Pluriversal Politics: The Real and the Possible

by Arturo Escobar

Overview

In Pluriversal Politics Arturo Escobar engages with the politics of the possible and how established notions of what is real and attainable preclude the emergence of radically alternative visions of the future. Reflecting on the experience, philosophy, and practice of indigenous and Afro-descendant activist-intellectuals and on current Latin American theoretical-political debates, Escobar chronicles the social movements mobilizing to defend their territories from large-scale extractive operations in the region. He shows how these movements engage in an ontological politics aimed at bringing about the pluriverse-a world consisting of many worlds, each with its own ontological and epistemic grounding. Such a politics, Escobar contends, is key to crafting myriad world-making stories telling of different possible futures that could bring about the profound social transformations that are needed to address planetary crises. Both a call to action and a theoretical provocation, Pluriversal Politics finds Escobar at his critically incisive best.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478008460
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	04/24/2020
Series:	Latin America in Translation
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.53(d)

About the Author

Arturo Escobar is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the author of several books, including Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds and Territories of Difference: Place, Movements, Life, Redes, both also published by Duke University Press.

Table of Contents

Preface 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

What People are Saying About This

Otros Saberes: Collaborative Research on Indigenous and Afro-Descendent Cultural Politics - Charles R. Hale

“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.”

Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice across Andean Worlds - Marisol de la Cadena

“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.”

Editorial Reviews

"[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" (8/15/2022 12:00:00 AM)

"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" (6/27/2022 12:00:00 AM)

"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" (2/13/2021 12:00:00 AM)

"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" (5/1/2022 12:00:00 AM)

"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" (4/1/2022 12:00:00 AM)

"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"

From the Publisher

"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."

Anthropology Book Forum - Gabriel Urlich Lennon

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.

Otros Saberes: Collaborative Research on Indigenous and Afro-Descendant Cultural Politics - Charles R. Hale

"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."

SFRA Review - Pedro Ponce

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.

Comparative Education Review - Tavis D. Jules & Benjamin D. Scherrer

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.

KULT Online - Paola Solís Huertas

[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.

Politics, Religion & Ideology - Lisa Ausic

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.

Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice across Andean Worlds - Marisol de la Cadena