After three years of management by the [CLACSO] Working Group “Afro-descendants and counter-hegemonic proposals, the pioneering challenge[1] assumed remains:

In such circumstances, it is essential that Latin American and Caribbean critical thought continue its work: deconstructing myths of conquest, giving voice to dissenting voices, challenging and reshaping public policies, and creating new spaces for South-South dialogue aimed at social transformation. This perspective frames the central purpose of the proposal of this Working Group of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (GT, 2016, p. 16).

From a critical thinking perspective, understanding the centrality of the Afro-descendant issue and its assumption through the promotion of counter-hegemonic proposals implies valuing the concept of hegemony developed mainly by Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937).

Following Gramsci's (2004) line of thought, the modern state creates the conditions for a social class—based on gender, racial, cultural, political, and economic hierarchies—to maintain its dominance over other groups. This is achieved not only through an organic structure that relies heavily on the use of force and economic power, but also because the state is capable of transcending its class and corporate interests to impose political, moral, and intellectual leadership. In this way, the state establishes ties with a variety of allies who unite in blocs at the micro, meso, and macrostructural levels to influence society, particularly against subaltern groups.

In the consolidation of this type of state, the counter-hegemonic struggle is presented as an alternative for a strengthened civil society to act, through organizations of: women, Afro-descendants, Indigenous people, immigrants, LGBTTTI sectors and NGOs, among others (Hidalgo and Márquez, 2012); in order to occupy a place both in the ideological field and in the frontal dispute undertaken by the popular classes, against a universal model “civilizational” Eurocentric and colonizing (Quijano, 2000). It is a struggle towards the recognition of human rights seen in their entirety and in favor of equity. This implies facing the challenge of constructing a profound reform of theoretical production, methods, and forms of knowledge production, in order to overcome political and intellectual visions based on a restricted, unilateral, patriarchal, white, and Western subject, which seeks to deprive society of the richness that comes from encountering other subjects.

Among the emerging emancipatory axes from civil society, Afro-descendant peoples and women's movements stand out in their counter-hegemonic struggles against inequalities[2]; as well as in their capacity for agency and mobilization to confront phenomena such as the genocide of peoples of African origin, sexism, xenophobia, and classism. As the Action Plan for the Decade for People of African Descent in the Americas (2016-2025) points out:

“People of African descent are among the most vulnerable groups[3] in the hemisphere as a result of poverty, underdevelopment, social exclusion, economic inequalities” and these are “closely linked to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related practices of intolerance” (UN, 2016, p. 2).

In Latin America and the Caribbean, viewed in relation to global dynamics, the issue is reinforced by considering the International Decade for People of African Descent proclaimed by the United Nations (UN, 2013) for the period 2015-2024. The Decade has been regulated in various international legal instruments; however, it is the subject of intense debates, ideological manipulation, and political tensions.

Upon investigation, why is a decade not enough?

“(...) the immediate answer is that the decade is only a starting point, not an end point, as it poses new challenges […] Going beyond the decade implies challenges in public policies to confront the strategies of invisibility and distortion of the racial issue” (Campoalegre, 2017, pp. 36-37).

Putting the Decade into context leads to an evaluation of the rhetoric of political discourse, accentuated by the tendency toward a “slowdown of the agenda for change initiated in Santiago”[4] (Campos, Campoalegre, Valero, and Hernández, 2018). A single Decade is not enough to overcome the structural, institutional, and epistemic racism that limits the rights and well-being of Afro-descendant peoples. What is crucial is to build counter-hegemonic policies and proposals that radically transform the matrix of ethnic and racial inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Our America”[5] finds itself in a controversial context of change that reveals both the conditions of inequality and their intersections, as well as the resistance and re-existence in the face of domination. Tensions are growing between the neoliberal policies undertaken by right-wing governments and the expansion of social movements against:

• The setbacks in social progress achieved and the persistence of inequalities, which make Latin America and the Caribbean the most unequal region in the world (Oxfam, 2016).

• The critical economic scenario predicted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean [ECLAC]. It warns that: “The risks are many and the wave of losses of social rights disproportionately affects racialized populations” (2018, p. 34). Meanwhile, it is estimated that this year growth will be only 0,5%[6] and the slowdown will be widespread, affecting 21 of the 33 countries in the region (ECLAC, 2019).

• The high heterogeneity of social movements, the expansion and diversification of the Afro-descendant political field[7] in the face of the need for political articulation and analysis from intersectionality.

• The resurgence of right-wing forces. The rise of these forces in some countries of the region brings with it the implementation of a neoliberal agenda that reverses hard-won social gains. Indeed:

"(...) we are facing a new scenario where conservative actors, elites, the right wing, but also sectors of civil society, who support these consensuses, participate in the construction of new political and cultural meanings, trying to impose their own interpretation of society and to build cultural hegemony" (Ocoró, Loango, 2018, p. 282).

