Andean Aesthetics and Anticolonial Resistance: A Cosmology of Unsociable Bodies (Bloomsbury Studies in World Philosophies)

Informed by Gloria Anzaldúa's and José Carlos Mariátegui's work, as well as by Andean cosmology, Omar Rivera turns to Inka stonework and architecture as an example of a “Cosmological Aesthetics.” He articulates ways of sensing, feeling and remembering that are attuned to an aesthetic of water, earth and light. On this basis, Rivera brings forth a corporeal orientation that can be inhabited by the oppressed, one that withdraws from predominant modern/Western conceptions of the human. By providing an aesthetic analysis of cosmological sensing, Rivera sets the stage for exploring physical dimensions of anti-colonial resistance, and furthers the Latinx and Latin American tradition of anti-colonial and liberatory philosophy. Seeing aesthetic involvements with the cosmos as a source for embodied modes of resistance, Rivera turns to the work of María Lugones and Enrique Dussel in order to make explicit the aesthetic dimensions of their work. __Andean Aesthetics and Anticolonial Resistance__ creates a new dialogue between art historians, artists, and philosophers working on Latin American thought, phenomenology, and hermeneutics. It weaves together a Latin American philosophy that connects pre-Columbian cosmologies with contemporary thinkers. Rivera's original approach introduces us to the living, evolving and aesthetic alternatives to coloniality of power and of knowledge, overhauling current understandings of decolonial theory and opening the tradition in transformative ways. "Informed by Gloria Anzaldúa's and José Carlos Mariátegui's work, as well as by Andean cosmology, Omar Rivera turns to Inka stonework and architecture as an example of a "Cosmological Aesthetics." He articulates ways of sensing, feeling and remembering that are attuned to an aesthetic of water, earth and light. On this basis, Rivera brings forth a corporeal orientation that can be inhabited by the oppressed, one that withdraws from predominant modern/Western conceptions of the human. By providing an aesthetic analysis of cosmological sensing, Rivera sets the stage for exploring physical dimensions of anti-colonial resistance, and furthers the Latinx and Latin American tradition of anti-colonial and liberatory philosophy. Seeingaesthetic involvements with the cosmos as a source for embodied modes of resistance, Rivera turns to the work of María Lugones and Enrique Dussel in order to make explicit the aesthetic dimensions of their work. Andean Aesthetics and Anticolonial Resistance creates a new dialogue between art historians, artists, and philosophers working on Latin American thought, phenomenology, and hermeneutics. It weaves together a Latin American philosophy that connects pre-Columbian cosmologies with contemporary thinkers. Rivera's original approach introduces us to the living, evolving and aesthetic alternatives to coloniality of power and of knowledge, overhauling current understandings of decolonial theory and opening the tradition in transformative ways"-- Provided by publisher "From pre-Columbian Inca stone architecture, through colonial paintings and rituals, and continuing in 20th- and 21st-century Andean photography and painting, Omar Rivera uncovers a lineage of conceptions of cosmologies as they have been expressed aesthetically in Andean philosophical traditions. In discovering this lineage, Rivera manifests a conception of the cosmos that is organized according to elemental orders-of earth, light, and water in particular-and that underlies social forms. By providing the first aesthetic analysis of indigenous cosmological sensing, Rivera sets the stage for exploring two essential and interrelated concepts in Latin American decolonizing philosophies: racial embodiment and resistance. This systematic study of Andean cosmologies creates a new dialogue between art historians, artists, theorists in Latin American thought and Anglo-American philosophers. It weaves together a Latin American philosophy that connects pre-Columbian cosmologies with contemporary thinkers such as María Lugones, Linda Martín Alcoff and Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui. Rivera's original approach introduces us to the living, evolving and aesthetic alternatives to coloniality of power and of knowledge, overhauling our understanding of decolonial theory and opening the tradition as never before."-- Provided by publisher Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Figures Acknowledgments Introduction: “Marginal” Theorizing of Anticolonial Resistance Part I: Cosmological Aesthetics Chapter 1: From Elemental Poetics to Cosmological Aesthetics Chapter 2: An Approach to Andean Aesthetics Part II: Embodiments of Resistance Chapter 3: Visions of Resistance Chapter 4: After-Bodies Chapter 5: Resistant Gestures Part III: In Company Chapter 6: Ana-topia (in Dialogue with María Lugones) Chapter 7: Aísthesis (in Dialogue with Enrique Dussel) Conclusion: Turns and Departures Notes Bibliography Index