The postcolonial perspective on the local knowledge: Buen Vivir vs resilience

Abstract

Shaped in the course of the global debates on development alternatives and alternative ways of addressing new challenges, the concepts of Buen Vivir and resilience proceed from the relevance of local knowledge and experience as resources to create such alternatives. However, both the contemporary international relations system and the knowledge system remain by and large Eurocentric, which complicates the implementation of the above-mentioned concepts. In order to clarify this issue, this article identifies specificities of applying the concept of Buen Vivir, articulated as a manifestation of local knowledge, to from new resilience resources alternative to the contemporary neoliberal consensus. This goal is achieved by means of postcolonial analytical framework, the peculiarities of which are elucidated in the first part. Then the authors resort to studying the resilience logic as part of the global discourse on local knowledge as well as discerning the trends of reconceptualizing Buen Vivir in the academic discourse. Finally, the conclusion is drawn about the problematic character of perceiving and converting local knowledge, in particular Buen Vivir, as a development alternative and an alternative way of addressing the neoliberal system’s challenges.