The historical oppression of Afro-descendants is deepened through racist and sexist prejudices and stereotypes, reproduced from one generation to the next; a situation aggravated with respect to Afro-descendant women (ECLAC, 2017); “Where is the nanny?” denounces Rita Segato (2017). The coloniality of gender (Lugones, 2008; Segato, 2015; Bidaseca, 2018) is further entrenched in Afro-descendant populations and non-hegemonic sexualities.

Finally, among the aspects that characterize the current context in which this topic is being developed, the transformations of the "field of Latin American and Caribbean studies" itself stand out, making it a highly dynamic and rapidly expanding field (De la Fuente and Andrews, G, 2018). This dynamism and its connection to the Afro-descendant movement will leave their mark on this Working Group.

[1] Until 2016, there was no precedent for a CLACSO working group specifically focused on the study of Afro-descendants, a fact that affects the dispersion and invisibility of scientific production in this field.

[2] Defined as social constructions based on differentiations of sex-gender, class, ethnicity/racial, age, functional capacity, place of birth, sexual orientation and other sociodemographic characteristics, which become indispensable to understand the space itself, the symbolic space and the options that, according to the relations of power, privileges and oppressions, social subjects may have (Hurtado, 2013 and 2018)

[3] The GT distances itself from this term, which expresses the ideological manipulations of coloniality. They are not vulnerable groups, but rather groups made vulnerable by the modern system of oppression.

[4] Regional Conference of the Americas, held in Santiago, Chile in 2000, preparatory to the International Conference of Durban, 2001.

[5] This term is used with the political and sociocultural sense employed by José Martí in his historic essay of the same name (1891).

[6] In 2018 it was 0,9%.

[7] We have been using the concept of the Afro-descendant political field, in the direction proposed by Lao-Montes (2018), to conceptualize the political scenarios and spaces constituted by national and transnational articulations.

Elevating the theoretical relevance of the topic within the analyzed context is one of the essential foundations for presenting this renewed proposal from the Working Group. This proposal is grounded in knowledge situated within the current complexity and perspective at the national, regional, and global levels, in which Afro-descendant communities, their struggles, and their unique reflection in the social sciences unfold. It is evident that the problems affecting Afro-descendant populations and their realities receive little attention within academia. The invisibility of Afro-descendant thought and political action is a powerful mechanism of domination and epistemic racism. This situation is further compounded by the politicization of academic research, Afro-descendant demands, and their networks in the face of a new reconfiguration of racism (Campoalegre, 2019).

While racism has different manifestations, for the purposes of this working group, we believe it is essential to focus on two of them: institutional racism and structural racism. According to Segato (2017), structural racism encompasses “all the factors, values, and practices that contribute to the reproduction of the statistically significant association between race and class (...), that is, everything that contributes to the confinement of non-white people to positions of less prestige and authority, and to lower-paying professions.” Along the same lines, he argues that institutional racism refers to “the institutional practices that lead to the reproduction of the disadvantages faced by the non-white population. Often, what inhibits access to the services and resources that institutions offer may stem from the demands of public service, which may not be well understood or met: complex forms, unfamiliar institutional vocabulary, and the harsh and insensitive treatment by employees hinder interaction” (p. 47).

The history of Afro-diasporic struggles to overcome structural inequality has intensified, achieving articulation with diverse collective social dynamics. In this regard, the Third UN World Conference against Racism and Related Forms of Discrimination (Durban, South Africa, 2001), its preparation, and its outcomes are relevant. It signified the creation of a common agenda and, beyond national borders, a global agenda for struggle. “Durban ratified the concept of Afro-descendant, agreed upon at the Santiago Conference, as the basis for the construction of public policies, creating new spaces for political action and other supports for the protection of the rights of Afro-descendant peoples” (Campoalegre, 2017, p. 30). At the same time, it recognized how these people have faced the consequences of enslavement for centuries. In this respect, the epistemic position of this Working Group rests on the following theses:

First, it is important to highlight the pluralization of Afro-descendants, taking into account historical, socio-structural, contextual, cultural, and political diversity. There is intense debate surrounding this concept. In this regard, the Working Group (2016) defines Afro-descendants from a multidimensional perspective as:

· Socio-structural component, made up of the impact of the African diaspora and its transformation in different countries.

· Counter-hegemonic social movement that is among the strategic actors of development.

· Place of enunciation of our struggles and daily life.

• Current events and ancestral cultural and identity legacy that builds knowledge and transformative political action.

