A critical accounting project for Latin America? Objects of knowledge or ways of knowing

Abstract

This article explores the basis of a critical accounting project in Latin America and suggests a critique inspired by the decolonial project to reinvigorate critical accounting. The paper draws on Santos’ (2009) sociology of absences to explore the epistemic assumptions present in interpretive and critical accounting studies focusing on Latin America to achieve these aims. The analysis reveals that the critical accounting studies analyzed often mobilize Anglo-Euro-Centric logics that limit the ability of Latin America to think itself and impede the dialogue on equal terms between contemporaries, as suggested by the decolonial project. The paper presents avenues for critical accounting research in Latin America, assessing the effects of the Anglo-European institutionalization of modes of doing research for Latin America and calling for authenticity, more attention to the existence of alternative ways of knowing in the global South and for the creation of protected spaces that care for those alternatives and grant an equal exchange of ideas.