In an interview with Agência FAPESP, Monteiro expanded on the topics discussed in her lecture, linking the historical journey of Cape Verde to the challenges currently faced by developing nations (photo: Phelipe Janning/Agência FAPESP)
Published on 07/14/2025
By José Tadeu Arantes | Agência FAPESP – Sociologist and political scientist Eurídice Monteiro works on multiple fronts as a researcher, professor, manager, international network coordinator, and novelist. She has been committed to making Cape Verdean higher education an instrument of national sovereignty, social transformation, and intercontinental dialogue.
At the 5th FAPESP 2025 Conference, whose theme was “Free Access to Knowledge: Challenges and Opportunities in Africa”, she stated: “I try to think of free access to knowledge not only as a problem of distribution, but as an imperative of epistemic justice and cognitive sovereignty. It’s necessary to break with the logic that transforms Africa into a mere object of scientific research. Africa needs to be recognized as an epistemic subject, a legitimate producer of knowledge and interpretations about the world.”
At the opening of the event, FAPESP Vice President Carmino Antonio de Souza, representing President Marco Antonio Zago, pointed out that “one of the functions of science is to break down structural inequalities – and this is only possible if we give visibility to the experiences and voices of countries in the Global South.” The panel discussion was attended by Carlos Vogt, professor emeritus at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and former president of FAPESP, and Oswaldo Baffa Filho, coordinator of the Organizing Committee for FAPESP Interdisciplinary Conferences and Schools.
In an interview with Agência FAPESP, Monteiro expanded on the topics discussed in her lecture, linking Cape Verde’s historical journey to the challenges faced by developing nations today. She said that Cape Verde’s independence in 1975 marked the beginning of an ongoing process of cultural and epistemic construction. “The struggle for a voice in the field of global knowledge involves deconstructing structures that have historically relegated our scientists to the status of mere data providers,” she said.
The full interview follows.
Agência FAPESP – Cape Verde’s independence in 1975 was marked from the beginning by a profound cultural dimension. Half a century later, how do you interpret this process today?
Eurídice Monteiro – The Cape Verdean experience is interesting: an archipelago of volcanic origin located off the west coast of Africa, composed of ten islands and currently inhabited by about half a million people. Settled in the 15th century, in the context of European maritime expansion, Cape Verde was the first tropical territory colonized by Europeans, assuming a central role as a trading post in the Atlantic slave trade under Portuguese rule. Its historical trajectory is marked by structural vulnerabilities, including long periods of drought, famine, and high mortality, which have profoundly shaped its forms of social organization and possibilities for autonomous development. Cape Verde emerges as a paradigmatic example of the dilemmas faced by peripheral nations in asserting their educational, cultural, and scientific sovereignty. The struggle for a voice in the field of global knowledge involves not only overcoming material constraints but also deconstructing the epistemic structures that have historically relegated places like Cape Verde to the status of objects of study rather than legitimate producers of knowledge.
Agência FAPESP – What is the role of higher education in consolidating this cultural and epistemic sovereignty?
Monteiro – Cape Verde’s independence in 1975 was a decisive milestone in affirming the nation’s cultural identity and social emancipation. At this point, what is lacking is epistemic emancipation. While the central role of science and technology in the well-being of societies is now indisputable, it’s equally clear that the impact of knowledge is greater the more deeply rooted it is in the contexts in which it’s produced and applied. In this sense, the active involvement of Cape Verdean scientists in scientific production is imperative, not only as consumers of global knowledge, but as protagonists in the generation of relevant, critical, and transformative knowledge. Higher education, as a space for the production and dissemination of knowledge, has a responsibility both to train staff and researchers who are committed to the specificities of their territories and open to the world, and to promote scientific production anchored in the Cape Verdean reality and guided by critical, autonomous, and internationally dialogical thinking. The academic and scientific field must consciously and proactively assume its fundamental role in generating endogenous knowledge, recognizing that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have their own dynamics and challenges, which require approaches designed from within, rather than merely the uncritical importation of science and technology produced in other contexts.
Agência FAPESP – Your career has spanned sociology, politics, literature, and public administration. To what extent do your education and experience reflect the project of decolonized knowledge focused on African and Portuguese-speaking contexts?
Monteiro – It’s the responsibility of the post-independence generation to play an active role in building plural, decentralized, and truly emancipatory knowledge. This is a generation that doesn’t carry the direct memory of colonialism, droughts, or famines that have deeply marked the history of Cape Verde, and it’s growing up with unprecedented access to the world and to knowledge. It’s precisely this privileged position that gives young people the power – and the duty – to think critically and innovatively about the future. Despite the difficulties that still exist for scientific production in the country, it’s up to us, as the younger generation, to take the lead in setting agendas and building solid, inclusive scientific policies geared toward the sustainable development we desire.
