Decoloniality as epistemology for the theoretical field of the internationalization of Higher Education

Abstract

The objective of this article is to propose an approximation between the decolonial epistemological perspective and the theoretical field of the internationalization of higher education, based on the assumptions that 1. the inequalities underlying North-South relations also manifest themselves in the field of international higher education and 2. the scientific production of this field may be more meaningful and functional to the countries of the South if considered their epistemic roots and historical conditions. Initially, the decoloniality is contextualized as an epistemological posture and research tradition. In the sequence, the contradictions evidenced in the contemporary international higher education are addressed. The study continues with the debate on the insertion of the decolonial perspective in the studies on internationalization, having as reference the intellectual project of criticism/resistance of this epistemology in relation to the Eurocentric tendencies of modernity, whose most influential manifestation in higher education is the globalization in progress. Systematic searches on the bases Portal de Periódicos Capes and Scopus reinforce this possibility of approach, as they reveal the existence of an international scientific debate about the colonial/neocolonial forms present in higher education and indicate that there is room for the development of decolonial studies in this field. In the final considerations, South-South cooperation is presented as a possible object of empirical interest for the scientific research in internationalization under the theoretical lens of decoloniality.