Decolonial scientific education to combat ‘science for domination’

Abstract

In this article, we argue that mainstream science education is contaminated by neoliberal values and functions in the service of political domination and exploitation and that a neoliberal and exploitative science education does not contribute to the building of a sustainable and just world. The work from Paulo Freire and Enrique Dussel underpin the tenets of decolonial pedagogies. We draw on their work to analyze how decolonial pedagogies have been developed in Latin America. We carried out a literature review in Brazil and found two different ways of approaching decoloniality in science education: (a) studies that start from hybrid, interstitial spaces, as an enunciative locus that allows the construction of other logics of thought and (b) studies dedicated to denouncing the colonial power project from an anti-racist education that contests coloniality and oppression. We present examples of Freirean educational practices and proposals in science education that illustrate how decolonial pedagogies can reveal the coloniality of power/being/knowledge and potentialities of intercultural dialogues. We conclude with an explanation of how and why Freirean dialogicity and affection can counter science for domination.