Do esgarçamento do Espírito

Abstract

This article argues that Jacques Derrida’s notion of spectrality provides a critical key for re-inscribing the Hegelian legacy of universal history from colonial and postcolonial experiences. Methodologically, it adopts a theoretical-conceptual analysis of deconstructive and dialectical inspiration, articulating an immanent reading of philosophical texts with a critical confrontation between postcolonial theory (Buck-Morss, Gilroy) and contemporary hauntology (Fisher). It contends that, although Buck-Morss and Gilroy reveal the persistence of colonial specters, their approaches do not encompass the future-oriented dimension of spectrality. Fisherian hauntology, in turn, by privileging the canceled futures of the Global North, tends to silence the specters produced by coloniality. The article therefore proposes an expanded concept of the specter, capable of articulating the colonial past and the aborted futures of emancipation, in defense of a politics of spectral justice.