Revista Brasileira de Literatura Comparada (Dec 2023)
BETWEEN MODERNISM AND DECOLONIALITY: CHALLENGES FOR ANOTHER THEORIZATION
Abstract
The basic idea of this essay is basically to compare a modernist (modern) theoretical perspective with a decolonial or frontier perspective. Considering, a priori, that in such relation of proposition there may be a proximity which is not exclusively made of contrasts between both perspectives, we will seek to establish a discussion tending to a decolonial or frontier-based theorization that, in its way, in addition to punctuating its differences in its theoretical aim, also points out the specificities of a theoretical discussion attached to postulates of a point of view that prioritizes modernism. To reach the core of the discussion proposed here, we will use, at first, two specific approaches, or different theoretical points of view. I refer to the texts “Teorizar é metaforizar” (Theorizing equals metaphorizing), by Eneida Maria de Souza, included in her recent book Narrativas impuras (Impure narratives) (2021), and “Desafios decoloniais hoje” (Decolonial challenges today) (2017), by Walter Mignolo. In addition to these two texts, the book Filosofia da Composição (Physiology of composition) (2020), by Silviano Santiago, and my own text, entitled “Podemos fazer teori(a)zação da fronteira-sul” (Can one turn the southern frontier into theory/theorization?) will be of value to the proposal, among others that are necessary during the reflection proposed here.
