Book contents
- Anticolonialism and Social Thought
- LSE International Studies
- Anticolonialism and Social Thought
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Activists, Intellectuals, and Movements
- Part II Schools of Thought
- 6 Palestinian Anticolonial National Liberation in the Present
- 7 Genealogies of Auto-Centered Development
- 8 Anticolonial Sociology in Latin America, 1950–1970
- Part III Dissident Sociologists
- Part IV On Method
- Index
- References
8 - Anticolonial Sociology in Latin America, 1950–1970
from Part II - Schools of Thought
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2025
Book contents
- Anticolonialism and Social Thought
- LSE International Studies
- Anticolonialism and Social Thought
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Activists, Intellectuals, and Movements
- Part II Schools of Thought
- 6 Palestinian Anticolonial National Liberation in the Present
- 7 Genealogies of Auto-Centered Development
- 8 Anticolonial Sociology in Latin America, 1950–1970
- Part III Dissident Sociologists
- Part IV On Method
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter explores the history of anticolonial sociology in Latin America between 1950 and 1970 with two case studies from the region: (a) the nationalist sociology promoted by Afro-Brazilian scholar Alberto Guerreiro Ramos (1915–1982) and (b) the critique of scientific colonialism advanced by Colombian Orlando Fals Borda in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which led to a new form of social science methodology called Participatory-Action Research (PAR). Despite their differences, Ramos and Fals Borda shared a diagnosis of colonialism as a cultural and economic phenomenon that jeopardized the autonomous development of peripheral societies. While most postcolonial and decolonial scholars are skeptical about the democratizing potential of sociology, Fals Borda and Ramos demonstrate that it is possible to integrate a radical political position against colonialism into a rigorous form of sociology that does not reject the common heritage of the discipline.
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- Information
- Anticolonialism and Social Thought , pp. 186 - 208Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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