Beyond rupture: creative friction and the relational work of decolonizing higher education in Latin America

Decolonial pedagogy in higher education is often practised within institutions that remain entangled in colonial structures, epistemic inequalities, and Western academic traditions. Under such conditions, delinking from dominant epistemologies is neither straightforward nor always possible. Rather than approaching these conditions as obstacles to be overcome, this article shifts attention toward the moments where tensions, disagreements, and uneven encounters emerge as part of pedagogical practice itself. Drawing on an ongoing collaboration with the intercultural university Amawtay Wasi in Ecuador, the article argues for greater attention to vincularidad (relationality) as a way of understanding decolonial praxis and develops the concepts of creative friction. Vincularidad foregrounds the relational foundations of knowledge and education, while creative friction draws attention to what happens when these relations become difficult and unequal. The article suggests that decolonial pedagogy takes shape not only through rupture, but through the ongoing relational work of negotiating difference under unequal conditions.