Agência FAPESP – In recent years, there’s been increasing discussion in universities about the “decolonization of knowledge.” This has even led to a re-reading of seminal authors such as Aimé Césaire (1913-2008), Frantz Fanon (1925-1961), and Amílcar Cabral (1924-1973). How does this idea resonate in Cape Verdean higher education, and what strategies are being adopted to promote it in a concrete way?
Monteiro – Decolonizing thought goes beyond reading anti-colonial classics – it also requires openness to multiple readings, narratives, and forms of knowledge that reflect the diversity and cultural richness of Cape Verde, the African continent, and the world in general. To make this path more concrete and accessible, we must guarantee students and researchers better conditions for accessing knowledge, namely through the expansion and democratization not only of physical libraries, but also of digital libraries. Only then can we build a truly inclusive academic space, where everyone can read the world from where they are.
Agência FAPESP– The International Association of Social Sciences and Humanities in Portuguese (AILPcsh), of which you were president, has as its mission to strengthen academic ties between Portuguese-speaking countries. What progress has been made on this front, and how does this contribute to the intellectual autonomy of Portuguese-speaking African countries?
Monteiro – As a scientific association of an interdisciplinary nature committed to strengthening scientific development based on and through the Portuguese language, it’s through scientific diplomacy that communities such as this are consolidated. Building bridges between researchers, institutions, and cultures allows not only the circulation of knowledge, but also the recognition of science as an instrument of dialogue, cooperation, and social transformation between countries.
Agência FAPESP – The Scientific Repository of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) is highlighted as one of the initiatives aimed at democratizing access to scientific production. What is the impact of this tool on building an open, inclusive science that is connected to local realities?
Monteiro – Strengthening scientific repositories in the CPLP is both a challenge and a strategic opportunity. Some CPLP countries don’t yet have consolidated national repositories, or, when they do, they’re not fully accessible. Mutual support among member states in building and consolidating these spaces for the dissemination of knowledge, as well as the creation of common scientific repositories, is essential to ensure free access to bibliographic production within this vast linguistic community – and also to project this production beyond it. Ensuring the accessibility and visibility of knowledge produced in Portuguese is a decisive step towards the epistemic affirmation of Portuguese-speaking countries on the global scientific stage.
Agência FAPESP – You advocate for important changes to the structure of Cape Verdean higher education, including administrative and legislative reforms. To what extent do these actions fit in with the historic project of a sovereign, modern, and socially just African state?
Monteiro – As a small island state, Cape Verde faces a complex set of challenges – geographical, linguistic, cultural, and structural – that cannot continue to be seen as permanent limitations, but rather as catalysts for reinvention. Insularity, far from being a burden, can become a strategic axis for designing new ways of thinking about development, knowledge, and citizenship in the African and Atlantic context. Higher education in Cape Verde is currently at a turning point. It can no longer function as a reproducer of exogenous models and decontextualized academic logic. Instead, it must become a space for the production of critical thinking, rooted in the realities of the country and the region and committed to social transformation. In this context, it must make a double commitment: on the one hand, to respond critically and creatively to the cultural, social, economic, and environmental needs of the country; on the other hand, to articulate itself with regional and global dynamics, promoting exchanges and strengthening international partnerships that enhance the quality of teaching and scientific research. The ambition to position Cape Verde as a regional platform for knowledge and innovation requires, on the one hand, socially responsible public and private investment, coherent public policies, and international collaborations based on equity rather than dependence. On the other hand, it requires a bold break with technological dependence and with the idea that valid knowledge is only that which comes from outside. I’d like to emphasize here that breaking the link of epistemic dependence is fundamental; instead, we must invest in fair collaborative networks, foster equitable partnerships, and build scientific policies that prioritize knowledge as a common good.
Agência FAPESP – How does digital transformation fit into this process?
Monteiro – At a time marked by digital transformation, accelerating inequalities, and climate urgency, the country cannot continue to postpone the structural and legislative reforms that higher education demands. It’s essential to create a digitally robust, territorially inclusive, and epistemologically pluralistic higher education policy. We need to move from being a country that sends students abroad and suffers from brain drain to a country that attracts students, talent, and scientific production. These reforms must reduce the costs of higher education, expand access to quality distance learning, and ensure an organic link between university education and scientific research committed to the real problems of society. Reforming higher education is therefore not just a functional or technical issue: it’s a visionary and strategic gesture of national affirmation. It’s about consolidating intellectual sovereignty as the foundation of effective independence and forging a democratic state that doesn’t repeat the mistakes of the past or the myths of imported progress, but builds its own paths. In the face of the contemporary challenges of digital transformation, Cape Verde cannot continue to reproduce rigid and exclusionary models. Digitalization and distance learning represent concrete opportunities to democratize access to higher education, especially in archipelagic contexts where internal mobility is limited and education costs are high. To this end, there’s an urgent need for profound legislative reform that goes beyond adjusting structures to rethinking the very meaning and purpose of the university in the 21st century. Structural and legal reforms must be guided by a principle of social justice and territorial equity, aiming to reduce inequalities in access to higher education, strengthen technological connectivity, support scientific research, and promote more participatory, plural, and inclusive teaching practices.
Agência FAPESP – The issue of employability has also been at the center of your initiatives for young people. How can higher education prepare students not only for the job market, but also for active citizenship?
Monteiro – For higher education to be truly relevant, it must be aligned with the structural needs of the country, with real and emerging opportunities – both locally and globally – and, above all, it must be linked to a broader vision of human, social, and cultural development. In this sense, higher education in Cape Verde must take on a dual mission: to respond to the demands of the present by training professionals who are prepared to face the economic, technological, and environmental challenges; and, at the same time, to cultivate an educational project that liberates, dignifies, and contributes to the construction of a fairer, more democratic, and supportive country.
Agência FAPESP – The place of women in Cape Verdean public life is another topic of utmost importance. What challenges remain? And how can universities be spaces for promoting equality and female leadership on the African continent?
Monteiro – Despite the progress made in women’s access to education and participation in the labor market, deep power asymmetries, historical invisibility, and structural barriers continue to limit women’s role in decision-making and influential spaces. The presence of women in higher education, although numerically significant in some areas, doesn’t automatically translate into equal opportunities or real leadership in centers of academic and scientific power. The permanence of women in universities cannot be read solely as a statistic of access. It’s necessary to transform the institutional structures, curricula, leadership models, and organizational cultures that continue to reproduce patriarchal, elitist, and exclusionary logics. Having female students, technicians, and researchers is important, but insufficient if they’re not also recognized as legitimate leaders, strategic decision-makers, and producers of knowledge with social impact. It’s urgent to ensure that women are represented – with a voice and power – in all dimensions of university and scientific life: in management, scientific councils, research projects, technological areas, and spaces for innovation and academic policy. This cannot be achieved through a symbolic presence, but rather through institutional commitment, robust equality policies, and a vision of cognitive and social justice. The future, uncertain and challenging, requires resilience, critical thinking, and the courage to imagine alternatives. Universities must be places where women not only prepare for this future, but actively build it – in dialogue with communities and with major global challenges.
Agência FAPESP – Looking ahead, what do you see as the biggest challenges and the main opportunities? And what role can cooperation with Brazil play in this process?
Monteiro – Looking ahead, the biggest challenges aren’t only technical or economic, but deeply structural and civilizational. Cape Verde, like many African countries, faces the urgent need to build a development model that’s simultaneously sustainable, fair, and sovereign. This requires tackling major obstacles such as social inequalities, environmental fragility, external dependence, brain drain, and the exclusion of young people and women from decision-making centers. One of the central challenges lies in valuing knowledge as the basis for social transformation. The focus must be on training the next generations. This means strengthening the role of universities, investing in science and technology, decolonizing curricula, and democratizing access to knowledge. Another urgent priority is the construction of resilient communities capable of facing the impacts of climate change, the global economic crisis, political instability, and territorial inequalities. Such communities can only be strengthened through integrated public policies, citizen participation, and a deep appreciation of culture, solidarity, and social cohesion. In this process, cooperation with Brazil can play a strategic and differentiating role. As a country in the Global South, with common historical, linguistic, and cultural roots, Brazil is a partner with the potential to promote equitable, supportive cooperation focused on mutual strengthening. Brazil’s experience in areas such as higher education, science and technology, public health, social policies, and culture can be particularly relevant. More than transferring models, the goal is to build bridges for the joint creation of solutions. Cooperation between Cape Verde and Brazil can be an example of transformative South-South cooperation centered on the values of social justice, diversity, and cognitive sovereignty.
The 5th FAPESP 2025 Conference, “Free Access to Knowledge: Challenges and Opportunities in Africa,” can be viewed in its entirety at www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWsPLs_eUjM.
Source: https://agencia.fapesp.br/55321
