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LA RAZON POSTCOLONIAL:
HERENCIAS COLONIALES YTEORIAS
POSTCOLONIALES
Walter
D. Mignolo
Duke University
I
Lo postcolonial o la postcolonialidad ha sido observado(McClintock,
1992;Shohat,1992; Radhakrishnan 1993;Dirlik,1994),es unaexpresion
ambigua,algunas veces peligrosa,otrasvecesconfusa,y generalmente
limitadae inconscientemente empleada.Es ambiguacuandoes usada
para a
referirse situaciones conectadascon la expansion
socio-historicas
colonialy la descolinizacion a travesdel tiempoy del espacio.Por
ejemplo,Algeria, los EstadosUnidosdel sigloxixyel Brasildel sigloxix
son todoscategorizados como paisespostcoloniales. El peligrosurge
cuandoestetermino es usadocomouna direccion"post"teoricamasen
la academia,yse convierte en fuenteprincipal en contrade laspracticas
de oposicionparala "gentede color","intelectuales del tercero mundo",
o "gruposetnicos"en la academia.Es confusocuandoexpresiones como
"hibridizacion","mestizaje", "espacioentremedio"y otrasexpresiones
se convierten
equivalentes, en el objetode reflexion
ycritica de lasteorias
postcoloniales,porqueellassugierenuna descontinuidad entrela confi-
gurationcolonialdel objeto o tema de estudioy la positionpostcolonial
del
lugarde la teoria.Es inconscientemente empleadacuandoes desarraiga-
da de las condiciones de su manifestation(ej.,en ciertoscasoscomoun
sustitutode la "literaturade Commonwealth", ycomopoderen el "litera-
turadel tercermundo"en otros).Porconsiguiente, "postcolonialidad"o
lo "postcolonial" es un termino problematico cuandoes aplicadoa las
practicas culturalestantodel sigloxixcomodel sigloxx.
A pesarde todaslasdificultades que estetermino implica,propondria
que no deberiamos perder de vista
el hechode que lo postcolonial revela
un cambioradicalepistemo/hermeneutico en la productionteoricae
intelectual.No es tantola conditionhistorica postcolonial la que debe
atraernuestraatencion,sinolos locide enunciationde lo postcolonial.
En estearticulo,asumireque la transformation masfundamental del
espacio intelectual se estallevando a cabo,a raizde la configurationde
una razonpostcolonial tantoen el lugarde practicaoposicionalen la
92 RevistaChilena de Literatura, Ng47, 1995
The term"post-colonial"
wouldbe moreprecise,therefore, ifarticula-
tedas "post-First/Third
Worldstheory",or "post-anticolonial
critique",
as a movementbeyonda relatively fixedandstablemapping
binaristic,
ofpowerrelations between"colonizer/colonized" and "center/perip-
hery".Suchrearticulationssuggesta morenuanceddiscourse, which
allowformovement, and
mobility fluidity. Here, theprefix"post"would
makesenselessas "after"
thanasfollowing,goingbeyondandcommen-
tingupona certainintellectual
movement - thirdworldistanticolonial
-
critique ratherthan beyond a pointin history
certain - colonialism;
forhere"neo-colonialism"wouldbe a lesspassiveformofaddressing
thesituationofneocolonizedcountries, and a politically
moreactive
modeofengagement. (Shohat1992:108).
India,Kenya,
Algeria, Jamaica,Indonesia,etc.)l9dondeel podercolonial
se mantuvocon una particular
brutalidad.
Western havereserved
socialscientists theconceptofcultureforthe
of traditional
mentalities states.Theyhave
societiesin theirpristine
designated societiesofthesecondworldtheprovince
thesocialists of
And
ideology. they havelong assumed - notunanimously, tobe sure-
thatthemodernWestis thenaturalheavenofscienceand utilitarian
thinking. Consistentwiththisscheme,one clanofsocialscientists isset
aparttostudy thepristinesocietiesofthethirdworld(anthropologists) .
