European modernities or the coloniality of Europe?

The Eurocentrism charge facing the social sciences during the past decades has prompted the emergence of several theoretical models and solutions designed to overcome the Eurocentric condition of mainstream social theory, still under the control of the modernization paradigm and its current avatars. Most new models have focused on the Western concept of modernity – which in turn corresponds to a conception of modernity as something Western – and have replaced it with the notion of multiple, entangled, fragmented, alternative, or simply “other” modernities. In order to better comprehend the logic behind the new approaches to plural modernities as well as the one behind the “pan-European” model, I suggest replacing the notion of a single Europe producing multiple modernities by the one of multiple Europes with different and unequal roles in shaping the hegemonic definition of modernity and in ensuring its propagation. I argue that the focus on multiple Europes involves giving pride of place to the relations of power and the different hierarchies taking shape within Europe itself in the modern era, as encompassed in the approaches dealing with modernity/coloniality as entangled phenomena and processes originating in Europe.