Abstract

VELEZ, Joaquín  and  BOLLA, Luisina. Monstrous America: An outline to think the (de-) formation of otherness. Cuad. Fac. Humanid. Cienc. Soc., Univ. Nac. Jujuy [online]. 2020, n.57, pp.13-20. ISSN 1668-8104.

In this paper, we analyze the concept of monstrosity as a key to comprehending the colonial relationship between European Occident and (Latin) America through a non-essentialist approach. To achieve this aim, we revisit the concept as formulated by the Argentinian anthropologist and philosopher Rodolfo Kusch. According to Kusch’s analysis, Occidental art is based on ideals of equilibrium and symmetry; therefore, as opposed to the Latin American art, characterized as “an aesthetic of the tenebrous”. Although in this case the concept of monstrosity arises linked to the reflections from the field of aesthetics, it is shown that the proposal exceeds these limits, by enabling a heuristic capable of elucidating basic mechanisms of coloniality, where the “Other” is hetero-designated and captured under the figure of abjection

Keywords : Abjection; Aesthetics; Coloniality; Monstrosity; Power.

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