Speaker Series Intersectionality from the Americas | Claudia Zapata (Santiago de Chile) | Aesthetics and colonial continuity: Contemporary representations of the indigenous subject

This talk forms part of the speaker series Intersectionality from the Americas: Theories, Processes, Approaches, Practices, taking place throughout the winter semester 2024/25. Supported by the ScienceCampus and organised by Anne Brüske with Minerva Peinador, Barbara Aranda and Joanna Moszczyńska of DIMAS, this series will feature talks, a workshop and an artistic performance. Find the flyer about the speaker series here. More details about the series can be found here. The presentation will be held in Spanish with translation of the main content to English. The discussion will be offered in Spanish and English.

Join via Zoom here.

"Estética y continuidad colonial: representaciones contemporáneas del sujeto indígena" | “Aesthetics and colonial continuity: Contemporary representations of the indigenous subject”

Abstract in the language of presentation:

Esta presentación comunica reflexiones críticas en torno a cómo se comprende y representa a las sociedades indígenas en la actualidad. Se discute con nociones todavía dominantes que asocian a los pueblos indígenas con la naturaleza, la cosmovisión y una idea estática de cultura, las que poseen larga data histórica pero que se reproducen en corrientes teóricas actuales (como los estudios decoloniales) y en modelos políticos agotados como el multiculturalismo. Esta propuesta surge de una trayectoria investigativa que ha estudiado las prácticas intelectuales indígenas, por lo que este análisis incluirá de manera central cómo algunos autores y artistas indígenas interpelan esas representaciones desde el plano de la estética y la escritura.

Abstract in English:

This presentation provides critical reflections on how indigenous societies are currently understood and represented. It discusses prevailing notions that associate indigenous peoples with nature, cosmovision, and a static idea of culture, which date back far in history but still are reproduced in current theoretical currents (such as decolonial studies) and in exhausted political models such as multiculturalism. This proposal arises from a research trajectory that has studied indigenous intellectual practices, so this analysis will include in a central way how some indigenous authors and artists interpellate those representations from the plane of aesthetics and writing.

Bio:

Académica del Centro de Estudios Culturales Latinoamericanos de la Universidad de Chile. Se ha especializado en historia contemporánea de América Latina, en movimientos indígenas y en pensamiento crítico latinoamericano. En 2015 recibe el Premio de Ensayo Ezequiel Martínez Estrada de Casa de las Américas, Cuba, por su libro Intelectuales indígenas en Ecuador, Bolivia y Chile. Diferencia, colonialismo y anticolonialismo.