Abstract

MEZA TORRES, Andrea. Interculturality and interreligiosity from a decolonial perspective: a dialogue between forms of knowledge linked to “the Divine”. Inter disciplina [online]. 2018, vol.6, n.16, pp.61-82.  Epub Feb 24, 2021. ISSN 2448-5705.  https://doi.org/10.22201/ceiich.24485705e.2018.16.65635.

This article proposes that a dialogue betewen forms of social-scientific knowledge, which are tied to the notion of “the Divine”, spirituality and/or sacred traditions, can be envisioned. In the first part, this paper presents an introduction to a decolonial perspective towards dialogue. The second part continues to show examples of decolonial thought which manifest itself in political and scientific ways, but which are also linked to spiritualities, sacred traditions or religions. In the third part, I explain the problem of an hegemonic perspective towards religion which, in the social sciences, has naturalized a certain perspective towards religious phenomena which has sustained the exclusion of spiritualities and sacred traditions from the development of modern social-scientific thought. Following the arguments of Sirin Adlbi Sibai of what she describes as the coloniality of religion, this part explains how the relevance of religious phenomena, spiritualities and sacred traditions has been minimized through the colonial terminology employed in the social sciences. This paper proposes a research perspective for the social sciences which does not reproduce the cartesian dualism between mind and body or between (secular) reason and (sacred) spirituality. For this aim, it identifies and names the problem of applying universalist/eurocentric/secularized definitions to social phenomena and, with it, open the possibility of a knowledge production which does not depart from a fragmentation of reality and eurocentered disciplines. Finally, it proposes that it is utterly important to open the possibiliy of a knowledge production in the social sciences which is not (necessarily) detached from spiritualities, sacred traditions and religions. Departing from concrete proposals, this paper explores the possibilities of a dialogue between forms of knowledge linked to “the Divine”.

Keywords : interculturality; interreligiosity; decolonial perspective; coloniality; religion.

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