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Monthly Archives: July 2011

Walter Mignolo: Epistemic disobedience. Rhetoric of modernity, logic of coloniality and decolonial grammar (Buenos Aires 2010)

July 27th, 2011|

This book summarizes the main aspects of the "Research Project on Modernity/ Coloniality" and the central theorical proposals of the famous Argentine decolonization theorist, Walter Mignolo. The main thrust of this work is explained thus: “if knowledge is an instrument of imperial colonization, one of the urgent tasks ahead is the decolonization of knowledge.”

Red Dawn: Specters of Communism in Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives

July 27th, 2011|

Critical reception to Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), a Thai film that won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in the year of its release, remains wildly polarized. In one camp, mostly populated by professional film critics, the verdict flirts with ecstasy...

Nayar, Pramod K. Postcolonialism: A Guide for the Perplexed. New York: Continuum, 2010.

July 21st, 2011|

Pramod K. Nayar, a senior lecturer in English literature at the University of Hyderabad, India, has written a thorough, engaging, and accessible primer to the growing discipline of postcolonial theory. In his 15 years of scholarly writing, Nayar has written and published in the area of literary theory. A number of his scholarly essays and books focus on cultural theory, cultural studies, and postcolonial studies.

Zachariah, George. Alternatives Unincorporated: Earth Ethics from the Grassroots. London: Equinox, 2011.

July 11th, 2011|

As the title of this book suggests – the contents do offer, not just a creative use of language but an alternative discourse to how we have thus far understood eco-theology and environmental ethics. The author, the Indian ethicist George Zachariah, suggests in his introduction that the book will “construct an earth ethics from the grassroots” which will be informed by “the crucible of subaltern political praxis”. In the rest of the book he unravels his conviction that social movements are a theological text in themselves “as discursive sites” for a “life affirming, communitarian and liberating” subaltern earth ethics.

Rieger, Joerg. No Rising Tide: Theology, Economics, and the Future. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2009.

July 4th, 2011|

Chapter 1 “No Rising Tide: Religion, Economics, and Empire”: If one sees economics as a life or death issue, as Rieger suggests, one must not leave economics alone to the economists (3). The study’s mission in No Rising Tide is to not only join the number of theology and religion scholars who inquire about economics as a theological project, but to respond to the truth claims being made by the evangelists of laisse-faire capitalism. Economics cannot exist without some otherworldly hope in which its norms are sanctioned and economic theories often go unchallenged in their “embedded and unquestioned conceptions” pertaining to the nature of humanity, creation, or the transcendent (8).

The Debate Goes On: More on “The Secret in Their Eyes”

July 3rd, 2011|

In my previous post, on the Argentine film "El secreto de sus ojos" (The Secret in Their Eyes, Juan José Campanella 2009), I made some criticisms on a review of the film written by Matt Losada for the journal Cineaste. I was very glad to find out that Mr Losada read my entry and published his own response in this website. Here I would like to reply to Mr Losada, taking issue with some of his patronising accusations about my views on Argentine justice and on the Oscars. My objective is not to pursue a personal contest with my interlocutor but to clarify some notions on Argentine recent history and contemporary politics, notions which are extremely important and which underlie all discussions on Campanella’s film.