Critical Information Literacy with Decolonizing Action

Theoretical and Conceptual Reflections in the Context of Brazilian Indigenous Peoples

Abstract

The history of Brazil is marked by power relations rooted in colonialism. Its legacy persists in modern-colonial structures that continue to marginalize Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples in contemporary times. The coloniality of power, knowledge, and being imposes hierarchies that silence epistemologies by subalternizing and delegitimizing non-hegemonic ways of life. This logic has operated, and still operates, through practices of silencing, erasure, and subordination, discrediting these peoples' ways of life, spiritualities, and knowledge systems. In response, resistance movements have emerged to confront and overcome historical oppression. In this context, critical information literacy stands out as a strategic tool of resistance and reexistence, enabling individuals to question informational structures that uphold social and epistemic inequalities. This research aims to understand how critical information literacy can function as a decolonizing practice within an Indigenous community in the northern region of Brazil. Methodologically, the study adopts a descriptive-explanatory design with a qualitative approach. It is part of an ongoing doctoral research project centered on the analysis of critical information literacy in the context of a northern Brazilian Indigenous community. Preliminary findings indicate that, beyond a set of technical skills, this competence fosters critical engagement with information, exposing ideological disputes, discrimination, and class conflicts, thereby contributing to social transformation. The study recognizes Indigenous peoples as epistemic subjects capable of generating knowledge based on their experiences, cosmologies, and relationships with the land. As a decolonial practice, this competence opens paths toward a more plural, democratic, and difference-sensitive society, a project in which information is not merely an instrument of control and normalization, but, above all, a means of emancipation, reexistence, and cognitive justice.