Originally published in Mexico in 1970, "Indigenous and Popular
Thinking in America "is the first book by the Argentine philosopher
Rodolfo Kusch (1922-79) to be translated into English. At its core
is a binary created by colonization and the devaluation of
indigenous practices and cosmologies: an opposition between the
technologies and rationalities of European modernity and the
popular mode of thinking, which is deeply tied to Indian ways of
knowing and being. Arguing that this binary cuts through America,
Kusch seeks to identify and recover the indigenous and popular way
of thinking, which he contends is dismissed or misunderstood by
many urban Argentines, including leftist intellectuals.
"Indigenous and Popular Thinking in America" is a record of
Kusch's attempt to immerse himself in the indigenous ways of
knowing and being. At first glance, his methodology resembles
ethnography. He speaks with and observes indigenous people and
mestizos in Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. He questions them about
their agricultural practices and economic decisions; he observes
rituals; he asks women in the market the meaning of indigenous
talismans; he interviews shamans; he describes the spatial
arrangement and the contents of shrines, altars, and temples; and
he reproduces diagrams of archaeological sites, which he then
interprets at length. Yet he does not present a "them" to a
putative "us." Instead, he offers an inroad to a way of thinking
and being that does not follow the logic or fit into the categories
of Western social science and philosophy. In his introduction,
Walter D. Mignolo discusses Kusch's work and its relation to that
of other twentieth-century intellectuals, Argentine history, and
contemporary scholarship on the subaltern and decoloniality.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(1)
