Mansueto's Decolonial Turn in the Philippine South

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Menelito Mansueto's "Decolonial Turn in the Philippine South" (specifically focusing on Mindanao) is a critical response to the Western-centric and Manila-centric academic traditions that have historically dominated Filipino philosophy. 

Mansueto argues that philosophy in the Philippines has often been a "copy-paste" of Western thought (Eurocentrism) or filtered through the lens of scholars in Manila. He suggests that this creates a "coloniality of knowledge" where the unique lived experiences of those in the "periphery"—the Philippine South—are ignored or treated as secondary. For Mansueto, the "South" is not just a geographic location (Mindanao); it is a philosophical standpoint.Locality: He emphasizes that philosophy should begin with the local conditions: the history of conflict, the diversity of cultures (Moro, Lumad, and Settler), and the socio-economic struggles of the region.

The decolonial turn is about giving "epistemic weight" to the wisdom and worldviews of the people in the South, rather than just applying Plato or Kant to their problems.3. Intercultural DialogueA significant part of Mansueto’s decolonial turn involves Intercultural Philosophy. Given that Mindanao is a "land of promise" and a "land of conflict," he argues for a philosophy that facilitates dialogue between Indigenous (Lumad), Islamic (Moro) philosophy, and Christian/Western perspectives. By doing this, the decolonial turn seeks to create a "Pluriversal" world—a world where many worlds (and many ways of thinking) can coexist.

The decolonial turn isn't just an abstract academic exercise; it aims at liberation.It looks at land rights, environmental ethics (critiquing extractive industries in Mindanao), and the quest for lasting peace.It challenges the "internalized poverty stigma" by reframing the Southern identity from one of "deprivation" to one of "cultural and intellectual richness. For those in the Philippine South, this means reclaiming their history and intellectual agency from both Western colonial shadows and national metropolitan dominance.

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