change drastically in the 16th centu-
books of the Granada library by Cardenal ry. The relationship between reli-
Cisneros in the early 16th century. These gion and empire would be at the
methods were extrapolated to the Americas. center of a dramatic transformation
Thus, the same happened with the indige- from a system of power based on
nous “códices” which was the written prac- religious differences to one based
tice used by Amerindians to archive knowl- on racial differences. It is for this
edge. Thousands of “códices” were also reason that in modernity, the domi-
burned destroying indigenous knowledges nant episteme would not only be
in the Americas. Genocide and epistemicide defined by the tension and mutual
went together in the process of conquest in collaboration between the idea of
both the Americas and Al-Andalus. religion and the imperial vision of
A similar process happened with the the known world, but, more pre-
methods of evangelization used against in- cisely, through a dynamic relation
digenous people in the Americas (Garrido between empire, religion, and race.
Aranda 1980; Martín de la Hoz 2010). It was Ideas about race, religion, and em-
inspired in the methods used against Mus- pire functioned as significant axes
lims in the Iberian Peninsula (Garrido Aran- in the imaginary of the emergent
da 1980). It was a form of “spiritualicide” modern/colonial world … (p. 230)
and “epistemicide” at the same time. The
destruction of knowledge and spirituality If the military and evangelization meth-
went also together in the conquest of both ods of conquest used in Al-Andalus to
Al-Andalus and the Americas. achieve genocide and epistemicide were ex-
However, it is fundamental to also un- trapolated to the conquest of indigenous
derstand how the conquest of the Americas people in the Americas, the conquest of the
affected the conquest of “Moriscos” (con- Americas also created a new racial imagi-
verted Muslims) and “Marranos” (convert- nary and racial hierarchy that transformed
ed Jews) in the Iberian Peninsula in the 16th the conquest of Moriscos and Marranos in
century. The conquest of the Americas was 16th century Iberian Peninsula. The con-
at the center of the new discourses and quest of the Americas affected the old forms
forms of domination that emerged in the of Medieval religious discrimination against
long 16th century with the creation of the Moriscos and Marranos in 16th century
modern/colonial world-system. Here the Spain. The first point to emphasize in this
contribution of Nelson Maldonado-Torres history is that after months of navigation
is crucial when he said that the 16th century through the Atlantic Ocean, the moment
transformed the ancient forms of imperial Columbus stepped out of the ship he wrote
social classification that existed since the 4th in his diary the following on October 12,
century when with Constantine, Christiani- 1492:
ty became the dominant ideology of the Ro-
… it seemed to me that they were a
man Empire. As Maldonado-Torres (2008a)
people very poor in everything. All
said:
of them go around as naked as their
… the conceptual coordinates that mothers bore them… They should
defined the ‘fight for the empire’ be good and talent servants, for I ob-
and the forms of social classifica- served that they quickly took in what
tion of the 4th century and of later was said to them. And I believe that
centuries prior to the “discovery” they would easily be made Chris-
and conquest of the Américas tians, as it appeared to me that they
had no sect. (my own translation)
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities 81
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
82 Ramón Grosfoguel
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities 83
tificist debates about having the human bio- and Sepulvera represent the inaguration of
logical constitution or not. Both were de- the two major racist discourses with long
bates about the humanity or animality of the lasting consequences that will be mobilized
others articulated by the institutional racist by Western imperial powers for the next 450
discourse of states such as the Castilian years: biological racist discourses and cul-
Christian monarchy in the 16th century or tural racist discourses.
Western European imperial nation-states in The biological racist discourse is a 19th
the 19th century. These institutional racist century scientificist secularization of
logics of “not having a soul” in the 16th cen- Sepúlveda’s theological racist discourse.
tury or “not having the human biology” in When the authority of knowledge passed in
the 19th century became the organizing the West from Christian theology to Modern
principle of the international division of la- Science after the 18th century Enlighten-
bor and capitalist accumulation at a world- ment Project and the French Revolution, the
scale. Sepulveda theological racist discourse of
The debate continued until the famous “people without soul” mutated with the rise
Valladolid trial of the School of Salamance of natural sciences to a biological racist dis-
in 1552. Since Christian theology and church course of “peoples without human biology”
was the authority of knowledge at the time, and later “peoples without genes” (without
the Spanish Christian imperial monarchy the human genetics). The same happened
put in the hands of a tribunal among Chris- with the Bartolomé De Las Casas discourse.
