Às margens do conhecimento legítimo: uma discussão sobre o conhecimento tradicional e o epistemicídio

Abstract

Colonialism cannot be understood simply as a chapter in the history book of Brazil, but rather as a structure that has never been dismantled and that finds mechanisms to remain structured in our society. One of these mechanisms is epistemicide, which, by relegating traditional knowledge to the margins of what is accepted as legitimate, perpetuates racism and justifies racial inequalities. We then raise the discussion of traditional knowledge as a form of resistance to discourses constructed by whiteness and legitimised by an exclusionary epistemology. And through bibliographical research, we have built a framework for analysing this object of study, bringing together classical sociologists with African and Brazilian writers. We therefore present here a discussion of the traditional knowledge left on the margins of what is recognised as legitimate, through the interpretation of narratives and life stories told by the inhabitants of the Jenipapo quilombo as forms of resistance to epistemicide