Governance of Peripheral Knowledge as Epistemic Resistance

Abstract

This paper analyzes the Dicionário de Favelas Marielle Franco as an initiative of epistemic resistance and peripheral knowledge governance. From a decolonial perspective, it explores how this digital platform—based on free software and open collaboration—challenges epistemicide rooted in the coloniality of power and knowledge. The dictionary operates as an insurgent sociotechnical infrastructure, valuing knowledge produced in favelas and peripheral territories, while fostering technical autonomy and cognitive justice. This exploratory and descriptive research highlights the project’s role as a social technology committed to epistemic plurality and the democratization of knowledge production and dissemination.