Global Majority
The term “minority” often implies subordination or lesser importance, reinforcing stigmas or stereotypes deeply rooted in colonial legacies. In contrast, “Global Majority” acknowledges that people of African, Asian, Latin American, and Indigenous descent make up the majority of the world’s population. This shift in terminology challenges Eurocentric views that position these groups as minorities, despite their numerical and cultural significance. It also exposes how colonial frameworks have historically erased and abused non-Western epistemologies, reinforcing systemic oppression.
The term invites the application of a decolonial perspective in order to dismantle the colonial structures embedded in cultural institutions and rethink how artistic mediation can serve as a tool for resistance and reparation.
The term arose during an event at La Escocesa as part of Trenza. Designed by the Lumbre collective within the framework of Art Space Unlimited, Trenza (braid) is a mediation program whose intention is to generate an opening call for La Escocesa to be home to communities that do not currently inhabit it.
Trenza focuses on migrated people from the Global South who are involved in the production and practice of art and culture and who, due to structural inequality, are not yet part of the city’s contemporary art circuit. This mediation program is structured through the development of tools and meetings, both open to the public and closed for specific groups.
Migration is a process of uprooting, not only territorial and emotional but also professional. Upon arriving in the “host territory,” economic survival and administrative bureaucracies related to immigration documentation take priority. It ordinarily takes time to build emotional and support networks, which is why professional careers initiated in the country of origin often remain on standby. Working in the field of art tends to be especially complicated as each place has its own implicit dynamics and languages that, upon arrival, involve translation processes that can be very frustrating.
This mediation project proceeds from this reality, positioning migrant artists outside the traditional categories of emerging, young, or mid-career artists. Migration redefines artistic trajectories, measuring careers not by conventional standards but through the shared experience of crossing from the Global South to a European territory.
One significant moment in the project was when Lumbre shared their perspective on the term “minority” and pointed out that the word carried the weight of colonialism; the concept of Global Majority, on the other hand, shifted the focus to a critical perspective.
Adopting the term Global Majority in cultural and artistic spaces is not just about language; it is about shifting the way we engage with communities and about dismantling colonial legacies in artistic mediation. In Trenza, this approach meant questioning institutional practices that often tokenize diversity rather than fostering genuine cocreation, revealing how many cultural policies remain complicit with colonial frameworks of power.
By centering Global Majority perspectives, projects like Trenza challenge the structures that continue to marginalize certain groups while offering models for more equitable and meaningful cultural work. A decolonial approach not only shifts terminology but also disrupts the colonial gaze, making space for new narratives and transformative practices that move beyond symbolic inclusion to the actual redistribution of power and resources.