Secondly, the growing collaboration between academia and the Afro-descendant movement solidifies our position. This shapes our work strategy and the expanded composition of the Working Group, which now includes researchers, educators, artists, and public policy leaders in the Afro-descendant field. This collaboration is structured around cross-cutting thematic areas for the production and dissemination of knowledge. These areas are as follows:

Afro-epistemologies and Maroon Pedagogies: From the perspective of Maroon thought, which emerges from community dynamics, this work explores alternative paths to advocate for the expansion of Afro-descendant narratives. It debates the epistemic routes that shape the development of this field of study and political action. It deconstructs conceptualizations of “race,” Blackness, Afro-descendants, and power.

Afrofeminisms: Focused on the analysis of Black feminisms, their narratives, articulations, tensions, and alternatives. The struggle of racialized bodies against the coloniality of power, knowledge, and gender. It establishes dialogues from an intersectional perspective, breaking down multiple oppressions: providing tools to uncover voices, silences, and resistance from Afro-descendant communities.

Public policies: This work deconstructs the myths and resistance surrounding the controversial and strategic relationship between public policy, culture, and racialization. It initiates the debate about why the challenge lies beyond the Decade. It explores research and policy transformation strategies focused on racial issues.

Based on these assumptions, this Working Group proposal continues the path set in the three-year period 2016-2019, in three fundamental dimensions: theoretical/methodological, political and organizational.

In theoretical-methodological dimension The priority is placed on recovering Black/Afro-diasporic thought as a theoretical tool for struggle, emancipation, and resistance. Within this framework, contributions are made to building theoretical and sociopolitical alternatives to confront structural inequalities and racism, which have historically shaped the lives and access to opportunities of Afro-descendant populations.

Aníbal Quijano's guidance on the task that still calls us together is key:

(…) the coloniality of power makes Latin America a stage of dis/encounters between our experience, our knowledge, and our historical memory. It is not surprising, therefore, that our history has not been able to have an autonomous and coherent movement, and has instead been configured as a long and tortuous labyrinth where our unresolved problems inhabit us like historical ghosts. And it would not be possible to recognize and understand this labyrinth, that is, to debate our history and identify our problems, if we did not first manage to identify our ghosts, summon them, and contend with them (2006, p. 5).

The creation of alternative paths for theoretical research and anti-racist struggle emerges as a fundamental collective objective for advancing the construction of more equitable and pluralistic societies, moving towards alternative perspectives on the issue of race. In this regard, the “International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024): Recognition, Justice and Development” should be “an opportunity to promote greater awareness, appreciation and respect for the achievements of people of African descent and their contributions to humanity” (UN, 2016, p. 7).

This Working Group aims to contribute to the generation of situated knowledge about the resistance and re-existence of Afro-descendant communities in the Americas and Africa, considering the regional scope of their composition. It seeks to deconstruct imaginaries and political practices of racialization, promoting alternatives of self-recognition, social justice, and an epistemic framework capable of reclaiming the essential contribution of Afro-descendant peoples in "Our America." To this end, comparative studies will be promoted on the diverse social groups that comprise Afro-descendant communities in our countries.

The intersectional perspective is another fundamental theoretical and political reference point for our Working Group. “Intersectionality,” a concept coined by Kimberle William Crenshaw (1991), not only makes gender inequalities visible but also allows us to observe the multiple oppressions and interwoven power relations that leave distinct marks of oppression on specific groups. As a theoretical and methodological approach, it involves the intersection of the main markers of inequality and social injustice: “race,” ethnicity, class, gender, generation, sexualities, territories, and bodies; seeking to reflect on and influence the processes that produce social inequalities, discrimination, gender injustices, and racism. As Viveros (2016) points out, intersectionality “(...) has served to challenge the hegemonic model of universal ‘Woman,’ and to understand the experiences of poor and racialized women as a product of the dynamic intersection between sex/gender, class, and race in historically constructed contexts of domination” (p. 8).

La political dimension The Working Group understands that social inequalities and power relations reinforce structural and institutional racism. Therefore, the Working Group develops strategies for struggle in conjunction with state actors responsible for creating and managing public policies for Afro-descendants, with the Black movement, the Network of Afro-Latin American and Caribbean Women, and with various organizations in the political and social sphere of Afro-descendants, in order to influence the creation of public policies and spaces for participation that improve the living conditions of these populations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Strengthening capacities for political action is a central element in dismantling and deconstructing the racist practices that maintain and reproduce the oppression, exclusion, and invisibility of these groups, and in promoting alternative actions that advocate for the recognition of the rights of these peoples. The political dimension deepens the theoretical dimension, and vice versa. The interaction of both allows for the construction of new avenues for investigative and dialogical intersection; it fosters spaces for the formation of new collaborative networks and supports greater epistemic justice.

La organizational dimensionFirst, it prioritizes the continuity of a Working Group that has been building collective knowledge on these topics, transcending geographical boundaries, as it links researchers and social activists from Africa and the Americas, fostering a dialogue of knowledge that rediscovers the imprint of the African diaspora, transgressing academia with popular knowledge of resistance[1]. Second, it aims to strengthen the collective action project with and for Afro-descendant communities, organizations, and movements that the Working Group has been building throughout the region.

