BoRDeR THiNKiNG

 Who create the thinking and why?

According to Lucy Mayblin:

‘Border thinking’ comes from decolonial theory. The concept
was first used by Gloria Anzaldúa in her book ‘Borderlands/La
Frontera: The New Mestiza’ and has subsequently been developed
by decolonial thinkers, most prominently Walter Mignolo. It is
based on the idea that the theoretical and the epistemic must
have a lived dimension to them, and that theories already
exist which sit at the very borders (if not outside of) of the
colonial matrix of power. ‘Lived’ here is in the sense of the
experiences of those who have been excluded from the
production of knowledge by modernity. 

Border thinking does not

happen irrespective of modernity but in response to it, as

part of real life struggles against the oppressive apparatus

of the colonial matrix of power. 

Thus, “border thinking is the epistemology of the exteriority; that is, of the outside created from the inside” (Mignolo & Tlostanova, 2006:206)

Mignolo and Tlostanova (2006:214) cited by Lucy Mayblin:

" The border is defined by epistemic difference and geographical

distance. Mignolo and Tlostanova (2006:214) write:

“Consider, on the one hand, knowledge in the modern and

imperial European languages and – on the other hand –

Russian, Arabic and Mandarin. The difference here is

imperial. However, they are not just different. In the

modern/ colonial unconscious, they belong to different

epistemic ranks. ‘Modern’ science, philosophy, and the social

sciences are not grounded in Russian, Chinese and Arabic

languages. That of course does not mean that there is no

thinking going on or knowledge produced in Russian, Chinese

and Arabic. It means, on the contrary, that in the global

distribution of intellectual and scientific labour, knowledge

produced in English, French or German does not need to take

into account knowledge in Russian, Chinese and Arabic”

SOURCE: CLICK HERE

Based on that, the development of BORDER THINKING must come from outside as mention by Lucy Mayblin:

"Border thinking, then, is thinking from the outside, using alternative knowledge traditions and alternative languages of expression. Examples of border thinking might include Islamic philosophical and scientific thought or First Nation

epistemological traditions. Examples of the enactment of border thinking might include the Haitian revolution and the more contemporary World Social Forum. These alternative perspectives introduce other cosmologies into the hegemonic

discourse of Western modernity which are not unwittingly committed to, or restrained by, it’s frame."