Decolonial good living, spirituality, and “sustainability”

Abstract

This article aims to propose the urgent need to modify the instrumental rationality that guides oppressive relationships between humans and with “nature,” based on Cartesian dualism and anthropocentrism. This vision, developed by colonial-modern reason to legitimize capitalist power, has proposed “sustainable development” since the 1970s to solve the growing problems of ecological destruction and “environmental” degradation, attempting to legitimize the continuation of capitalist accumulation under the discourse of the impossible balance between economic growth, care for the “environment,” and the satisfaction of basic social needs. The article has the following sections. The first section presents the emergence of decolonial "good living" as a new historical imaginary that breaks with colonial-modern "development," and is based on the relationality and reciprocity among all existing forms of life. Next, two central elements of Indigenous knowledge, interculturality and spirituality, are explored, enabling a dialogue of knowledges and fostering a subjectivity with a sense of responsibility toward Mother Earth. Finally, "sustainability" is linked to power relations from a decolonial perspective, leading to some concluding thoughts and feelings.