In the context of the Decade, the Working Group is a “useful tool to pave the way for future work and cooperation among states, international and regional organizations, civil society and others, in order to improve the human rights situation and well-being of people of African descent” (UN, 2016:7). Thus, as Miranda (2017) mentions:

“(…) recent studies on new discursive spaces are gaining centrality, and I also believe it is necessary to include conceptions of research proposals based on decolonial processes, such as expeditionary research. The thesis is that the clandestine situation of the African Diaspora demands collective and urgent archaeologies, anchored in routes made against the grain of the colonial process.” (p. 175-176)

The Working Group develops strategies for struggle in collaboration with state actors and public policy leaders for Afro-descendants, the Black movement, and various organizations, entities, and other configurations within the political and social sphere of Afro-descendants. The aim is to influence the creation of public policies and greater spaces for participation that improve the living conditions of these populations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Strengthening capacities for political action is a central element in dismantling and deconstructing the racist practices that maintain and reproduce oppression.

A key objective of the Working Group is to continue developing epistemological explorations and Maroon pedagogies, which have shown how to build bridges and networks among Afro-descendant populations. The suppression of Afro-descendant thought necessitates a reorientation of the struggle's agenda. The African diaspora faces a similar situation.

Colonization has driven African worldviews underground and negatively influenced the appreciation of their legacy. Taking into account Oyèronké Oyěwùmí's (2010) approach, it is possible to consider other interpretive possibilities regarding our histories and memory. This becomes essential:

 “(…)finding ways in which African research can be better informed by local concerns and interpretations and, at the same time, by African experiences that must be taken into account in the overall construction of theory, despite the structural racism of the global system” (p.26).

The aim is to connect with the political struggle and in the debate scenarios that enable the participation of Afro-descendants in the public, collective, recognition and political decision-making spheres that concern their lives and their rights.

These dimensions—theoretical-methodological, political, and organizational—converge as an integral part of the emancipatory project of the Global South, while maintaining its specificity based on its genealogies, senses, meanings, and futures. The focus remains on legitimizing Afro-descendant experiences as a specific field of critical thought promoted by CLACSO and, simultaneously, as a decolonial political practice developed within the Afro-descendant movement. This project is guided by the ever-renewed relevance of Aníbal Quijano's thesis: “Racism in everyday social relations is not, therefore, the only manifestation of the coloniality of power, but it is, without a doubt, the most perceptible and omnipresent. For this reason, it has remained the principal field of conflict” (2000, p. 2).

During the three-year period from 2006 to 2019, the working group fulfilled its proposed objectives, generating powerful initiatives that contribute to sustained academic and political action within the context of the International Decade for People of African Descent. The ongoing I, II, and III “CLACSO International Graduate School Beyond the Decade for People of African Descent” (2017-2019), with the participation of the South-South Programme, exemplifies the strength of the space created for cooperation and training.

Within the framework of the Working Group's academic activities, a specialized training space in this field was created for the first time. Simultaneously, Afroepistemology was made visible and legitimized as a substantial contribution to critical thought throughout history, which materialized in the designed program of activities and the extensive debate achieved. From a political perspective, it represents a counter-hegemonic proposal aimed at reaffirming subjects of struggle, with a racial focus and an intersectional approach. It was significant that this School took place in a Cuba experiencing a complex context of change, conceptualized as the “updating” of the economic and social model. These changes impacted racial issues in the country (Campoalegre, 2018, p. 22).

This Working Group understands that positioning the theoretical discussion, as well as the political and organizational practices of Afro-descendant struggles, within the framework of critical thinking promoted by CLACSO, represents a central contribution to strengthening counter-hegemonic resistance at a time when the region requires it. Consequently, we ask ourselves: What paths of struggle should we undertake to confront the setbacks that the neoliberal agenda seeks to impose on the region? How can we raise social awareness about racism and discrimination and their effects on deepening ethnic and racial inequalities in the region? What new interpretations, proposals for action, and transformations should be central to the debate of critical thought in the region regarding the recognition of ethnic/racial identity diversity? How can we build an Afro-diasporic articulation that recovers the tradition of libertarian and emancipatory thought that Black populations have contributed to our Latin America and Caribbean? What actions are key to breaking the cycle of setbacks that afflict our region? What alternatives from the theoretical, political, and organizational fields can we offer to build an agenda for struggle “beyond the Decade for People of African Descent”? What experiences and lessons can we draw upon to consolidate dialogue and South-South cooperation?

[1] This proposal from the GT has the participation of five members, activists, who have been trained in the three Graduate Schools “beyond the decade” as an expression of the capacity for intergenerational dialogues in the fight against racism.