Otherclans- economists, - study
and politicalscientists
sociologists,
thethird worldonlyinsofar as theprocessofmodernization hasalready
begun.The trueprovince oftheselattersocialsciencesis themodern
world,specially thenaturalsocietiesoftheWest.Butagain,subclansof
eachone ofthesesciencesofthemodernworldarespecially outfitted
tomakeforays intotheideological, regionsofthe second world. Much
as theirfelloweconomists, and
sociologists, political scientistswho study
theprocessofmodernization in thethirdworld,thesestudents ofthe
secondworldareengagedinareastudies. Whatdistinguishes theirarea
is thedangerassociated withideology, as opposedtothenowinnocent
otherness oftraditionalcultures. Butthelargercontrast is betweenall
oftheseareasspecialists,
whether ofthesecondorthird worlds,andthe
disciplinary whostudy
generalists thenaturalsocietiesofthefirst world
(Pletsch1981;579).
II
Me gustariadesplazarmehacia la segunda parte de mi argumento:Las
teorias postcolonialescomo contramodernidady loci de enunciation
diferencial.
Enrique Dussel, filosofoargentinoasociado con la filosofiade la
liberation,articulouna idea similarde una manera claray convincente.
Cito de la introductionde sus conferenciasen Frankfurt.
5Alarc6n,pp. 337.
La razon postcolonial:Herencias colonialesy... 109
Readingfromthetransferential wheretheWestern
perspective, ratio
returnsto itselffromthetirttelag of thecolonial we
relation, se how
modernity and postmodernity are themselves fromthe
constituted
marginal perspectiveofcultural Theyencounter
difference. themselvc:
contingentlyat thepointatwhichtheinternal oftheirowr
difference
is reiterated
society in termsofthedifference oftheother,thealterity
ofthepostcolonial site(pp. 196).
Ill
Me gustariaconcluirabriendola discusiona nuevasareasde cuestiona-
mientometateorico postcolonial.He estadolimitando la discusiona los
locide enunciation a
y categorias geoculturales. Este es el terreno en el
cuallas herenciascolonialesylas teoriaspostcoloniales hansidoprinci-
palmentediscutidasen el pasado. Tales conceptoscomo Primeroy
TercerMundos,Occidentey Oriente,margeny periferia, colonialismo
o
espanol britanico, etc.,son todascategoriasgeoculturales. Cuando
concebilo que estoydiciendocomouna ruptura epistemologica, lo hice
en terminos de la politicadel lugargeocultural, asumiendoque uno de
los motivosde la teorizacion postcolonial es el lugargeocultural de la
production y la distributiondel conocimiento. La politicay la sensibili-
dad del lugargeocultural son comparadas,en mi argumento, con la
politicay la sensibilidaddel genero, la raza o la position de clase. En
todosestoscasos,la productiondel conocimiento y la necesidad de
teoriasya no son guiadaspor un deseo abstracto y lo racional de decir la
verdad,sino(talvez,principalmente) porpreocupaciones eticas ypoliti-
cas sobrela emancipation humana.Debemosanotar,que si la produc-
112 RevistaChilena de Literatura, Nq 47, 1995
IfEnglishIndiarepresents
a discursive
fieldthatincludesbothcolonial
and postcolonial itfurther
narratives, represents an alternative
to the
troublechronology ofnationalism
in theIndiansubcontinent. Aslong
as the conceptof nationis interpretedas the colonizer'sgiftto its
erstwhilecolony,theunimaginable community producedbycolonial
encounter canneverbe sufficiently
read(1992:3).
Ifthematerialityofcultural
criticism
mustnowlocateditsidiomin the
productiveabsence ofalterity,
itmustrealignitsrelationto thefigure
ofgender.The figurativestatusofgenderposesa somewhat uncritical
discourserelianton metaphorsofsexuality,
or doesitmerely the
reify
sorrybiologismthatdictatestraditional
decodingsofthecolonialen-
Herenciascobnialesy...
La razonpostcolonial: 113
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABSTRACT