A kaleidoscopic world. The current public-ethical debate in Latin Americ

("Lessico di etica pubblica", XVI, n.1, 2025)

Edited by Roberto Franzini Tibaldeo (PUCPR, Brazil) and Jelson Oliveira (PUCPR, Brazil).

Both in Europe and in Italy, the South American continent is still little known. This is not only because, being located in the ‘other’ hemisphere, it is perceived as geographically remote, but also because of a cultural outlook still imbued with a certain self-referentiality that attenuates, and even ends up obtunding, the plurality and diversity of possible ways of living and their consequent recognition.

For its part, the South American continent is grappling with relevant cultural and ethical-political challenges, partly inherited from the past, such as colonialism and the consequent process of decolonisation, and partly related to the present, such as the quest for a more active role in global economic-political dynamics, which include those related to sustainability and environmental preservation. Of no less importance are also the socio-political challenges related to the valorisation of diversities (gender, race, Indigenous peoples, interculturality etc.).

South America is a kaleidoscope of idioms (in addition to the official languages, it is estimated that countless native and/or local languages are still spoken), ethnicities, religions, traditions, cultural and artistic experiences, values, landscapes, and habitats. This is one of the characteristics of the continent, whose kaleidoscopic nature characterises both its traditional ‘perspectivism’ and the paradox whereby South American intellectuals have only recently begun to use this concept as a plural and plastic critical lens to interpret both themselves and the world, other peoples, and cultures.

Starting from the abovementioned topics, this issue of “Lessico di etica pubblica” aims to gather contributions focusing on – but not limited to – an enquiry into Latin America in relation to the following themes:

• political and cultural decolonisation;
• appreciation of Indigenous perspectives and cultures;
• gender and racial issues;
• challenges of Latin American democracies, also in relation to current global populist and denialist tendencies;
• socially innovative perspectives and socio-political regeneration and/or emancipation;
• educational and intercultural challenges;
• economic challenges and proposals for the future of the environment and the economy;
• the critical reception of cultural and philosophical perspectives stemming from other continents.

Proposals must be submitted to the following address by 30 June 2025: redazione.eticapubblica@gmail.com.

Accepted languages are English and Italian. The maximum allowed length is 35.000 characters (including spaces and footnotes). Please, provide also an abstract of max. 150 words in English and Italian. The article file has to be prepared in anonymous form to be compatible with the blind review process. In a second file attached to the same e-mail, authors will specify their name and surname, e-mail address, title and abstract of the paper.

Contributions must comply with the editorial guidelines available at the address: https://www.eticapubblica.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/LEP_Norme_redazionali.pdf (in Italian; an English version will be available soon or authors can write to the guest editors of the issue). Authors are also encouraged to use the journal template available at the address: https://www.eticapubblica.it/norme-editoriali/.

For further information, please contact the editors at roberto.tibaldeo@pucpr.br and jelson.oliveira@pucpr.br.