Decolonial research in education: assumptions, commitments and possibilities for a decolonized methodology

Abstract

This essay aims to contribute to discussions on research approaches in the educational field, from the perspective of Decolonial Theory and its concepts and references. The proposal to decolonize the epistemologies that underlie our research practices raises relevant debates in the field of human sciences. By adopting this theoretical-methodological perspective, we assume an ethical commitment to Education as a space for disputes and confrontation of the various forms of coloniality. This paper seeks to highlight Pedagogical Action Research (PAP) as a decolonial methodological possibility in educational research. To this end, based on the founding assumptions of PAP, we analyze the concrete implications of doing research from a critical, decolonizing, collective and ethically committed perspective with the production of knowledge. As a result, we propose a methodological approach to educational research anchored in theoretical foundations that favor the experience of the act of research, guided by the critique of epistemological neutrality. This emphasizes the need to pay attention to the epistemic violence present in the daily production of knowledge, expressed in the silencing and exclusion of knowledge and science produced outside the Global North axis.