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A new vision of Europe: learning from the South

Abstract

Colonial prejudice is the key to understanding the difficulty that Europe has in learning from the world, that is, to recognise histories, practices, knowledges and solutions beyond the, allegedly universal, history and theories produced in the West. At a time when multiple crises loom over Europe, there appears to be a window of opportunity to, under global learnings and reciprocal recognitions, Europe open up to learn from the South, surpassing the abyssal thinking of modernity. This paper seeks to understand the conditions for global learnings enabling the reinvention of Europe. The argument is threefold: first, Europe's place in the world is analysed, considering the height of its colonial power and the postcolonial world we live in today; second, the conditions that can allow a new vision of a Europe, from the present that is outside it; finally, examples of mutual learnings in four thematic areas are presented: human rights, economy, democracy and constitutionalism.

/Keywords:
Europe; Epistemologies of the South; Modernity; Abyssal Thinking; Global Leanings

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