Aníbal Quijano

“As the author who coined the widely used concept of ‘coloniality,’ there is an urgent need for the works of Aníbal Quijano to be available in English. His work is essential for the study of colonial cultures and societies and also for the analysis of contemporary times, which are marked by the perpetuation of colonial systems of domination. This book will enrich and advance not only Latin American studies but sociology, political science, anthropology, race and ethnic studies, and the humanities more broadly.” - Mabel Moraña, author of Philosophy and Criticism in Latin America: From Mariátegui to Sloterdijk

“Aníbal Quijano reviews the absences caused by Eurocentrism in the understanding of Latin America and the Caribbean and shows how the coloniality of power fragilized our nation-states by imposing race from the outset to classify, dominate, and exploit us. Hence, strengthening our national identities becomes indispensable to hindering the erosion of our states and to warding off the threats of the imperial bloc, led by the United States, against life on planet Earth.” - Jean Casimir, author of The Haitians: A Decolonial History

"Quijano’s oeuvre is both relentlessly historical—often tracing important developments over centuries—and insistently relational, positing that modern Latin America is not intelligible independent of its relationship to Europe (and the U.S.). Many of his essays are stunningly penetrating and dazzlingly synthetic. . . . If Foundational Essays on the Coloniality of Power is consumed in conjunction with his earlier work already available in English, it is sure to satisfy intellectually hungry Anglophones." - Simeon J. Newman, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity

"The collection Aníbal Quijano: Foundational Essays on the Coloniality of Power introduces English language readers to Aníbal Quijano’s indispensable thought and key concepts in order to encourage analysts and activists to implement Quijano’s original perspective in the urgent political struggles against coloniality that police brutality in the United States as well as the militarized violence in Palestine reveal."
  - Francisco David Gonzalez Camelo, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity

"Decolonizing knowledge is about our proactive adoption of the colonially subaltern perspective, colonially conscious deployment of concepts and categories, and colonially conscious selection of evidence. All these will begin by opening Quijano’s new volume." - Veda Hyunjin Kim, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity

"I hope that the translation of so much of Quijano’s work and the incisive introduction provided by the editors will induce his inclusion in graduate sociology curricula. But more importantly, I hope that this volume will remind graduate students that decoloniality, in the ways elaborated and exemplified by Quijano, is a project worth dreaming about and defending. - Nabila N. Islam, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity

"Aníbal Quijano is one of the classics. . . . The introduction ... introduces four main ideas by Quijano that the volume makes accessible to a wider, non-Spanish speaking readership. It does this well, in a condensed, but readable manner. . . . A worthwhile read." - Alke Jenss, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity

"Quijano gave us much, and I would argue that many of the ideas that he develops or takes from different places and connects with each other in Foundational Essays are indispensable for decolonial thought in this century. . . ." - Nelson Maldonado-Torres, Theory, Culture & Society

"There are many gems in this collection for those who are familiar with Quijano’s political thinking as much as for those who are new to it. . . . [Quijano is] a neglected thinker whose essays still exude a dynamism and originality, not often seen in academia." - Ronaldo Munck, Bulletin of Latin American Research

"What’s surprising is the great readability of a text that exhibits this level of complexity." - Santiago Zabaleta, Ethnic and Racial Studies

"An indispensable volume that provides the English-language reader with primary sources for working with the perspective of the coloniality of power. . . ." - Juan Pablo Patitucci, E.I.A.L.