Linguistic colonialism, epistemicide and ethno-racial relations: the marginalization of Indigenous and African languages

Abstract

This paper discusses how practices inherited from linguistic colonialism and epistemicide persist in the requirements of graduate programs in Brazil. It aims to understand how the lack of recognition of marginalized languages and knowledge continues to sustain colonial structures that silence voices and forms of thought that diverge from the dominant logic. The study is qualitative in nature and draws on decolonial frameworks. Institutional documents related to language proficiency were analyzed, and testimonies from former students of the Federal University of Paraná and the University of São Paulo were also collected. The document analysis reveals the centrality of colonizer languages as proficiency criteria, while the languages of marginalized peoples remain ignored. As a result, this exclusion affects Indigenous, quilombola, Black, and African migrant students, whose languages and knowledge systems continue to be placed on the margins of academic legitimacy. The findings indicate that colonial languages continue to be treated as central to academic validation, whereas Indigenous and African languages remain unrecognized. This demonstrates how seemingly neutral criteria reinforce colonial structures and contribute to the erasure of ancestral knowledge. It is concluded that recognizing Indigenous and African languages in proficiency assessments is a crucial step toward building a more plural, just university committed to epistemic diversity.