María Lugones’s research while affiliated with The Graduate Center, CUNY and other places

Artículo aparecido en Hypatia, vol 25, No. 4 (Otoño, 2010).Traducido por Gabriela Castellanos.Resumen: Este trabajo se pregunta cómo pensar sobreinteracciones íntimas, cotidianas de resistencia a la diferenciacolonial, defi niendo intimidad no exclusivamente niprincipalmente en términos de relaciones sexuales, sino dela vida social entretejida entre personas que no están actuandocomo representantes o funcionarias. Se parte de laidea de que la lógica categorial dicotómica y jerárquica escentral para el pensamiento capitalista y colonial modernosobre raza, género y sexualidad, y de que los colonizadosfueron defi nidos desde el primer momento de la colonizacióncomo no-humanos, cuya animalidad les impedía servistos como hombres y mujeres, aun considerando a lasmujeres blancas como no-hombres. Se muestra el vínculoentre la introducción colonial del concepto instrumentalmoderno de la naturaleza que es central para el capitalismo,y la introducción colonial del concepto modernode género. Se propone un feminismo descolonial, con unfuerte énfasis en una intersubjetividad historizada, encarnada,entablando una crítica de la opresión de géneroracializada, colonial y capitalista, heterosexualista, comouna transformación vivida de lo social. En oposición a lajerarquización dicotómica que caracteriza la colonialidadcapitalista y moderna, se plantea el movimiento hacia lacoalición que nos impulsa a conocernos el uno al otrocomo sí mismos que son densos, en relación, en socialidadesalternativas y basadas en formas tensas, creativas,de habitar la diferencia colonial. Para ello es necesario elanálisis de la opresión de género racializada y capitalista,es decir, de “la colonialidad del género”, a fi n de vencerlamediante el “feminismo descolonial”.Palabras clave: Género, feminismo, colonialidad,descolonial, modernidadToward a Decolonial FeminismAbstract: This paper asks how to think about intimateeveryday interactions of resistance to colonial difference,defi ning intimacy not exclusively or even primarily in termsof sexual relations, but of social life interwoven amongpeople who are not acting as representatives or functionaries.It starts out from the idea that the dichotomousand hierarchical categorial logic is central for moderncapitalist and colonial thought about race, gender andsexuality, and that the colonized were defi ned from the verybeginning as non-humans, whose bestiality did not allowfor their being seen as men or women, even when whitewomen were considered as non-men. The link between thecolonial introduction of the modern instrumental conceptof nature is shown to be central for capitalism and for thecolonial introduction of the modern concept of gender. Adecolonial feminism is proposed, with a strong emphasison an incarnate, historicized intersubjectivity, posing criticismof the racialized, colonial, capitalist, heterosexualistgender oppression, as a lived transformation of the social.In opposition to the dichotomous hierarchization characteristicof capitalist, modern coloniality, it is proposed tostrengthen the movement toward coalition which impels usto get to know each other as dense, in-relation selves, inalternative socialities based on tense, creative habitationsof the colonial difference. For this we need the analysisof racialize3d and capitalist gender oppression, that is, ofthe coloniality of gender, in order to overcome it by meansof “decolonial feminism”.Key Words: Gender, feminism, coloniality, resistencia,modernity

Artículo aparecido en Hypatia, vol 25, No. 4 (Otoño, 2010). Traducido por Gabriela Castellanos. Resumen: Este trabajo se pregunta cómo pensar sobre interacciones íntimas, cotidianas de resistencia a la diferencia colonial, defi niendo intimidad no exclusivamente ni principalmente en términos de relaciones sexuales, sino de la vida social entretejida entre personas que no están actuando como representantes o funcionarias. Se parte de la idea de que la lógica categorial dicotómica y jerárquica es central para el pensamiento capitalista y colonial moderno sobre raza, género y sexualidad, y de que los colonizados fueron defi nidos desde el primer momento de la colonización como no-humanos, cuya animalidad les impedía ser vistos como hombres y mujeres, aun considerando a las mujeres blancas como no-hombres. Se muestra el vínculo entre la introducción colonial del concepto instrumental moderno de la naturaleza que es central para el capitalismo, y la introducción colonial del concepto moderno de género. Se propone un feminismo descolonial, con un fuerte énfasis en una intersubjetividad historizada, encarnada, entablando una crítica de la opresión de género racializada, colonial y capitalista, heterosexualista, como una transformación vivida de lo social. En oposición a la jerarquización dicotómica que caracteriza la colonialidad capitalista y moderna, se plantea el movimiento hacia la coalición que nos impulsa a conocernos el uno al otro como sí mismos que son densos, en relación, en socialidades alternativas y basadas en formas tensas, creativas, de habitar la diferencia colonial. Para ello es necesario el análisis de la opresión de género racializada y capitalista, es decir, de “la colonialidad del género”, a fi n de vencerla mediante el “feminismo descolonial”. Palabras clave: Género, feminismo, colonialidad, descolonial, modernidad Toward a Decolonial Feminism Abstract: This paper asks how to think about intimate everyday interactions of resistance to colonial difference, defi ning intimacy not exclusively or even primarily in terms of sexual relations, but of social life interwoven among people who are not acting as representatives or functionaries. It starts out from the idea that the dichotomous and hierarchical categorial logic is central for modern capitalist and colonial thought about race, gender and sexuality, and that the colonized were defi ned from the very beginning as non-humans, whose bestiality did not allow for their being seen as men or women, even when white women were considered as non-men. The link between the colonial introduction of the modern instrumental concept of nature is shown to be central for capitalism and for the colonial introduction of the modern concept of gender. A decolonial feminism is proposed, with a strong emphasis on an incarnate, historicized intersubjectivity, posing criticism of the racialized, colonial, capitalist, heterosexualist gender oppression, as a lived transformation of the social. In opposition to the dichotomous hierarchization characteristic of capitalist, modern coloniality, it is proposed to strengthen the movement toward coalition which impels us to get to know each other as dense, in-relation selves, in alternative socialities based on tense, creative habitations of the colonial difference. For this we need the analysis of racialize3d and capitalist gender oppression, that is, of the coloniality of gender, in order to overcome it by means of “decolonial feminism”. Key Words: Gender, feminism, coloniality, resistencia, modernity

