Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading ... - BGSU Blogs

180 reframing latin america
• How does Mignolo use the issue of gender to critique cultural theory
and promote his argument for a critical-theory perspective that lies “outside”
Western civilization, or the “modernity/coloniality” enterprise?
Do you see the resemblance between Mignolo’s use of gender and the
example of gender we used in the introduction to this book to show how
cultural theory’s decentering of the self might disempower women, even
though, ironically, feminist criticism was a powerful impetus behind its
development?
• How would Mignolo respond to Martin and Bary? Pay particular
attention to the authors’ examination of the relationship between discourse
and power.
• What concrete examples of Mignolo’s theories have we already
presented? Think for instance of examples within contemporary U.S. academia
given by Daniel Mato as cited in our introduction. What examples
can you come up with on your own?
• How does Mignolo’s proposal of “border thinking” represent a sort of
third way between essentialist hermeneutics and radical cultural-theory
decentering? How does his perspective acknowledge the gains of the
West as well as its fl aws without taking a singularly defensive stance of
Latin America? Think of Mignolo’s statement that “nativism or regionalism
from the center is as pernicious as nativism or regionalism from the
periphery.” Think also of another one of his statements: “I do believe,
consequently, that the glass is indeed half full as it is half empty.”
• How does Mignolo draw upon the specifi c and concrete historical
experience of Latin America to develop his concept of “border thinking”
and its critique of Western society’s colonialist framework? Think of his
repeated references to slavery, the colonial era in Latin America, the
Haitian revolution, and so forth.
• How is the scientifi c revolution of the seventeenth century related to
the colonial experience? In what ways does Mignolo critique the scientifi c
revolution? Describe how Mignolo’s argument represents a challenge to
the discourse of the scientifi c revolution, the way the scientifi c revolution
is still presented today, and the way this affects how the West views the
developing world.
Notes
1. Gerald Martin, Journeys Through the Labyrinth: Latin American Fiction
in the Twentieth Century (London: Verso, 1989) 10.
2. Martin 9.
3. Leslie Bary, “The Search for Cultural Identity: Concepts,” ed. John