El lado más oscuro de Jonathan Swift: sobre la colonialidad del ser en A Modest Proposal (1729)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24162/EI2023-12110Palabras clave:
Decolonial, Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal, Ilustración, modernidad/colonialidad, irlandés, colonialidad del serResumen
Este artículo propone una lectura de A Modest Proposal desde la perspectiva más oscura de una Ilustración occidentalizada y anglicista. En primer lugar, aborda desde un prisma crítico la proclividad de la academia anglocéntrica a celebrar figuras literarias en lengua inglesa asociadas con “la Ilustración” en Irlanda sin cuestionar su papel en el proyecto colonial y en la configuración de discursos raciales y sexistas. En segundo lugar, el artículo se centra en demostrar cómo, desde una perspectiva decolonial irlandesa, Jonathan Swift puede entenderse como un gestor de una matriz de poder colonial racial/patriarcal. En tercer lugar, el ensayo propone que la sátira escrita por Jonathan Swift debe abordarse como una categoría geocultural anglocéntrica y que puede entenderse como una sátira ilustrada occidentalizada/anglicanizada. Por último, se analiza A Modest Proposal en términos del principio de excepcionalidad de la ironía, el proyecto swiftiano de mejora y salvación de los colonizados, y la promesa retórica de la modernidad/colonialidad, aunque incapaz de resolver los problemas que produce.
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