Coloniality of power and the construction of ethnic-racist subjectivity: The hidden foundation of violence

Abstract

The long colonial tradition of denying the other—Indigenous, Asian, African, mestizo, pagan, marginal, excluded, woman, homosexual—who is classified, differentiated, devalued, placed and manipulated by the exploiters under the ideas of reason, civilization and progress, intensifies globally under neoliberalism, provoking a dialectical movement between de-identity and resistance. Colonial intersubjectivity is exploited by the ruling classes, while the still weak subjects of resistance include the struggle for ethnic and class dignity in their agendas and anti-colonial utopias.