The relationship between theory and qualitative research has been extensively examined in the literature and has emerged as a problematic matter. This debate has been driven forward mainly in Anglo-Saxon countries and has done scant justice to an understanding of these issues in regions of the South. This paper addresses this matter by drawing on a geopolitical perspective. The study here provides an analysis of 24 papers by Latin-American researchers in higher education, as included in the Web of Science between 2006 and 2015. Theories in Latin America are mainly produced in the North and exhibit two patterns: (i) critical perspectives are used to address local problems -- 'epistemic problematization'; and (ii) a nuancing of Northern theories so as to contextualize them -- 'epistemic nuancing'. Suggestions are also made for a new configuration of knowledge production in higher education studies -- a model of knowledge from and for the South.