Onto-Epistemic Paradigm of the Countryside and Social Theory: What Do Popular Movements of Latin America and the Caribbean Teach Us?

Abstract The historical process of consolidation of a Latin American and Caribbean critical social theory is framed, to a great extent, in interpreting our socio-historical formation, identifying the axes that structure the great regional and national problems, with the intention of constructing analytical categories destined to contribute to social transformation. The emergence of popular education and participatory action research strengthened this process, shedding light on education's political dimensions and liberatory implications. Popular movements incorporate the philosophical foundations of social theory and Latin American and Caribbean pedagogical thought into their political struggles and in the formation of a historical subject. Likewise, they advance a social theory rooted in an onto-epistemic paradigm for and by the countryside, which includes a set of knowledges, ways of knowing, and being born in struggle. The objective of this article is to analyze this process and highlight what the popular movements of the region have taught us in terms of a social conceptualization and interpretation that must also be recognized as part of a Social Theory of the Oppressed complemented by a pedagogy of the oppressed.