tian theologians the question about whether The De Las Casas theological discourse of
“Indians have a soul or not.” The theolo- “barbarians to be Christianized” in the 16th
gians were Bartolomé de las Casas and century, transmuted with the rise of the so-
Gines Sepúlveda. After 60 years (1492-1552) cial sciences into an anthropological cultur-
of debate, the Spanish imperial Christian al racist discourse about “primitives to be
monarchy finally requested a Christian civilized.”
theological tribunal to make a final decision The outcome of the Valladolid trial is
about the humanity or lack of humanity of also well known: although Sepúlvedas‘
the “Indians.” view won in the long run, in the short run
As is well-known, Gines Sepúlveda ar- Las Casas won the trial. Thus, the Spanish
gued in favor of the position that “Indians” imperial monarchy decided that “Indians”
are “people without a soul” and, therefore, have a soul but are barbarians to be Chris-
they are animals that could be enslaved in tianized. Therefore, it was recognized that it
the labor process without being a sin in the was a sin in the eyes of God to enslave them.
eyes of God. Part of his argument to demon- The conclusion seemingly meant the libera-
strate the inferiority of the “Indians” below tion of “Indians” from the Spanish colonial
the line of the human was the modern capi- rule. But this was not the case. The “Indians”
talist argument that “Indians” have no sense were transferred in the international divi-
of private property and no notion of mar- sion of labor from slave labor to another
kets because they produce through collec- form of coerced labor known as the “en-
tive forms and distribute wealth through comienda.” Since then it became institution-
reciprocity. alized in a more systematic way the idea of
Bartolomé de las Casas argued that race and institutional racism as an organiz-
“Indians” have a soul but were in a barbar- ing principle of the international division of
ian stage in need of Christianization. There- labor and capitalist accumulation at a
fore, for Las Casas it was a sin in the eyes of world-scale.
God to enslave them. What he proposed While “Indians” were placed in the “en-
was to “Christianize” them. Both Las Casas comienda” under a coerced form of labor,
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
84 Ramón Grosfoguel
Africans who were already classified as criminated population have the wrong God
“people without a soul” were brought to the or wrong theology. The anti-indigenous re-
Americas to replace “Indians” in slave la- ligious racism that questioned the humanity
bor. Africans were perceived at the time as of the “Indians” was extrapolated to the
Muslims and the racialization of Muslims in Moriscos and the Marranos questioning the
16th century Spain was extended to them. humanity of those who pray to the “wrong
The decision to bring captives from Africa to God.” Those who prayed to the “wrong
enslave them in the Americas was directly God” were conceived as not having a soul,
related to the conclusion of the 1552 Vallad- as “soul-less subjects” (“sujetos desalma-
olid trial. Here begins the massive kidnap- dos”), non-humans or sub-humans. Similar
ping and captive trade of Africans that is to indigenous people in the Americas, they
going to be enforced for the next 300 years. were expelled from the “realm of the hu-
With the enslavement of Africans, religious man” being described as “animal-like” (Per-
racism was complemented with or slowy ceval 1992; 1997). The latter represented a
replaced by color racism. Since then, an- radical transformation that goes from the
ti-black racism became a foundational con- inferiority of non-Christian religions (Islam
titutive structuring logic of the modern/co- and Judaism) in Medieval Europe to the in-
lonial world. feriority of the human beings who practiced
The kidnapping of Africans and their these religions (Jews and Muslims) in the
enslavement in the Americas was a major new emerging Modern Europe. Thus, it is as
and significant world-historical event (Ni- a result of the impact of the conquest of the
mako and Willemsen 2011). Millions of Afri- Americas in the 16th century that the old Eu-
cans died in the process of being captured, ropean islamophobic and judeophobic an-
transported and enslaved in the Americas. ti-semitic religious discrimination going
This was a genocide at a massive scale. But back to the crusades and before, turned into
as with the other cases outlined above, the racial discrimination. This is the boomerang
genocide was inherently epistemicide. Afri- effect of colonialism coming back to hunt
cans in the Americas were forbidden from Europe.
thinking, praying or practicing their cos- The entanglement between the reli-
mologies, knowledges and world views. gious Christian-centric global hierarchy
They were submitted to a regime of epis- and the racial/ethnic Western-Centric hier-
temic racism that forbade their autonomous archy of the “capitalist/patriarcal West-
knowledge production. Epistemic inferiori- ern-centric/Christian-centric modern/co-
ty was a crucial argument used to claim bio- lonial world-system” created after 1492,
logical social inferiority below the line of the identified the practitioners of a non-Chris-
human. The racist idea in late 16th century tian spirituality with being racialized as an
was that “Negroes lack intelligence” which inferior being below the line of the human.
