Indigenous communities in Latin America experience discrimination and violence in terms of race, gender, class, sexuality, and religion. Scholars working in fields such as Indigenous and Religion Studies, Gender and Sexuality, Social Anthropology, as well as activists working for collectives and NGOs in Latin America have highlighted the core role played by intersectional analyses of cultural expression as a way to challenge the overlooked position of Indigenous communities in dominant narratives about Latin America. By featuring presentations on the socio-political and cultural implications of indigeneity, land dispossession, and ancestral memory, this panel seeks to bring together scholars, artists, and activists who engage in the study and promotion of Indigenous Studies in an effort to inspire new forms of cultural expression and social change.
Paola María Monteros-Freeman will open the session with the analysis of Lisandro Alonso’s experimental cinematic aesthetics in La libertad (2001) and Los muertos (2004), analyzing the ways in which the Argentinian filmmaker photographs the presence and culture of marginal and dispossessed indigenous subjects. Lisandro Alonso’s protagonists, members of the Mapuche and Guarani communities settled in the Pampa region, are marginalized antiheroes who have been relegated to the condition of “monsters” by neoliberal capitalism. "Monstrosity" and "otherness" are the key words of this presentation aimed at using historical fiction as a tool to shed light on the struggles faced by Argentinian Indigenous communities.
The second presenter, César F. Salgado Portillo, will explore two decades of Salvadorans cultural production aimed at de-constructing national identities for socially, racially, and sexually marginalized groups leaving in the region. This artistic revolution, encompassing literature, visual, and plastic art, has been generating new spaces, meanings, and agencies making room for oppressed groups in the mainstream national narratives of El Salvador. In dialogue with the cultural production of the Latin American Pacific coast, this talk explores the activist power of art in reclaiming identity and sharing the experiences and complexities of Salvadorans Indigenous communities.
By employing decolonial feminist theories, Jisun Kim will discuss the interconnections between Chicanx individuals and Indigenous Mexican ancestry by focusing attention on three representative models of Chicana motherhood: the Virgin of Guadalupe, La Malinche, and La Llorona. This talk analyzes how Chicana lesbian playwright Cherríe Moraga deconstructs, recreates, and expands the realms of Chicana motherhood by reimagining these mythical figures in her three plays The Hungry Woman (1995), Heroes and Saints (1994), and Heart of the Earth (1994). The presenter argues that Cherríe Moraga’s reimagination of mythology is a means of reconnecting with indigenous Mexican cosmology and reclaiming her place of queerness within the heteronormative Chicanx community.
To conclude the session, Tom Kissock-Mamede will explore examples of urban indigenous ARTivism produced in the Amazonian regions of Northern Brazil. By analyzing their social-media presence, he investigates indigenous artists’ fight for urban democracy. This presentation will reveal the pros and cons of livestreaming practices that, while being a beneficial channel to showcase Indigenous art and cultural practices become, at times, a savvy marketing strategy. This talk is based on ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews conducted by the speaker with digital and non-digital ARTivists in Brazil.
This selection of panelists incorporates a diversity of voices in terms of gender, sexuality, age, ethnicity, and geography consisting of scholars active in Europe and the US, individuals originally from Latin American Indigenous communities, first generation students, and members of the LGBTQI+ community. All four participants are Ph.D. candidates eager to have the opportunity to present their academic efforts, receive constructive feedback, and expand their professional network.
This panel session features four formal presentations conveyed through multimodal approaches. To promote discussion, each panelist will have no more than 10 minutes to present their paper. Emphasis will be put on lively interactions between the presenters and the audience. This operation will be facilitated by the chair who will pose questions to stimulate a constructive Q&A session.