The muted voices: a debate about counter-hegemonic sources for understanding Latin America

Abstract

In this article we focus on the conception of history elaborated by Walter Benjamin to reflect on the position occupied  by the subordinated subjects in Latin America historiographic production. In order to recover the silenced voices in the construction of the historical narrative of the region, we analyze the historical relevance of the codices, the privileged position of Poma de Ayala in the record of the colonization and the interpretations of Mariátegui. We use Edmundo O'Gorman's conceptual framework to understand how the political notion of America was invented and included in the geo-economic conception of the world system. When reflecting  about that, focusing on these records means to question the  “history of the winners” historical perspective, a tendency criticised by Walter Benjamin, which operates in the making of invisible subalternized social identities. Breaking with colonial logic involves incorporating new representations and ways of thinking about the context experienced within the colonial situation. These are elements that contribute to the decolonial overtake reconsidering Latin American historical memory.