(Legal) coloniality

Abstract

The article analyzes, from a general perspective, the relationship between coloniality and law, taking into account the Latin American context and, especially, the indigenous people’s law. Law has been an instrument of colonization from the European colonial expansion to the "modern" state configuration. Therefore, we approach the study of Law in a colonial sense, starting from the theoretical contributions of the "Latin American decolonial thinking". The strategy consists in placing the analysis of law in the context of the "coloniality of knowledge", a critical epistemological perspective on eurocentrism. To achieve this purpose, we use the indigenous law to question the limits of modern law in light of the "legal coloniality". Finally, the “legal coloniality” is considered as another epistemological perspective to understand the indigenous law without the “modern law” focus.