turned in the 20th century to “Negroes have Contrary to Eurocentric narratives such as
low IQ levels.” Foucault (1996), that situates the trans-
Another consequence of the debate mutation from religious anti-semitism to
about the “Indians” and the Valladolid tri- racial anti-semitism in the 19th century with
bunal was its impact on the Moriscos and the emergence of scientific racism, anti-se-
Marranos in 16th century Spain. The old is- mitic racism emerged in 16th century Spain
lamophobic and judeophobic medieval reli- when the old medieval anti-semitic reli-
gious discriminatory discourses against gious discrimination was entangled with
Jews and Muslims were transformed into the new modern racial imaginary produced
racist discrimination. The question was not by the conquest of the Americas. The new
any more about whether the religiously dis- racial imaginary mutated the old religious
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities 85
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
86 Ramón Grosfoguel
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities 87
worthy of existence because their humanity applied to the rest of the world during the
is in question. They belong to the Fanonian 16th century. This is important in order to
“zone of non-being” or to the Dusselian “ex- understand why Portuguese and Spaniards
teriority.” are also out of the canon of thought in the
Westernized universities internalized Westernized university today despite being
from its origin the racist/sexist epistemic at the center of the world-system created af-
structures created by the four genocides/ ter 1492. Since the late 18th century, it is only
epistemicides of the 16th century. These eu- men from five countries (France, England,
rocentric structures of knowledge became Germany, Italy and the USA) who are the
“commonsensical.” It is considered normal ones monopolizing the privilege and au-
functioning to have only Western males of 5 thority of canons of knowledge production
countries to be producing the canons of in the Westernized university.
thought in all of the academic disciplines of In the face of the challenge represented
the Westernized university. There is no by Eurocentered modernity and its epistem-
scandal in this because they are a reflection ic racist/sexist colonial structures of knowl-
of the normalized racist/sexist epistemic edge, Enrique Dussel proposes Transmo-
structures of knowledge of the modern/co- dernity as the project to fulfill the unfinished
lonial world. project of decolonization. The “Trans” of
When the Westernized university trans- Transmodernity means “beyond.” What
formed in the late 18th century from a Chris- does it mean to go beyond Eurocentered
tian theological university into the secular modernity?
Humboldtian university, it used the Kan- If the Western colonial project of geno-
tian anthropological idea that rationality cide/epistemicide was to some extent suc-
was embodied in the White man north of the cessful in particular spaces around the
Pyrenees mountains classifying the Iberian world, it was a huge failure in its overall re-
Peninsula within the realm of the irrational sults in most of the world. Critical Indige-
world together with Black, Red and Yellow nous, Muslim, Jewish, African and women
people. The people “lacking rationality” thought as well as many other critical
were epistemically excluded from the West- knowledges from the Global South are still
ernized university knowledge structures. It alive. After 500 years of coloniality of knowl-
is from this Kantian assumption that the edge there is no cultural nor epistemic tradi-
canon of thought of the contemporary West- tion in an absolute sense outside to Eurocen-
ernized university was founded. tered modernity. All were affected by
When the center of the world-system Eurocentered modernity and even aspects
passed from the Iberian Peninsula to North- of Eurocentrism were also internalized in
Western Europe in the mid-17th century af- many of these epistemologies. However,
ter the Thirty Years War when the Dutch this does not mean that every tradition is in
defeated the Spanish armada, the epistemic an absolute sense inside and that there is no
privilege passed together with the systemic outside to Western epistemology. There are
power from the empires of the Iberian Pen- still non-Western epistemic perspectives
insula to North-Western European empires. that have a relative exteriority from Eurocen-
Kant’s anthropological racist view placing tered modernity. They were affected by
the Pyrenees mountains as a dividing line genocide/epistemicide but not fully de-
inside Europe to define rationality and irra- stroyed. It is this relative exteriority that ac-
tionality is just following this 17th century cording to Enrique Dussel, provides the
geopolitical power shift. Kant applied to the hope and possibility for a Transmodern
Iberian Peninsula in the 18th century the world: “a world where many worlds are
same racist views that the Iberian Peninsula possible” to use the Zapatista slogan.
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
88 Ramón Grosfoguel
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities 89
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013
90 Ramón Grosfoguel
Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, XI, Issue 1, Fall 2013