DECOLONIAL EDUCATION AND LANGUAGE POLICIES: SOUTHERN EPISTEMOLOGIES AND INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUES IN MULTILINGUAL CONTEXTS

Abstract

This article presents a critical analysis of language policies from the perspective of Epistemologies of the South, articulating concepts such as literacies of re-existence, translingual practices, and glottopolitics. It is based on a comprehensive review of specialized literature, highlighting authors such as Garcia (2009; 2014), Makoni and Pennycook (2007), Shohamy (2006), Hamel (2013), and Santos (2016; 2021), as well as several Latin American and Ibero-American dossiers and journals on linguistic diversity, discourse, and education. It advocates for a decolonial turn in language policies, guided by cognitive and linguistic justice, emphasizing language as a field of political, epistemological, and ontological dispute. It proposes that public policies emerge from the knowledge and practices of historically subalternized communities—including Indigenous, African, and Creole languages, as well as varieties of Portuguese in contexts of migration and peripherality. It also highlights the role of translanguaging and reexistential literacies as forms of epistemological insurgency and resistance to standardized monolingualism. Finally, it presents guidelines for building pluralistic, inclusive language policies based on intercultural dialogue and effective community participation.