I am interested in the intersection of race, class, gender and sexuality in a way that enables me to understand the indifference that men, but, more importantly to our struggles, men who have been racialized as inferior, exhibit to the systematic violences inflicted upon women of color. I want to understand the construction of this indifference so as to make it unavoidably recognizable by those claiming to be involved in liberatory struggles. This indifference is insidious since it places tremendous barriers in the path of the struggles of women of color for our own freedom, integrity, and wellbeing and in the path of the correlative struggles towards communal integrity. The latter is crucial for communal struggles towards liberation, since it is their backbone. The indifference is found both at the level of everyday living and at the level of theorizing of both oppression and liberation. The indifference seems to me not just one of not seeing the violence because of the categorial separation of race, gender, class, and sexuality. That is, it does not seem to be only a question of epistemological blinding through categorial separation.

Em Heterosexualism and the Colonial/Modern Gender System (2007), propus uma leitura da relação entre o colonizador e o/a colonizado/a em termos de gênero, raça e sexualidade. Com isso eu não pretendia adicionar uma leitura gendrada e uma leitura racial às já sabidas relações coloniais. Ao invés disso, eu propus uma releitura da própria modernidade capitalista colonial moderna. Isso se dá porque a imposição colonial do gênero atravessa questões sobre ecologia, economia, governo, relaciona-se ao mundo espiritual e ao conhecimento, bem como cruza práticas cotidianas que tanto nos habituam a cuidar do mundo ou a destruí-lo. Proponho este quadro conceitual não como uma abstração da experiência vivida, mas como uma lente que nos permita ver o que está escondido de nossas compreensões sobre raça e gênero e sobre as relações de cada qual à heterossexualidade normativa.

In “Heterosexualism and the Colonial/Modern Gender System” (Lugones 2007), I proposed to read the relation between the colonizer and the colonized in terms of gender, race, and sexuality. By this I did not mean to add a gendered reading and a racial reading to the already understood colonial relations. Rather I proposed a rereading of modern capitalist colonial modernity itself. This is because the colonial imposition of gender cuts across questions of ecology, economics, government, relations with the spirit world, and knowledge, as well as across everyday practices that either habituate us to take care of the world or to destroy it. I propose this framework not as an abstraction from lived experience, but as a lens that enables us to see what is hidden from our understandings of both race and gender and the relation of each to normative heterosexuality.

This article investigates the intersectionality between race, class, gender and sexuality with the objective to understand the worrying indifference that men show towards the violence that is systematically perpetrated against women of color, in other words, non-white women that are victims of the coloniality of power and, inseparably, of the coloniality of gender. The article follows the tradition of thought of colored women that have created critical analysis of hegemonic feminism, precisely by ignoring the intersectionality of race/class/sexuality/gender. It tries to understand the way in which this male indifference is constructed, in order to transform it into something that becomes unavoidable and has to be recognized by those who are involved in liberating fights. The article also discusses a different approach, quite distinct from occidental feminisms, of understanding patriarchy from the coloniality of gender. The author invites us to think about the cartography of global power from what she calls the Modern/Colonial System of Gender.

The coloniality of power is understood by Anibal Quijano as at the constituting crux of the global capitalist system of power. What is characteristic of global, Eurocentered, capitalist power is that it is organized around two axes that Quijano terms “the coloniality of power” and “modernity.” The coloniality of power introduces the basic and universal social classification of the population of the planet in terms of the idea of race, a replacing of relations of superiority and inferiority established through domination with naturalized understandings of inferiority and superiority. In this essay, Lugones introduces a systemic understanding of gender constituted by colonial/modernity in terms of multiple relations of power. This gender system has a light and a dark side that depict relations, and beings in relation as deeply different and thus as calling for very different patterns of violent abuse. Lugones argues that gender itself is a colonial introduction, a violent introduction consistently and contemporarily used to destroy peoples, cosmologies, and communities as the building ground of the “civilized” West.