Biocoloniality of power

Amazon, biodiversity, and ecocapitalism

Abstract

This text corresponds to a chapter from the book El giro decolonial. Reflexiones para una diversidad epistémica más allá del capitalismo global, edited in 2007 by Santiago Castro-Gómez and Ramón Grosfoguel and published by Siglo del Hombre Editores. The author problematizes biodiversity in hegemonic globalization, considered the current phase of a “long-term” coloniality. He develops a cognitive cartography centered on two narratives that encapsulate Western and Amazonian perspectives on biodiversity as a conflict field. He refers to the narratives of “scarcity” and “abundance”, establishing relations of subordination, resistance, and articulation of biodiversity policies. His proposal is to focus on dialogue between local knowledge (ecosophies) and Western scientific knowledge (Abstract elaborated by the newspaper editors, as there is none in the original text).