For a Critical Theory from the Americas

Prof. Stefan Gandler, Visiting Scholar

Department of Communication
Friday November 20, 3pm, Newcomb Hall 207

Image by: Sofa Rodrguez Fernndez: Midiendo el azar

Profesor Stefan Gandler holds a Ph.D from Frankfurt University and

teaches at the Universidad Autnoma de Quertaro and at the
Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico. His research seeks to
expand debates on Critical Theory beyond the Frankfurt School and
the works of Jrgen Habermas by identifying a Critical Theory
tradition that has emerged in the Americas. In order to overcome
an intrinsic cultural and theoretical Eurocentrism, Gandler
discusses the works of Bolvar Echeverra and his concepts of
cultural mestizaje (melding of European with pre-Hispanic
traditions) and baroque ethos (an art form with elements of
indigenous art). Gandler is the author of the books Critical Marxism
in Mexico (available also in Spanish and German) Frankfurter
Fragmente, (also in Spanish) and El discreto encanto de la
modernidad.

For a Critical Theory from the Americas

Friday November 20, 3pm, Newcomb Hall 207
Stefan Gandler
Universidad Autnoma de Quertaro/Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico
Academic year 2015/16: Visiting Scholar at Tulane Communication Department.
In order to overcome the intrinsic cultural and theoretical Eurocentrism, I have
carefully analyzed the works of Bolvar Echeverra (former professor of the Universidad
Nacional Autnoma de Mxico) and his concepts of cultural mestizaje and baroque ethos.
Cultural mestizaje refers to the melding of European with pre-Hispanic traditions
particularly important to Mexican culture. Examining the foundations of the cultural
mestizaje, Echeverra develops the concept of historical ethos.[1] This concept is based on
the subsumption of the production of use-values through the production of value and it is
analyzed in its relationship to the production of signs. He distinguishes between four
historical ethe, different ways of living within the unlivable capitalist reality: the
realistic, romantic, classical and baroque ethos.[2] They result from the potential
combinations of recognition and denial of the contradiction between the logic of value and
the logic of use-values, on the one hand, and the importance given to the value and/or the
use-value, on the other.
The realistic ethos denies this contradiction while attributing greater importance to value.
The romantic ethos also denies this contradiction, but leans more toward use-value. The
classical ethos acknowledges the existence of this contradiction and submits to the logic of
value, while the baroque also recognizes this contradiction, but attempts to preserve the
dynamics of the use-value.
The baroque and realistic ethe coexist in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, it is a
paradoxical combination of soberness and rebelling. The today dominating realistic ethos,
based on the principle of non-ambiguity, is unable to attain the highest ideal of
Enlightenment the recognition of the other as conditio sine qua non for the constitution of
subjectivity of the self. The baroque ethos, on the other hand, borrows its name from the
baroque art movement, with its capacity to combine and mix diverse elements and styles
which, seen form a serious point of view cannot be combined or mixed. It was the only
art form in Nueva Espaa capable of integrating elements of indigenous art. A mutual lack
of comprehension exists on both sides of this ethos; the elements do not understand
one another but have agreed to peacefully coexist by turning a blind eye and a deaf ear

when necessary. They do not comprehend or recognize one another; yet, neither seeks to
destroy or aggressively exclude the other. It is this incongruous attitude, garmented in
ambiguous speech, that enables the baroque ethos to tolerate differences among people
what makes it in certain sense more modern (open towards other cultures) than the other
ethe.[3]
These theoretical contributions of Bolvar Echeverra are confronted conceptually in my
research project For a Critical Theory from the Americas with the critique of ideology from
the classical Critical theory (M. Horkheimer, Th. W. Adorno, H. Marcuse, F. Neumann,
O. Kirchheimer, W. Benjamin), inspired in G. Lukcs History and class consciousness,
whousing the terms of B. Echeverraonly analyzed the ideology of the realistic ethos.
Our project is now (I am part of a working group in Mexico in Latin America), to
reorganize the debate on Critical theory-beyond Habermas and Honneth et al.in the
original radical (radix) way, but overcoming the mentioned limitation, unfolding in that
way a Critical theory from the Americas.
*************
For information about Dr. Gandlers books see:
n English:
http://www.brill.com/products/book/critical-marxism-mexico
In Spanish:
http://www.paginasprodigy.com.mx/gast/default.htm
In German:
http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.cst.ebooks.datasheet&id=68292
________________________________________________________________________
[1] Bolvar Echeverra, El ethos barroco, in B.E. (ed.), Modernidad, mestizaje cultural,
ethos barroco, Mexico, UNAM/El Equilibrista, 1994, pp. 1336.
[2] Stefan Gandler, The quadruple modern Ethos: Critical Theory in the Americas. In:
APA Newsletter on Hispanic/Lantino Issues in Philosophy, American Philosophical
Association, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, Vol. 14, No. 1, Fall 2014, pp. 2-4.
http://www.apaonline.org/?hispanic_newsletter,
article:
http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.apaonline.org/resource/collection/60044C96-F3E0-4049BC5A-271C673FA1E5/HispanicV14n1.pdf
[3] Stefan Gandler, Critical Marxism in Mexico. Adolfo Snchez Vzquez and Bolvar
Echeverra. Trans. George Ciccariello-Maher and the author. Leiden/Boston, Brill
Academic Press, Spring 2015, 467 pp. (Historical Materialism Book Series, vol. 87).