Lélia Gonzalez: an Amefrican perspective to reorient the canon

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper is centered on the contribution by Lélia Gonzalez, a marginalized, Black Brazilian intellectual who was a professor from the 1970s to the 1990s until prematurely passing away in 1994. Recently, there has been a (re)discovery of her work, shedding light from different viewpoints on relevant themes she discussed. After two initial sections to situate our analytical perspective and her life and work, we focus on one of her main conceptual contributions, Amefricanity, presenting its potential for the sociological debate, especially in regard to engaging in a critical appraisal of the established canon. Although presenting, among others, a pioneering view concerning intersectionality in her essays, Gonzalez’s thought is still being comparatively invisibilized. A dialogue with the epistemological debates on universalism/indigenization, the captive mind, and the outsider within perspective enables us to situate her contribution towards questioning the theoretical status quo. Our argument stresses ways in which her reflections allow us to critically foster anti-racism, hence interpreting her as a paramount theoretical-epistemological referent to enact change among the established white and male academic canon of sociology.