Rossone de Paula, Francine

Development is a topic that has historically divided scholars in Latin America. For some, development has always been the only path towards 'independence' from postcolonial forms of exploitation. For others, development is the discourse through which the idea of 'Latin America' is produced and continuously subordinated. The theorists of dependence theory (disseminated in the 60's and the 70's) and decolonial thinkers (associated with the post-development movement in the 90's and more recent discussions on the decolonization of knowledge) problematize the duality development/dependency and modernity/coloniality, respectively, in which they explain underdevelopment, poverty and other forms of subjugation as a matter of position within a certain structure and necessarily a condition for development, wealth and other forms of domination instead of an essential condition that can be fixed or eliminated. I aim to highlight the tension between development and autonomy in the literature about Latin America, by Latin Americans. Both movements have as a fundamental characteristic an opposition to modern western ontology (in which states and societies are substantially differentiated from each other and expected to move progressively toward a future), and epistemology (in which science plays a crucial role in the legitimation of some conceptualizations as universally valid). In this chapter, I explore the ontological and epistemological possibilities and limitations for thinking alternative futures and alternatives to development offered by these perspectives.<br/

The struggle for development/autonomy in Latin America: the ascension and fall of Brazil

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