The Zapatistas's theoretical revolution: Its historical, ethical, and political consequences

Whatever the future of the Zapatistas's uprising would be, the theoretical revolution they enacted it is here to stay. Theoretical revolutions are not supposed to come from popular sectors, without the necessary research and communicating the results by interviews, the internet, or newspapers. The theoretical revolution of the Zapatistas consists, precisely, in changing the perspective. Those who, in the long history of colonialism, or coloniality (the hidden side of modernity) are not supposed to speak but to be spoken to, not only spoke but managed to be heard. One of the reasons that the Zapatistas are being heard is precisely because they achieved a theoretical revolution. The theoretical revolution require a mediator between the Western and indigenous cosmologies. And required also double translation which, at its turn, ended up in enacting border thinking. I explore these issues and argue that in the theoretical revolution, the Zapatistas changed not only the content but the terms of the conversation.

Duke Scholars

Author Walter D. Mignolo Literature