Presentation short abstract:

I analyze the disputes on decolonial feminist anthropological perspectives in a Brazilian leading university considering their productive aspects in a knowledge production from the "South" and their limits in a global academic system that insists in the superiority of certain lines of thought.

Presentation long abstract:

Inclusive policies in university education have successively targeted discriminated communities in Brazil. In a brief period of time, entirely white universities began to be inhabited by black, indigenous and transgender students, mostly engaged in activist work outside the academy and by a few professors of those communities. Yet, incorporating those policies has been less conflictive than altering knowledge production. In this context local readings and interpretations of decolonial feminist anthropological perspectives have turned into a “weapon” activated by students to challenge established knowledge and academic cultures. Taking into account my experience of teaching feminist and anthropological theory during two decades in a leading Brazilian university, my aim is to reflect on these disputes considering: a) the productive aspects of these conflicts in terms of knowledge production and b) the limits of these possibilities when training young researchers of the “South” in a global academic system that still insists in the superiority of certain lines of thought.