Paper short abstract:

This proposal discusses the implications of the hegemony of modern science in the conception and implementation of Ocean Literacy. It thus demonstrates how its colonial legacy produces hierarchies of knowledge and points out some challenges and possible paths for overcoming.

Paper long abstract:

The complexity of the current planetary civilizational crisis (Morin and Kern, 1995), and more specifically, the deterioration of human and non-human life conditions in the coastal-marine zone, have challenged science and public policymakers. In this context, the promotion of Ocean Literacy has become an important strategy for the construction of sustainable values, perceptions, and lifestyles.

A sensitive and challenging point within the framework of the Decade of Ocean Science, and of Ocean Literacy, has been the openness to dialogue with indigenous and traditional peoples and their knowledge systems. With the aim of contributing to this debate, the present proposal problematizes the hegemony of modern science in promoting Ocean Literacy, in light of the current debate on decoloniality and interculturality.

The central argument aims to demonstrate that even in the face of significant efforts to promote the ocean literacy, we will still perpetuate the "colonial inhabiting of the world" (Ferdinand, 2019) if we do not address structurally the modern scientific paradigm and its hierarchical structure of knowledge. This paradigm has shaped, for centuries, the practices of research and teaching institutions, and, in turn, has been decisive in marine sciences and their educational approaches for ocean conservation and sustainable development .

It is hoped, therefore, to contribute to the elaboration and dissemination of transdisciplinary scientific approaches, that promote the cognitive justice and are sensitivity to ecological issues and the multiple violences and polarizations caused by the historical process of colonization.