PERIPHERAL NARRATIVES AND EPISTEMIC DISPUTES: RAP AS KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION IN THE BRAZILIAN BLACK EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Considering that Western modernity was historically constituted in close relation to processes of colonization, the racialization of bodies, and the global hierarchization of knowledge, it is possible to observe the consolidation of a pattern of power that determined which forms of knowledge would be recognized as universal and which would be marginalized or silenced. Within this context, peripheral cultural productions emerge that challenge these epistemic hierarchies and offer critical interpretations of social reality. The aim of this article is therefore to discuss the epistemological status of these cultural productions, particularly Brazilian rap, understanding it as a space for the critical elaboration of social experience and as a legitimate form of knowledge production. To this end, the study develops a theoretical analysis grounded in decolonial studies, Black thought, and the sociology of education, drawing on the contributions of authors such as Aníbal Quijano, Walter Mignolo, Catherine Walsh, Achille Mbembe, Lélia Gonzalez, Nilma Lino Gomes, Frantz Fanon, and Boaventura de Sousa Santos. The analysis indicates that rap particularly in the work of the group Racionais MC’s constitutes a field of intellectual production that articulates social denunciation, collective memory, and critical interpretations of the peripheral Black experience in Brazil. It is concluded that these cultural productions can be understood as relevant epistemic practices, contributing to the debate on the decolonization of knowledge and to the recognition of forms of knowledge historically marginalized within the field of education.