OSL Symposium ‘Decentering Narratives in Latin America: Shaping Possibilities from Resistance’

Multiple narratives contribute to the shaping of individual and communal beliefs and practices — even more so today. However, what makes some of these narratives more pervasive than others? In the processes of sense- and decision-making, hegemonic narratives are positioned in the centre, namely the place from which institutions exert their influence.

These ‘central’ narratives tend to naturalize the unequal production and distribution of meaning, thereby marginalizing, invisibilizing and excluding many peripheral voices. Latin America is a prime example of how central narratives can generate social injustice, but also of emerging counter-hegemonic narratives. One example is the explosion of protests (street protests and civil disobedience actions) by citizens against inequality, exclusion and injustice, reaching its climax in Chile in 2019 and later spreading to many other neighbouring countries. To date, and despite the COVID epidemic, Latin American social mobilisation is still evolving and renewing in different formats. These recent mobilisations can be identified, in Gramsci’s words, as social actors of resistance countering criminalisation and repression on the part of the state. By so doing, these collective actions seek to decenter dominant narratives by redistributing the possibilities of the production of meaning. Nevertheless, much work remains to be done when it comes to the production and the impact of these movements in the cultural imagination. For example, following Kenneth Roberts’ article “(Re)Politicizing Inequalities: Movements, Parties, and Social Citizenship in Chile” (2016), could we say that we are experiencing insurrection rather than revolutionary movements? Which are the narratives portraying social mobilization in Latin America? To what extent do they have an impact on the cultural imaginary fabric?

In this international symposium experts from literary and cultural studies, politics and related fields analyse the production of diverse and decentered voices of resistance in Latin America. Together they will discuss the demands, struggles and cultural expressions of peripheral actors pursuing the design of inclusive spaces of dialogue.

Programme

14:00-14:10      Welcome: Elizabeth Pinilla Duarte; Juan del Valle Rojas; Gonzalo Albornoz Barra

Keynote Session

14:10-14:50“Narrativas descentradas amenazadas en Sudamérica. Elementos de análisis del disenso oral y visual” – Jacqueline Fowks

14:50-15:05      Q&A session (Chair: Elizabeth Pinilla Duarte, MA)

15:05-15:20      Break

Session 1

15.20 – 15:40     “Cuando las calles hablan: performatividad política y reclamación en el marco del paro nacional en Colombia 2021” – Dr. Diana Moreno Rodríguez

15:40 – 16:00    “Agendas de ampliación de derechos y discursos de odio. Tensiones entre el universo de las fake news y la organización nacional-popular en Argentina” – Dr. Pablo Bilyk

16:00-16:15      Q&A session (Chair: Gonzalo Albornoz Barra, MA)

16:15-16:45      Break

Session 2

16:45 – 17:05    “Resistance to “Racism à brasileira” in contemporary Afro-Brazilian arts” – Dr. Peter W. Schulze

17:05 – 17:25    “Cultural Narratives of Crisis, Migration and Social Nativism in Latin America” – Prof. Dr. Pablo Valdivia Martin

17:25 – 17:45    “The ecosystem of the cultural representation of marginality. Contributions to an integrated research perspective” – Dr. Konstantin Mierau

17:45 – 18:00    Q&A session (Chair: Juan del Valle Rojas, MA)

18:00 – 18:10      Final remarks