What the Syllabus Hides

Epistemic Racism and Whitestream Sociology in the Teaching of Sociology

Abstract

This article argues that the history of sociology is inseparable from the colonial project, as modernity and coloniality are two sides of the same coin. It introduces the concept of "whitestream sociology" - borrowed from Sandy Grande and originally coined by Claude Denis - to critique the false universality of a sociological canon structured around white, European, bourgeois male experience. Using Brazil as a case study, the article demonstrates how sociology syllabi have historically replicated European and North American authors while marginalizing local, Black, and Indigenous intellectual production. Despite recent transformations - including the expansion of higher education, affirmative action policies (quotas), and Law 10.639/03 (mandating Afro-Brazilian history and culture in basic education) - empirical data show that Brazilian social science curricula remain overwhelmingly white-centered. The article proposes a Sociology of Color (SOC) as a pedagogical response, which involves not only diversifying authors but also reorienting teaching practices around the experiences of People of Color (POC). The conclusion argues that moving from whitestream sociology to a Sociology of Color is an ethical and political imperative for training sociologists capable of understanding and transforming racialized, colonial realities in the 21st century.